Why "See Jane Run" was worth it.

Sometimes, we really take for granted what others have worked so hard for us to achieve. 

We had a camp this weekend with the IY girls (for those of you who aren't up to date, IY is a community we work with weekly). The focus was 2 things:

1. Use what you have. God has given you SOMETHING. Use it to glorify Him.
2. The self discovery bible study process which is a way to conduct a bible study that will eventually replicate into more study groups. 

We really wanted the girls to encounter Jesus and to start developing skills and a desire to pursue their relationship with Him long after the camp.

Some of the girls who attended the camp were girls we've been working with for years, so they have an understanding of who God is and what it takes to be a disciple. For those girls, we really wanted to empower them to start taking on a leadership role in their communities and to start actually making disciples of their own.

For the rest of the girls at the camp, they seemed fairly new at their walks with God if any existed at all, so for them, we really just wanted them to be able to experience Him and to continue that relationship afterwards.

Most of the gals at the camp were between grades 7-9 and if any of you out there has ever worked with junior high students, it's not always easy. 

There were so many moments where we would be in a session or a group setting and none of them would talk, or they would say something ridiculous as a sign of attention deficit. 

But these girls all had a really genuine heart and we got to see amazing breakthroughs throughout the weekend. Walls came down. The Spirit exploded. Tears were shed. 

But as we were doing bible studies with them, I was getting a little frustrated at the lack of participation. As our team debriefed later on, I came to realize why that was. These girls couldn't read and comprehend. As we read passages, they would look blankly at us as we asked them questions about the passage. They could all read aloud well, but they couldn't comprehend what they were reading, to them it was just a matter of if they could actually pronounce and read the words on the page. 

I kept thinking back to the third or fourth grade when our teachers would make us test on reading comprehension. We'd have to read some boring passage or a book or a poem or something, and then we'd have to answer questions based on what we read.

One of my teammates who has lived here for years said during our debrief that most of these girls might not have that skill. They might not be able to read something and then answer questions about it because they don't have good reading comprehension skills.

It would have NEVER crossed my mind that that could be why the girls were so intimidated by reading the bible. 

It's amazing what we take for granted. Being able to read the bible and understand is truly a gift. Even if you don't really understand everything it says, if you can at least retell the general basis of a parable or chronologically recount your favorite story, you are truly blessed. If you can read the words and know where the sentence starts and ends, you are blessed. If you even HAVE a bible, you are blessed.

As we prepare to do an underground church service this month, our team is reading about all kinds of persecuted christians all over the world and it's amazing how many places the bible is banned. If it is caught in your possession, that is worthy of death. 

And as I thought about the fact that for some of these girls, reading and comprehending the bible on their own isn't always an easy realty (attainable, but not easy), it means that real tangible encounters with Jesus are so necessary. God WILL reach and pursue His children. Most of those girls had an INSANE prayer life because that's what they have. They don't always have bibles on hand, and they can't always understand it when they do. But they have Jesus, and they have prayer, and they have gifts and they USE them.

I never thought I'd say this, but, thank you Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Best for making me read those silly "See Jane Run" chapter books and then testing me on it. Thank you every English teacher since that has been testing me on my ability to process words.

And thank you Jesus for pursuing us.