I always sat in the front row for my school photos. This meant that I was a short kid. Even when I was in high school. Especially at an all boys school.
To be honest, puberty didn’t kick in until I was around 17.
This didn’t help with my dating prospects nor my associated self esteem.
But I remember clearly, one afternoon when I was a young adult - let’s say around 19 - when my youth minister said something which changed my life.
No, it had nothing to do with Jesus.
Instead, he asked how tall I was, guessing that I was around six foot.
He observed that I was the average height.
In truth, he was wrong on two counts. First of all, the average height for an Australian male is 175.6 cm, or just over 5’9”. Second, he misjudged my height by around an inch. I’m still only five-foot-eleven.
But, significantly, he said that I wasn’t short.
I had never heard that. Ever.
If anything, being short haunted me.
It defined me.
It was what others had said.
It was what I told myself.
But, now, someone I deeply respected said the opposite.
He said I wasn’t short.
He spoke into the very place of my doubts.
He spoke into the very place of my insecurities.
He spoke against my destructive inner dialogue.
One of the tremendous roles youth groups leads have is to identify areas in the lives of young people and speak positive truths into that place.
The truth was, I was no longer short.
How many teenagers and young adults need to hear that they are not short?
That they are not a loser?
That they are not dumb?
That they have talent?
That they have hope?
That they have a positive future?
This, along with the message of the gospel, can stay with and transform the lives of young people within the groups of a church.
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