People are messy. Students, in particular, are messy. Not in “clean your room” sense, (well that too) but their lives are messy. Their lives are marked by sin, hurt, sadness, pressure and brokenness. There is also hope beyond comparison.

Recently, I overheard someone say that our student ministry was full of messy kids. That all our kids weren’t Christian because of all the things they wrestled with. At first I was angry. I was angry because I was once just like them. I was angry because we are all born short of perfection. I remembered to take a breathe.

In that moment I praised God. I praised God because He went after the messy people, He pursues the broken and shows up for the lost. I believe that Jesus meets us in our mess. Yet, He doesn’t let us stay there.

I am not doing my job if we do not have some messy students. We need to create a culture of students that embrace they are messy and that through Jesus they are made clean. That there is grace and mercy for their failures and there is joy in the process of looking like Jesus. I want the messy students, I want them in our student ministry, with our leaders. I don’t want them to go anywhere else. I want this to be home to them.

Yes, we have a messy student ministry, full of messy kids, run by a bunch of messy people. But, we know Jesus. Every day we look at our mess and we choose Jesus. We are becoming more and more like Him daily. The road is long and wearisome but it is the only road that I want to be on. This messy road that leads me to Jesus.