After I was done high school, I took a one year program, and am now a certified child and youth care worker. Every time someone asked me “why that course?” I would always respond cheerfully and with a smile on my face “I want to help people!” I always get upset whenever I see people living difficult lives. It tugs at my heartstrings, makes me cry and I just want to reach out to them. This is worsened when it is children. So I figured that this would be the perfect job for me because I am helping people and the focus is on children and youth.
Part of my course was to do a 4 week practical at the end. This practical involved going to a youth center, group home etc, and gaining practical experience that we would use in the field of child and youth care work. I was placed at a drop in center for inner city youth. Even though the center was for youth we did have some adults drop in as well. One Thursday when I arrived at work a middle aged woman, down on her luck had stopped in to have something to eat, and to pick up some hygiene products. I sat down and talked with her and discovered that she had been through some hard times in her life and was finally getting her life back on track. She was really excited to be having a second chance in life, after going through a lot of hard times in her past. I wished her luck in her future, said good-bye and told her I would see her the next time she dropped in. She came in a few times after that and it was always so good to chat with her, she was a bubbly person, always focusing on the positive. I always looked forward to seeing her. One Tuesday I got to work and my boss told me that on Saturday night, she had been raped, stabbed, thrown in a dumpster and left to die.
I was speechless when he told me that. It shocked me. How could someone who had been so alive and full of life one day, be dead the next? I was in such shock that I could not focus on my daily tasks. I kept thinking back to how happy she had been, how excited she was that her life was finally getting better---it took me a while to come to terms with what had happened. I remember thinking “I wanted to enter this profession so that I could prevent this from happening”, I want to help people”
I spent a lot of time thinking and praying about this experience. I did learn a big life lesson from it. It made me realize that death is inevitable to us all. We will die, it is a given. Up until that point I had just been going about life thinking I always had tomorrow to do something. I may have tomorrow and I may not. We never know when our life could end. It could be today, tomorrow or thirty years from now. From life’s first cry to final breath, Jesus commands our destiny. It’s His choice not ours.
So what can we do about it? The answer is nothing. What we can do though, is make sure that we are prepared to leave this life behind us at any given moment and live forever in His amazing grace. I made the commitment to try and enjoy every single day of my life, to not be negative( and I still struggle with this, as sometimes we just want to complain and not focus on the positive), to live to help others up, and be a bright spot in people’s lives, just as my friend was in mine. I also learned that we must be prepared to say good-bye to a family member or friend at any given time.
Throughout my time and reflection, there were a few things that stuck out to me; I would like to share them with you. I hope they mean as much to you as they do to me.
1. Read the word of God daily and spend time with Him. He is our strength and our comfort.
2. Never leave home without telling your parents and siblings that you love them. Even if you are mad at them, still say it.
3. Never say good-bye to a friend without telling them how much you appreciate them, and that you care for them.
4. Say thank you, to your parents, grandparents, sister, brother, your friends, or whoever deserves it. Thank them for what they have done for you. Say it when it’s least expected, and when it will make the biggest impact.
5. Remember these three things, I can change the world, I will change the world, I have changed the world.
6. Live so that you have no regrets, everything happens for a reason (Romans 8:28) and God never gives a person more than they can handle. So why would you have regrets?
7. Remember that you can’t find time. You have to make time. There may never be a ``next time`
8. Live your life that so that when you are standing before God you can say `I have used everything you gave me`.
9. Do not worry- who by worrying can add a single year to their life, also worry is a sin!
10. If you love someone...TELL THEM!! You may never get the chance to if you keep putting it off.
I know that I cannot speak for everyone in this room, but I have been guilty of not following these golden rules( as I like to call them) I have been known to forget to thank people, I forget to tell my friends and family that I care about them and that I appreciate them, I’m forever saying `` Oh I’ll do that or say that the next time I see so and so`` and just ask anyone who knows me and they can tell you just how much I worry! (This by the way is most of the time!)
I also know that death is something that not many people like to talk about, it makes some people squirm in their seats, and you want to look anywhere but at the person who is talking about it. I know that I would rather have my legs waxed....one hair at a time, then talk about death. But let’s face it it’s a part of everyday life and we have to deal with it. Our relationship with God, how we live our life and how we treat people will affect how we deal with it.
