Mentors

Today I had my first day of teacher in-service in preparation for the new school year. Now, I know - some of you were snoring by the time I got to serv-, but today was a Flippen Group (that's right Flip Flippen is his name) Capturing Kid's Hearts workshop that was actually kind of interesting.

I have been blessed by a number of wonderful people in my life - youth and college ministers, older peers, and adults that have been willing to invest themselves in me. Thank you Momand Dad. Thank you Paul Irby. Thank you Ricky Cavitt. Thank you Clayton Bullion, John Williamson, Corey Moses. Thank you Colby Brownlee. Thank you Bobby, Andy, and Criner.

If you get the chance, read this blog of Michael Criner college minister at First Woodway on "The Wisdom of Mentors".

Here's a statistic that got me dwelling on it. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) commissioned a study of at risk behavior in over 90,000 students and their campuses. Any guesses as to what the #1 factor in lowering at-risk behavior in students turned out to be?

Connectedness to an adult.

Flippen sources a student's "lack of a meaningful relationship with an appropriate adult" as being the major contributor to social, discipline, and academic problems we teachers face in the teaching profession.

My brother, Tim Mason, writes in his blog about the idea that in authentic Christian mentoring/accountability we actually intervene to save our brothers lives. What a great thought! But here's the deal: You save your brother or sister from devastating harm to their lives, not just spiritually, but often mentally and physically, and also the lives of a host of others.

Matt Chandler says some great things about the ways that harbored sin affects lives: Maybe you are subjecting your wife to a marriage of strife because you can't check an addiction that started years before you were together. Maybe you are subjecting your husband to a marriage of strife because you don't have an image of yourself and your body the way that God wants you to see yourself as beautiful. Or maybe harboring other insecurities. Maybe you are subjecting your kids to a lifetime of scars as they follow in your footsteps of abuse and sin that they learned from you. We need each other.

Bonhoeffer writes, "God has willed that we should seek and find His living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of man. Therefore, the Christian needs another Christian who speaks God's Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belying the truth. He needs his brother man as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation. He needs his brother solely because of Jesus Christ. The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother; his own heart is uncertain, his brother's is sure" (from Life Together).

Check out this clip posted a month ago about a river rescue in Iowa. If you were the only one around and someone was in need of rescuing wouldn't you step in?

So I echo Criner's plea, "I plead with you young men and women, find a mentor – and listen to them… listen well friends. I plead with you older men and women, be a mentor… we need you."

SDG