I am shocked at how sometimes God allows things to fall into
place. I know that there isn’t such thing as coincidences. I will confess to
the fact that I do like being organized and having my ‘ducks in a row’. The
challenge is that I’m always dependent upon others who don’t necessarily value
timeliness or bring organized. This last week we started a job-life skills
group. The purpose is to help our older teens figure out life, how to do a
resume, apply for a job, get an interview and actually get a job. I started
this out with the intention of having peers who had jobs talk about their
stories and also older more experienced adults share their journey.
The goal was to get the attention of those who want to do
something with their lives and help them see the urgency to ‘get it’ like
today. The sad reality for most growing up in today’s world is the assumption
that things will just fall into place. Like, mom and dad or grandparents are
going to pay your way forever so finishing high school or going to college
isn’t important. I have too many examples in our groups of young 20-somethings
who are in stall mode with no job and no future. The hope is to cast a vision
where tomorrow is a better day where great things can happen when you open up
your eyes and kick into high gear.
I had talked about the group to our teens and still had no
idea how many or who would show up. I had asked a few to come and talk. My
favorite barista at my Starbucks chickened out. You know the type; she’s very
quiet and shy but a great worker, wife, mom and good friend to many. So I was
fortunate that one of my college interns, an ASU student, was free and could
join us. I was also jazzed when a friend who recently faced booked me was free
and said she would come. I also had a recent victim or experienced interviewer
in our group.
We took over the outside of Starbucks with 20 gathered
around different tables and chairs. I handed out an assortment of sheets that
talked about the group, how to do a resume and an example of a resume. I asked
Chloe, our intern, to share her story. Remember this is a diverse group with
the adults being the only ‘Whites’. Chloe had grown up both in Detroit in the
hood and also Phoenix. She had worked at Safeway at the age of 14 doing the
bagging thing. She worked her way up and started making $12 an hour when she
was 16. She talked about the reality that having a job meant you give your all,
got up early, go to work early and did more than asked if you wanted to keep
your job or get promoted. She was awesome because the group knows her and
respects her big time. She took a few of
the teens home afterwards.
My special guest and friend, Molly, shared her story. I
wasn’t exactly sure of Molly’s history but as she shared with passion and
enthusiasm it was clear she had lots in common with my teens. She grew up in
South Phoenix as a White Girl but went down the wrong path. She was blessed to
have ‘rich’ parents and had good jobs to start out and even bought a house at
20. Yet, the temptations around her won out and she succumbed to drugs, the
party scene and crazy music. She shared her journey of figuring out that it was
time to take control of her life and become committed to a healthy life style.
She was a little preachy but totally got what it was like to live in the hood,
be sucked into bad music and an attitude that the world owes you something.
As Molly finished you could see that most of the teens had
HEARD what she was talking about. This friend of mine is a server at Coco’s,
which isn’t a glamorous job but as she talked you knew she loved it and it
proved for her needs. She did an excellent job of explaining the importance of
how giving your all in anything will produce great results. I was amazed at
what she said and how God had set her up to be the voice for the night.
We finished listening to Al, my best friend Chinese guy, who
totally shocked me. He shared about his job experience, which I thought was
just being a bean counter that made big bucks. He talked about his initial
desire to be a FBI agent. He had applied and tested and made it to the end. He
admitted that he bombed the last test. So it could have been agent Loo.
As we finished the evening and I looked at the teens I could
tell that they were starting to think about life, their life in a different
way. Today is the first day of the rest of your life so what are you going to
do? My hope and prayer is that everyone will find their ‘calling’ and gifts
soon and be able to pursue them. The unfortunate
reality for most of these teens is that there isn’t an inheritance or cushy
home that the parents can pay their way for college or anything.
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