Do you remember the first time you saw the ocean? You walked toward the surf as it foamed and tumbled toward your bare feet. You had to squint to be able to see where the blue sky turned to liquid and the waves disappeared over the horizon.
Do you remember your grandmother’s apple pie? The golden crust cracked open just enough to smell the cinnamon and apples marinating just below the surface. Each piece that was cut seemed too small to satisfy your sweet tooth.
Do you remember your first junior high dance? A cafeteria never seemed so small until there were a couple hundred middle schoolers with hormones raging and each one clamoring to get as far from the opposite sex as possible. Each young heart began to race once it finally heard the first beats of whatever song was most popular at the time.
Today when you visit a beach, the sand and sun take you back to the day your eyes first saw the ocean. One whiff of apple pie makes your mouth water as you recall your grandmother’s tasty treat. With the first stains of that old song, your heart skips a beat, and suddenly you’re back in that middle school cafeteria.
What is it about certain moments in our lives that evoke memories from the past? How is it possible for them to be so vivid and powerful that we actually could feel transported back to that time and place? Everyone has had moments in his or her life when he or she thinks, “I never will forget this,” or, “This has changed my life.” There seem to be instances that are so exciting, happy, tragic, perfect or terrifying that they never leave us.
In the Old Testament, we have a God who capitalizes on this uncanny ability humans have to remember and recall. This God seems to do things that inspire awe and wonder or fear and respect. The very thought of these supernatural encounters evoke emotion and devotion from those who experienced them. The followers of this God witnessed rainbows after massive floods, rivers split in half, amazing victories in battle, giant man-eating fish, pillars of fire and smoke, angelic beings and bread from heaven.
Generation after generation heard these wonderful stories because they would take the teller back to the very moment of first seeing these things. Furthermore, this God told people to stack stones and create memorials as a way to remember what He had done for them.
Also, this God became human and walked among people. He performed amazing signs and wonders, healed and restored those who were sick and broken, delivered those who were oppressed, fed 5,000 people with a boy’s lunch, smeared mud in a man’s eyes, turned tables in a crowded temple, brought a girl back to life, turned water into wine, died on a cross and came back to life.
This same God lives inside the people who follow Him, becoming intimately involved in their daily lives. He gives people the power and authority to do greater things than He has done, knowing that when people encounter His power, grace, mercy, authority and love, the smallest trigger can produce a flood of memories.
How do we facilitate moments when students encounter God in life-changing ways? How do we give opportunity for God to move in students’ lives so they are forever changed?
The word remember is used 166 times, in two ways, in the New International Version: in reference to God remembering something He has promised and in reference to people remembering their devotion to God. Part of God’s character is an ability to remember. As creatures made in the image of God, we have been instilled with the same quality. God has given us the ability to recall because it is something He does. The Bible suggests this ability is the very thing that evokes an emotional response to God’s activity in people’s lives. Memories that spur this kind of response are a gift from God. They are a part of His plan to catapult us into new levels of spiritual maturity.
My spiritual growth began in the eighth grade. My family recently had moved to Texas to work with a mission organization, and my middle school life had been ruined. I had left friends and familiarity for the unknown, and I was not very excited about it. In fact, I was deeply unhappy, and I made sure everyone who was around me knew it. In truth, I considered myself to be the center of the universe: Unless things went my way, I never was going to be happy.
Does that sound familiar?
My encounter with God took place in a smelly, dusty, hot trash dump outside Monterrey, Mexico. I neither had been out of the country, nor had spent much time in a dump. As I looked around, I noticed the people who lived on these dumps had made homes out of whatever they could find from the trash around them. Cinderblocks had been provided by the government to construct walls, but the rest of the house was rusty tin, nail-ridden boards and shredded plastic. The children from these shanties followed our group wherever we went. They had no shoes, and their faces were covered in dirt. As we walked, I could feel something inside me begin to break loose, as if my frozen heart was beginning to melt. It felt as if my insides were being shaken to pieces. Tears started to well up in my eyes, and I could sense my heart softening.
Thousands of miles from home, and there I was seeing God in a Mexican dump. I had everything, and I wanted and more. The Mexican children had nothing and were content. The people who lived there had something I wanted desperately. They had a love for God that surpassed their circumstances. I finally broke when a 7-year-old girl gave me a tattered old cross necklace made from yarn and beads. That experience changed me. God moved in my life in a single, supernatural moment. I still have my little cross necklace. Each time I see it, I immediately am taken back to that dump and reminded of when I experienced God in a transforming way.
These are the kind of moments God calls us to facilitate for our students. I believe God desperately wants us to create environments, programs, trips and conversations that never will be forgotten. I believe God has placed us at pivotal points in students’ lives to give them the experiences they need to go from spiritual infants to men and women who remember what God has done in their lives and trust Him because of it.
Three questions for creating memorable moments:
What makes this programming piece memorable?
How can you remind students of their pivotal moments?
How can you help students share their experiences with others?
This article is for youth pastors who are serious about seeing long-term change in their students’ lives, for the middle school pastor who is convinced Sunday School can be more than an hour of weekly babysitting, and for the youth volunteer who believes experience is the best teacher. Go ahead, evoke life change.
