Being there in the fight

Last week I ran into one of our former students at Club USA. We had a great time catching up on how her family is doing and what life has been like in college. She mentioned that she was going to a church in our area now with her mom and they are seeking to know the will of God in their lives! What's interesting about this young lady is that she probably came a total of 15 times in four years to our high school ministry. She considered our church her home church. She remembered being a part of our Sunday morning program for the most part, but it was something else that she said that has grabbed my heart this past week. She told me how much she had to fight to be there. She told me that getting to church was a fight. A fight in schedule. A fight with skiing. A fight with sleeping in. A fight with getting her siblings motivated. A fight inside her own soul - a spiritual one. She reminded me that every Wednesday and every Sunday, whether you come 15 times a year or 50 times a year, I and the rest of my leaders, need to be there for the fight. Next time you see a student who hasn't been there in awhile ,don't forget to consider that they've been in a battle for a few weeks and don't need guilt, but love!