So I guess the question that I’m going to leave you with today is this, `Are you ready to say good-bye to a family member or a friend at any given time or leave this life at any given moment and live forever in His amazing grace``
I encourage you to make the commitment to see each day as a blessing and to remember “This is the day that the Lord hath made, I will rejoice and be glad in it”. Enjoy every single day you have, and focus on the positive not the negative. Be a shining light to someone!
Part of my course was to do a 4 week practical at the end. This practical involved going to a youth center, group home etc, and gaining practical experience that we would use in the field of child and youth care work. I was placed at a drop in center for inner city youth. Even though the center was for youth we did have some adults drop in as well. One Thursday when I arrived at work a middle aged woman, down on her luck had stopped in to have something to eat, and to pick up some hygiene products. I sat down and talked with her and discovered that she had been through some hard times in her life and was finally getting her life back on track. She was really excited to be having a second chance in life, after going through a lot of hard times in her past. I wished her luck in her future, said good-bye and told her I would see her the next time she dropped in. She came in a few times after that and it was always so good to chat with her, she was a bubbly person, always focusing on the positive. I always looked forward to seeing her. One Tuesday I got to work and my boss told me that on Saturday night, she had been raped, stabbed, thrown in a dumpster and left to die.
I was speechless when he told me that. It shocked me. How could someone who had been so alive and full of life one day, be dead the next? I was in such shock that I could not focus on my daily tasks. I kept thinking back to how happy she had been, how excited she was that her life was finally getting better---it took me a while to come to terms with what had happened. I remember thinking “I wanted to enter this profession so that I could prevent this from happening”, I want to help people”
I spent a lot of time thinking and praying about this experience. I did learn a big life lesson from it. It made me realize that death is inevitable to us all. We will die, it is a given. Up until that point I had just been going about life thinking I always had tomorrow to do something. I may have tomorrow and I may not. We never know when our life could end. It could be today, tomorrow or thirty years from now. From life’s first cry to final breath, Jesus commands our destiny. It’s His choice not ours.
So what can we do about it? The answer is nothing. What we can do though, is make sure that we are prepared to leave this life behind us at any given moment and live forever in His amazing grace. I made the commitment to try and enjoy every single day of my life, to not be negative( and I still struggle with this, as sometimes we just want to complain and not focus on the positive), to live to help others up, and be a bright spot in people’s lives, just as my friend was in mine. I also learned that we must be prepared to say good-bye to a family member or friend at any given time.
Throughout my time and reflection, there were a few things that stuck out to me; I would like to share them with you. I hope they mean as much to you as they do to me.
1. Read the word of God daily and spend time with Him. He is our strength and our comfort.
2. Never leave home without telling your parents and siblings that you love them. Even if you are mad at them, still say it.
3. Never say good-bye to a friend without telling them how much you appreciate them, and that you care for them.
4. Say thank you, to your parents, grandparents, sister, brother, your friends, or whoever deserves it. Thank them for what they have done for you. Say it when it’s least expected, and when it will make the biggest impact.
5. Remember these three things, I can change the world, I will change the world, I have changed the world.
6. Live so that you have no regrets, everything happens for a reason (Romans 8:28) and God never gives a person more than they can handle. So why would you have regrets?
7. Remember that you can’t find time. You have to make time. There may never be a ``next time`
8. Live your life that so that when you are standing before God you can say `I have used everything you gave me`.
9. Do not worry- who by worrying can add a single year to their life, also worry is a sin!
10. If you love someone...TELL THEM!! You may never get the chance to if you keep putting it off.
I know that I cannot speak for everyone in this room, but I have been guilty of not following these golden rules( as I like to call them) I have been known to forget to thank people, I forget to tell my friends and family that I care about them and that I appreciate them, I’m forever saying `` Oh I’ll do that or say that the next time I see so and so`` and just ask anyone who knows me and they can tell you just how much I worry! (This by the way is most of the time!)
I also know that death is something that not many people like to talk about, it makes some people squirm in their seats, and you want to look anywhere but at the person who is talking about it. I know that I would rather have my legs waxed....one hair at a time, then talk about death. But let’s face it it’s a part of everyday life and we have to deal with it. Our relationship with God, how we live our life and how we treat people will affect how we deal with it.
So I guess the question that I’m going to leave you with today is this, `Are you ready to say good-bye to a family member or a friend at any given time or leave this life at any given moment and live forever in His amazing grace``
I encourage you to make the commitment to see each day as a blessing and to remember “This is the day that the Lord hath made, I will rejoice and be glad in it”. Enjoy every single day you have, and focus on the positive not the negative. Be a shining light to someone!
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