Learning from At-risk Youth

Over the past couple of weeks I've been reviewing all of the interviews that I completed with at-risk young people in Pittsburgh and Honduras for my dissertation. The kids all have a story to tell, and it is a story that needs to be heard by the people in mainstream society who choose to ignore the kids. Many of the youth I talked to told me about the many obstacles in their lives that they have had to overcome, including poverty, abuse, dysfunctional schools, broken families, drugs, gangs, crimes, and isolation. They opened up about their hopes and dreams for the future. I have seen first hand how God is able to intervene in the lives of hurting people in order to redeem them. The stories of the young people I have interviewed have been full of heartbreak and hope, failures and forgiveness, set backs and resilience. I have learned so much from the tough kids I've spent time with over the years. God has given me eyes to see the beauty that comes when the smaller, painful stories being lived out by troubled youth find their place in God's Story. Transformation is a process, and there are many ups and downs in working with high risk youth. Still, the risks are well worth the rewards associated with how God has been able to teach me. Sometimes the streets are the best classrooms, and people suffering through the struggles of poverty are the best teachers in the school of life. I know a doctoral dissertation is supposed to be about me sharing information with the world, but thus far my dissertation has been much more about what God is showing me through the eyes of people who are close to God but rejected by mainstream society.