The First Law of Instability: The three most unstable substances known to man are weapons grade uranium, the San Andreas Fault, and junior high girls.
All three (uranium, the S.A. fault, and jh girls) should be handled with the sensitivity of someone making nitroglycerin. If you’re storing enriched uranium in your basement, by all means put it on a high shelf. If you’re designing a home that will be situated directly over the San Andreas fault, get a good architect. And, if you spend time around junior high girls, pray.
(Before you lecture me for being one of those adults who has low expectations for young people, let me assure you that’s not where this is going. Quite the opposite).
I was a camp director when I formulated the first law of unstable substances. I jotted it down on the back of a discarded Skittles wrapper while gaping at the mushroom cloud of a junior high social meltdown that made Chernobyl or Three Mile Island look like contained events. And, while I may be overstating my case a bit, I do so only slightly – – It is a fact that the early teen years requires young ladies to make many adjustments. Often they feel awkward about appearance or relationships with friends. Hormone induced emotional mood swings occasionally register 7 on the Richter scale.
But, reading a book by Kay Washer, I was I recently reminded to never underestimate how God might be at work in the life of a young person. Indeed, I was challenge anew to pray that the Lord of the Harvest would gently tug on the hearts of young people (Matthew 9:35-38).
Mrs. Washer described that it was precisely at the time when she felt especially self-conscious of her appearance, and sure that no guy would ever be remotely interested in her, that God began to call her into missions.
As a teenager, my interest in missions grew. My mother had a dear friend, Miss Ann Berg, who was a missionary in Africa. When Miss Berg spoke at a neighboring church on her furloughs, our family always attended to hear her tell of her work with needy children in Africa. A radiantly beautiful smile beamed from her face as she described her orphanages in the Congo. After I heard Miss Berg’s presentation, I began to think a lot about the children who were accustomed to worshiping idols and who were sometimes cut or burned to get the ‘evil spirits’ out of them when they were sick. I began to think I might like to be just like Ann Berg.
Around that same time, I was growing very tall and very skinny, and because of my awkward height, my false teeth and the polio in my left hand, I took it for granted that I would never marry. But I knew God wanted me to be a missionary and I felt I wouldn’t miss having a husband if I had orphan children to love. I never heard a voice in my head telling me where to go, nor did a verse from the Bible jump off the page at me, but I knew very definitely as a teenager that God wanted me to be a missionary in Africa.
Kay went on to marry Dallas Washer. Together, they blazed new paths for the Gospel in West Africa living in Africa for 43 years.
The awkward teenage girl who heard God’s, call founded a school for the blind in Togo and was personally thanked by the president of Togo. The president kissed her on both cheeks and awarded her the Togo Medal of Honor, the “Order of Mono.” She and her husband Dallas opened ABWE’s work in Togo where a hospital continues to offer health care. Over 40 Togolese churches have been planted, not to mention granddaughter churches. Mrs. Washer’s husband, Dallas, died in Africa. And, as was his desire, he is buried there, so that he can await the resurrection with his African brothers and sisters.
You can read the Washer’s story in One Candle to Burn, by Kay Washer with Alison Gray.
Don’t underestimate a junior high girl. Our great and sovereign God may be working in her heart right now. He may have plans for her to turn on the lights in some dark corner in a way that we never would have imagined.
Amen, Praise the Lord, Glory Hallelujah, Woo!
I was one of the jr. high girls once, and I can remember being totally convinced of God’s calling on my life at that young age. I remember telling the Lord that I would do anything, anything, anything for Him. In some ways, I was probably more godly at that point than I am today. It never even occured to me to count the cost.
Thanks for this reminder as I have a girl graduating to middle school (at church, not school) this week. I can already sense the unstable substance of jr. high swelling in our home. But her heart for the Lord is so precious.
What a great reminder as I head into my forth summer leading staff training. No, I’m not nor ever was, a teen girl, but it was as a jr hi teen that I gave my life to Him and as a recent grad from hi school, after my forth summer working at camps, I knew that If God wanted me in camp work I’d gladly do it.
John, I’m sure you weren’t far away when the meltdown occurred. I’m with you – – God uses camp ministries in a great way. If you see today’s post on television, camp is probably worth it alone just to get people away from television and other media influences for a week.
God most certainly IS at work in a junior high girl’s heart!!! In fact, I think that may be when their hearts are the most open to His influence, if they are in the right sphere of influence.
I just spent a week doing VBS with a couple Jr. high girls for helpers. They were embarrassed and amused at my willingness to make a complete idiot of myself, for the little kids, but by the end of the week, they were acting more like complete idiots, too. (I’m not sure that’s progress….)But I think it was good for them to see that it’s okay to be wild about God, that you’ll be loved regardless of how you look, and that they are valuable members of the body of Christ.
And you are completely right on, about the instable substances! It made me laugh! (I think 4 year old girls are God’s preparation for junior high girls. We have tears at the drop of a crayon, and worries about everything from toes to toys.)
When I was Jr. High English teacher (yep, I’m even still sorta sane) a dear friend who was a veteran Jr. High Science teacher had a baby girl and wept. Loudly. She said, “Oh no. Now she’s going to have to go through Jr. High as a girl!”
I have seen the good, bad, and ugly of that age group, but I also know how ripe their little hearts can be for the message of God’s truth! When the fire in a young adolescent girl’s heart is started and successfully stoked and fueled, it can burn brightly to be seen for eternity. Great post!
I, too, was an awkward Jr. Hi girl when I felt God calling me to be a missionary. I had Dallas Washer as a teacher in school (Bible and French) during one of their times of being in the U.S. for a couple of years. Then when I was majoring in missions in Bible college, the Washers invited me to do my missions apprenticeship in Togo with them. They had only arrived there less than a year earlier so it was in the early stages of their work there. (They were in Niger for several years before going to Togo). It was that summer that I surrendered to the Lord to go back to Africa, AND go as a single missionary if God wanted me to. When I went back for my last year of Bible college, a young man, a missionary kid from Africa, came in as a freshman after he was in the Air Force, and we quickly knew that God wanted us to serve Him together in Africa! We’ve been missionaries in Central African Republic, in Mali, and now in South Africa — and still loving it. The Washers were such a great help to me that summer I was there, and going through so much work of the Lord in my heart! I was privileged to be there with them.