Permit me to brag a little bit about our great friends Nick and Lindsay, the local Young Life area director and his wife- two of the most awesome people in western Washington and the western world, who do live this way.
Background context: When I was ending college, I considered doing a two-year Young Life internship. As I talked with various area directors about it, I remember a gal encouraging me, “if you stay in Young Life, you’ll marry a Young Life guy.” I love YL, but among other (more important ‘call’-related) reasons, this was a contributing factor to me not doing a YL internship. Stereotypical Young Life guys (goofy extraverts or the more business-model type with the goatee and PDA) are great guys I want to be friends with, but not who I would have wanted to marry.
Fast-forward to 4 years later when we moved back to WA. Los and I went to a high school football game at the local school by our house. After having been so invested in teens’ lives in FL, we wanted to know what was happening in Burlington, so we looked up YL on the internet and found a phone number for Nick Wood, our area director. We invited him and Lindsay over to dinner, to get to know them, and to see what was going on in our county. What could have been an awkward shared meal turned into the beginning of a joyous friendship.
Nick is like the antitype of the typical leaders I knew in college. I have seen a lot of people with lots of good programs. I have seen a lot of people with lots of money. Nick and our area have neither of those and need help in those two areas, yet more teens flock to him and Lindsay in droves than almost anyone I’ve ever watched. Most of the kids in our area have known him since elementary school, and he’s volunteered and substituted in many schools and coached soccer, while being the YL leader. And Lindsay teaches in a super cute local middle school.
The amount of teens and families they have impacted in this valley is immeasurable. I am moved on nights like Friday’s banquet, where we get to hear about specific lives they have touched through their natural gifting. Teenagers everywhere are hurting and trying to decide who they want to be as adults, they need godly mentors. I know I am who I am today because I had people like Nick and Lindsay love on me when I was young. This world would be a better place if there were more selfless, humble people like our two friends who give their lives so that young people can find hope and a healthy path for their future. I am proud of and grateful for such friends.
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