As I was driving
to a school to give a Choose to Wait presentation I prayed
over the teens that I’d be seeing. From
past experience the school I would be visiting that day had become known to me
as one full of tough teens which resulted in usually poor feedback: all the
more reason to go! I determined to spend my entire drive in prayer that God
would open the eyes of the hearts of these teens and that seeds of truth would
fall on fertile soil.
In spite of the fact that it was one of those very gray days
I recalled the scripture (Matthew 5:14) where Christ says we are the light of
the world. That is exactly the reality
of what Choose to Wait is all about; shedding light in a dark world and on a
topic that not too many people of light want to discuss. I can’t imagine how we
Christians have come to allow such a beautiful gift from God become so
distorted that many feel our sexuality is a topic to be discussed in hush-hush
tones, if at all.
Have you ever been in a dark or dimly lit room for a time
and then stepped into the brilliant sunshine? Had you been in the darkness long
enough the brightness of the light is annoying at best or perhaps even
intolerable and blinding. I imagine that this is what many teens experience who
have never been exposed to this kind of brilliance on such a topic as their
value and worth. Our program walks into their lives shining blinding brightness
and truth on a topic our culture has reserved for dark places. Some squint, some shade their eyes because
the light in incomprehensible, but slowly and surely we get to witness the
majority of their eyes adjust. Anonymous feedback clearly indicates they’ve
enjoyed a good bask in the Son!
Tracey Pike
Director of Abstinence Education
