Don’t let anyone tell you; “you can’t do that!!!”

Our youth director at the ROC Pastor Rsen Ortiz did a fantastic message to the Chosen last week and I think it’s worth repeating here. It’s something that we all need to focus on and if I had gotten hold of this earlier in life who knows where I’d be today.

His message was simply “What do you want to be when you grow up” We were talking to our teens and we just spent the time we had together going around the room asking them all what they wanted to do with their lives. More importantly the follow up question. What were they doing today to get them closer to that goal?

It was amazing some of the things we heard. We had kids that wanted to own their own businesses and some that wanted to be engineers. We had a veterinarian, and someone who wanted to serve their country in the military and yes we had several who have already decided that they wanted to serve God in the ministry. It was a truly inspiring time and it caused me to think back about the experience I had when I told someone about my dream.

When I was entering high school I was called into my “guidance counselor’s” office and asked that question. What do you want to do with your life? Well I mustered up all the courage I could and I told her. I want to be an Oceanographer or a Marine Biologist. I wanted to be Jacques Cousteau. Well she looked at me and looked down at my file, looked back at me and then back at my file. She took her glasses off set them on her desk and proceeded to tell me that I did not have the math skills to do that. That I’d never make it in that field and that I should try and decide on something else that was a little more within my reach.

This was my dream; I’d never told anyone this before. I just knew I loved the water and spent most of my time underwater. I walked out of that office and I was devastated. Here was this person of authority telling little me that I was not good enough to do the one thing I wanted to do in life.

It was about that time that I stopped playing sports, started hanging out with the trouble makers and began to experiment with drugs. That single event was a pivotal moment in my life brought on by someone who I should have never given that much power. You see I now know that it was not her decision to make. I just allowed her to make it for me. That’s the thing I want to impart to the kids I work with today. It’s up to them and no one else.

We sometimes forget how much influence we have on the young people around us. We forget that they look to us for guidance and encouragement. That they need positive reinforcement in their lives and if they don’t get it from us they’ll get it from someone or something else. We often forget the power of words. The bible teaches us that God’s word is sharper than any two edged sword and the words we speak to our young people are just as sharp. Chose them carefully and you might just help create the next Donald Trump. Use them foolishly and you might help create the next thief, drug addict or alcoholic.

Words have meaning, they make a difference and they do cut like the sharpest two edged sword. So go ask a young person in your life what they want to be when they grow up. Then encourage them, talk with them about it and start making a plan to help them get there. Working backwards one step at a time until you discover something that they can do TODAY to help them move toward achieving that goal. One of my favorite expressions was imparted to me by Earl Nightingale and it was simply “What the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve” Now go change a life, and in the process make a life changer. Thanks and God bless.