We’ve had a couple of interesting weeks with the Tokio youth group…
Some of you may be familiar with Rachel Scott, the first student to be killed in the Columbine shooting. After her death, some of her family members started Life Choices, a traveling multi-media presentation geared towards speaking truth to youth and encouraging them to make good choices. The Life Choices team (which included Rachel Scott’s brother) did a presentation in a neighboring town on a Wednesday night, so that’s where the girls and I headed. The Life Choices team covered a number of issues (abstinence, drugs, etc.), but focused largely on Rachel’s faith in Jesus Christ and how that influenced everything that she lived for and every choice that she made. I was glad that my youth group girls were able to hear the message that the team shared. Please pray that they would take that message to heart and have the wisdom and courage to make life choices that honor Christ.
A week after the Life Choices presentation, the girls and I were back at the church in Tokio. I could tell by the attitude of one of the girls that something had “gone down” during the week…she was very hard and had new walls up. I soon found out that she and another one of the youth group girls had spent a few days in jail due to underage drinking. They were hesitant to tell me the real story, but the Holy Spirit must have been prompting them because before I even had a chance to ask about it, they were pouring their hearts out and apologizing to me. They talked and I listened, disappointed about what I was hearing, but thankful that they were telling the truth. One of the girls explained to me that the reason that she drinks is because she often feels afraid (there are some dark spiritual things going on at her house). When she’s drinking, she doesn’t feel afraid. As she shared, I realized that that is probably the problem for a majority of the people who live on the reservation…drinking to escape fear. Or guilt. Or hopelessness. My Bible study plans were put on hold and we spent the evening talking about how alcohol is a FALSE escape, an escape that actually leads to more trouble. We read through Ephesians 6 and talked about the power and victory of Jesus over every dark and evil spirit and about the importance of putting on the armor of God in spiritual battle. I believe that all of this was the Lord’s hand, guiding and directing us to talk through some of these issues! Please pray that these girls would experience the victory and power of Jesus Christ in their lives. Pray that they-and others here at Spirit Lake Nation!-would turn to Him when they are afraid!
