Hong Kong kids at Malibu

This week, a group of 61 campers came all the way from Hong Kong. I've never seen kids quite like these, especially when visiting cabins at 12:30am for 'lights out' and finding all the kids with their AP and SAT prep materials, calculators, and math study books. What the HECK, its MALIBU!  Kids were very responsive to YL's style of fun, but mostly sharing of the gospel, in which our speakers share their 'story' with transparency, humility, including our failures and mistakes. This is NOT the norm in HK. There is a 'saving face' culture, which makes it more difficult to get past the protective walls around kids hearts.

A few special moments with them involved walls breaking down.

Two kids were always the last two to the cabin at night. They would come from the 'smokers pit' where they would smoke cigars they brought.  When the leader asked about it, they were silent. When Josh dug deeper, they said they did not want their parents to find out. Apparently, as a cultural norm, in this culture, they keep all kinds of secrets out of fear of rejection. They are afraid of their intense, success-driven parents who offer little to no grace. Their secret lives go much deeper and darker then merely cigars.  Josh broke the ice by sharing his own mistakes, sin and imperfections from his own life. They were shocked. For the next hour, these kids began to let their guards down and open up their pain, hurts and sin they had never opened up to an adult before. As the week went on, more of the same continued with the kids with their leaders and our head leader team.

Also, after Kent Williams' message on night two, expressing how none of these kids are 'mistakes', they are known and loved by God, not because they earned it, but because they were made in his image. A group of HK kids were in tears afterwards as this realization that they are more loved than they will ever know.  Many have heard the words 'useless' 'a waste' 'an accident' and 'failure' over and over.  God is at work healing broken souls.

What a rare yet precious gift for all kinds of kids to have adults who care, share transparently, and earn the right to share the love of Jesus.  Perhaps the kids that encounter Jesus from Hong Kong could be the very ones who God could raise to change the world.  Let's pray big for every kid. -jeff-