For Christmas this year Clay bought me the entire series of the tv show, "The Wonder Years." The show aired on ABC from 1988-1993, with each season being set exactly 20 years prior to the air date (so 1988 takes place in 1968). I had been trying to find this show on dvd for quite some time, with no sucess. We were suprised when it came in the mail from China, and even more suprised that it was a copy of reruns from the ABC Family channel (it turns out that ABC hasn't made the show available on dvd). As soon as I put the dvd in and heard Joe Crocker singing the theme song, "Have a Little Help From my Friends,"  I immediatly felt all warm inside with memories of enjoying this show each week with my family growing up.

Clay and I love this show, not only because it brings back fond childhood memories, but because of what the show is all about. It is focused on the Arnold's, a typical middle class family living in the suburbs in the late 1960's. It's main character is Kevin Arnold, who is beginning junior high school at the start of the first season. The show is narrated by Kevin when he is an adult, as he recalls his experience of being an adolescent. The show is wonderfully done. Every person that watches it is immediatlely able to relate to Kevin and his experiences.

Youth ministry has been a calling that Clay and I have shared since we were youth ministry. When people ask us what we do and we say that we work with students, a frequent response is "Oh yikes! Good for you, but I could never do that...junior high were the worst years of my life!" We just smile and say that the same is true for most people. But we know it doesn't have to be true. As I watch Kevin and his fellow junior highers struggle through growing up together, I am instantly taken back to my own struggles during that time. That is when I feel called to youth ministry more than ever. The problem is that people forget what adolescence really felt like.

 When I think about what it would have been like to have somoone who was speaking into my life during those junior high years- someone who cared about me, who I could trust to be honest with and who would understand what I was going through, that is when youth ministry's value grows exponentially. When I entered High School, I found that at my youth group.

So...

A special thank you to Clay for getting me the series. I know that as we watch it together we will only  be able to relate that much more to the students in our lives!