Saturday night was a great night to see the dedication of youth to a cause.
I was invited to speak at Straight Street in Roanoke, Virginia. Straight Street is a ministry that reaches out to urban youth. For the past few weeks their emphasis has been on thirst. They learned about spiritual thirst as well as physical thirst. It all led up to Friday afternoon when they began a fast.
Their fast lasted for 30 hours. During that time they served at local community outreach centers including a homeless shelter and abused women’s center, even serving meals. Then these youth took cardboard boxes on Friday night and slept outside on the city streets. While youth leaders and officers kept watch, these children slept on the ground in winter temperatures. This was all done so that they might look beyond their own world to see the need in another’s.
It is hard enough to fast as an adult, but these youth were committed and willing to sacrifice.
I challenged them to take their experience and use it to change the world. I talked to them about thirst in developing countries and the need for clean water. I wanted them to know that just because they were young, that didn’t mean they couldn’t make an impact.
Thirst is something we should try to alleviate. But we ourselves should always thirst for God and for a passion to help the world.