Transit... WHY???
Written by Tjaart van Zyl
Write something for the blog…..something to do with your experiences at Transit…..but remember there are children reading this blog too….. That was three months ago.
I only write if what I write is coming directly from the heart. You see I am an atmosphere shifter. That is my God given gift. I cannot shift atmospheres if it doesn’t come from my heart. “Why is that”, you might ask? Well to break it down simply for you: I believe God lives in my heart. Well at least His Spirit does. So, if I don’t live from my heart I don’t live according to His will. It is like those “should I do it or should I not do it” moments. We all come across those moments in our lives. My non-believer friends will at this stage, jump at the opportunity and exclaim: “You mean your instinct!?” Yip my instinct. But how many times have you not said you wish your instinct was as good as mine - I will counter argue.
Yip, I am pretty much ready to write this piece because it’s coming from my heart. Transit; Grade 6 to well whoever wants to come actually (but don’t tell the leadership because it is supposed to be until Grade 9, but who am I to turn a teenager away who feels the need to listen to me talking from my heart?)
I have seen one and a half generations go through Transit the last few years. I follow all of them. Even kids who don’t come to our church anymore. Facebook and Instagram are great surveillance tools. No, I don’t look at what gets posted there because that can be misleading. I look at kid’s eyes. Eyes say a lot. Eyes are windows to anyone’s soul. Try it next time. When you see sadness don’t wonder about it, enquire. At least we don’t have to cover our eyes up. So many people complain about not being able to see smiles these days anymore. I still see a lot.
Here I am getting sidetracked by my ADD, you know that stuff that Ritalin was made for. Back to the topic. Transit – “Why?” you might ask. Why not something else. Well – for starters I listened to my heart and my Sunday School teacher sucked! So I guess I wanted to show kids the real meaning of God’s love. The ‘genuineness’ (is that even a word) of God’s love. Kids are smart. If you are fake, they will suss you out in 5 minutes. If they can’t trust you …well then you become irrelevant really. And if you don’t think that they are relevant ….well they quickly suss that out too.
It’s the toughest job on the volunteer staff you know, working with teenagers. That’s what somebody told me at first when I asked someone to alternate with me to give me an opportunity to attend the adult environment. “Sorry what do you mean it’s the toughest job?” My 26 years of experience of being a litigator overwhelmed me at that moment. You mean being yourself and making a kid feel relevant is hard? I guess my bedside manners can be bit direct at times.
How do you keep the kids interested so that they want to come back to Transit? This was a wide eyed question I once got whilst fellowshipping over the best coffee in PE one Sunday morning. I relate my own testimonies of what happened to me in life to convey from my heart what God wants to tell them on a given Sunday. “So where you went wrong and they must not follow suite? Is that what you mean?” came the follow-up question. I bit my tongue. I mean; is this question for real? “ No ma’am. I tell them I understand that they are teenagers and that one day they will be young adults and they will probably screw up once or twice but that is okay, because they aren’t programmed machines. They are flesh and blood! I tell them that; “If anything else, they must be wise and have an intimate relationship with God. That Jesus did not pick perfect people to be his disciples. That when they do stuff it must be done from their heart. And if you tell them about a parable from the Bible; mix it up a little. Make the story real. Like the lost son that went to Joburg and partied his inheritance away?” At least I got an; “Oh.”
Transit: the place where I try and lead our kids to have a living and real relationship with God; from their hearts - that is.
I only write if what I write is coming directly from the heart. You see I am an atmosphere shifter. That is my God given gift. I cannot shift atmospheres if it doesn’t come from my heart. “Why is that”, you might ask? Well to break it down simply for you: I believe God lives in my heart. Well at least His Spirit does. So, if I don’t live from my heart I don’t live according to His will. It is like those “should I do it or should I not do it” moments. We all come across those moments in our lives. My non-believer friends will at this stage, jump at the opportunity and exclaim: “You mean your instinct!?” Yip my instinct. But how many times have you not said you wish your instinct was as good as mine - I will counter argue.
Yip, I am pretty much ready to write this piece because it’s coming from my heart. Transit; Grade 6 to well whoever wants to come actually (but don’t tell the leadership because it is supposed to be until Grade 9, but who am I to turn a teenager away who feels the need to listen to me talking from my heart?)
I have seen one and a half generations go through Transit the last few years. I follow all of them. Even kids who don’t come to our church anymore. Facebook and Instagram are great surveillance tools. No, I don’t look at what gets posted there because that can be misleading. I look at kid’s eyes. Eyes say a lot. Eyes are windows to anyone’s soul. Try it next time. When you see sadness don’t wonder about it, enquire. At least we don’t have to cover our eyes up. So many people complain about not being able to see smiles these days anymore. I still see a lot.
Here I am getting sidetracked by my ADD, you know that stuff that Ritalin was made for. Back to the topic. Transit – “Why?” you might ask. Why not something else. Well – for starters I listened to my heart and my Sunday School teacher sucked! So I guess I wanted to show kids the real meaning of God’s love. The ‘genuineness’ (is that even a word) of God’s love. Kids are smart. If you are fake, they will suss you out in 5 minutes. If they can’t trust you …well then you become irrelevant really. And if you don’t think that they are relevant ….well they quickly suss that out too.
It’s the toughest job on the volunteer staff you know, working with teenagers. That’s what somebody told me at first when I asked someone to alternate with me to give me an opportunity to attend the adult environment. “Sorry what do you mean it’s the toughest job?” My 26 years of experience of being a litigator overwhelmed me at that moment. You mean being yourself and making a kid feel relevant is hard? I guess my bedside manners can be bit direct at times.
How do you keep the kids interested so that they want to come back to Transit? This was a wide eyed question I once got whilst fellowshipping over the best coffee in PE one Sunday morning. I relate my own testimonies of what happened to me in life to convey from my heart what God wants to tell them on a given Sunday. “So where you went wrong and they must not follow suite? Is that what you mean?” came the follow-up question. I bit my tongue. I mean; is this question for real? “ No ma’am. I tell them I understand that they are teenagers and that one day they will be young adults and they will probably screw up once or twice but that is okay, because they aren’t programmed machines. They are flesh and blood! I tell them that; “If anything else, they must be wise and have an intimate relationship with God. That Jesus did not pick perfect people to be his disciples. That when they do stuff it must be done from their heart. And if you tell them about a parable from the Bible; mix it up a little. Make the story real. Like the lost son that went to Joburg and partied his inheritance away?” At least I got an; “Oh.”
Transit: the place where I try and lead our kids to have a living and real relationship with God; from their hearts - that is.
Posted in Perspectives by Tjaart
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