Young People Who Inspire Me

God has gifted me with a love for working with elementary age children. I am comfortable with them and can easily communicate with them. I enjoy hanging out with them and teaching them new things about God. Teenagers on the other hand are a different story. I'm not as comfortable interacting with them and find myself a bit intimidated by them. But thanks to our ministry with FCA, I get to meet some amazing young people who truly inspire me.
 
I don't want to forget these amazing young people. So I'm beginning a new series entitled, "Young People Who Inspire Me". I want to write down their stories and the impact they have had on my life personally. This past week I had the privilege of hearing the stories of some very inspiring young people from all over the world.  
 
Young people like Joshua. Joshua is a student from Senegal, West Africa. I had the pleasure of hearing Joshua share his testimony at OBI earlier this week. His mother is a Christian and his father is Muslim. Joshua's tribe in Senegal is very large....roughly 2 million people. In those 2 million there are only 15 known Christians.

Joshua shared how when he was younger he would go to church with his mom and then go to the mosque with his Dad. He would spend time praying to God and then pray to Allah. He said that he realized that he couldn't keep trying to worship both Allah & God. So he chose to serve the one true God.

And even though his father is disappointed in him, Joshua knows that God is with him and gives him strength. His goal is to become a doctor and return to Senegal and proclaim Christ to his people. He asked for his fellow students and teachers to pray that his father would come to Christ.

As I sat and listened to this articulate young man speak about his life, I was so inspired by his love and boldness for Christ. His boldness to not go to the mosque to pray but to stand strong in his faith in Christ. His boldness to be one of 15 known Christians.

As I listened to him, I was also convicted of my own complacency and lack of boldness. I was convicted about the distractions that I allow into my life that keep me from proclaiming Christ boldly everyday.  The opinions of others that may inhibit my boldness. 

Joshua has inspired me to choose to serve God boldly each day. To not worry about the opinions of others and how my boldness may offend them. Like it says in Matthew 10:32-33 “Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.  But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven."