Band of Brothers!

I have done a small group with 5 teen guys over the last 6 weeks. What stands out as we come to the end of our summer program is that these guys have become a band of brothers. What’s amazing is that this is a racially mixed group. Typically in most urban neighborhoods Hispanics and African Americans don’t do much together. Usually they are at odds with each other and if there are gangs they have defined the ‘turf’ of these groups. What excites me is that these guys truly own their group.

We talked about why is it the case that too many guys are what we called half assed in their approach to life? My guys are starting to get what it means to go the extra mile to live a life that can rock the world around them. They actually wanted to vote on who else we let into the group, if we let anyone else into the group. I was so proud of my guys last night because we started early, still had a great discussion end finished by helping someone in great need. This required some sacrifice and my guys were up to giving their all!

I know that talking about heart matters typically isn’t what guys talk about. Last night we talked about the need to be men that are able to have heads and hearts in our life journey. I shared how it is so easy to be too calculated in how we choose to do things in life. It is common to only do something that has our best interests as the focus instead of being willing to go the extra mile and throw caution to the wind. We spent a good portion of our time talking about one of our guys who has become a slacker. He’s good teen but at times can be too selfish and lazy. I shared the frustration and sentiment with my guys.

We enjoyed our whoppers at the BK we have purposely chosen to use for our meeting place. Now we meet both in a Starbucks and now BK. This adds to our groups because of doing something totally different and then gives inroads to helping my group get jobs in the future. I know that Supersize Me would be against making either McDonalds or BK your standard diet but what’s a whopper a week?

What totally jazzed me was to have one of my guys volunteer to help our new special friend this morning without any offer of payment or bribery! Yes it is time to push our other guys to start thinking about going the extra mile and not be half assed in their approach to life! Jesus calls us to follow him by picking up our crosses and denying ourselves as we follow Him to love and help those who are the least, the lost and the last.