Archive for July, 2009

What if someone gave you almost 70,000 youth ages 12-18? 

Sounds crazy. But, it’s true. You were given nearly 70,000 youth. Pierce County has pushed these numbers in this age demographic for the last few years. Yes, these are our youth. They need love, guidance and caring individuals. Remember back to a time in your life, a time, when you were 12-18 years of age. Maybe like many youth in Pierce County you needed love, you needed guidance or you needed a caring individual. Maybe you had the best of family and life. Maybe you had the worst of life, no family, no home, no where to go. Either way these nearly 70,000 youth have been laid in our community, in our neighborhoods and in our hands. If you are a youth, a young adult, a young married couple, middle aged or a grandparent you can make a difference, you can make a change. I do not know Michael Jackson’s life other than what the media says, yet I was recently reminded of the words of the lyrics of Man in the Mirror, “I’m Gonna Make A Change, For Once In My Life, It’s Gonna Feel Real Good, Gonna Make A Difference Gonna Make It Right . . .” (http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/michaeljackson/maninthemirror.html) 

Jesus states it plainly in Matthew 19:14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Wow! What a great truth from the greatest person of all time. In verse 15 it says Jesus placed his hands on them. Now, that makes me think: did he only pray, hang out with them, give them food or money. We may not know exactly, yet he loved, cared for and guided them and forbade not his disciples from allowing them to come to him. May this story and words help lead you to take notice, encourage and give a hand to the nearly 70,000 youth in Pierce County.

Ted Frazier

”Where was God a year ago!” With tears in his eyes, Dave sullenly remarked to his cabin mates his disappointment with God. He came to Island Lake camp because I wanted him to be there… and he wanted to go because he had nothing better to do and there was a ton of fun things to do. God, however, brought him to camp because Dave was going to have an encounter with Jesus!

It was over a year ago that Dave’s mom died. It was a tough year for him. He was a loner kid; sat by himself at lunch and most other students kept their distance. But I always made an effort t to come to his table to see how he was doing and to say “hi.” He had let me know at Campus Life that his mom’s health was declining. We would pray together for his mom’s healing. When his mom died, however, he stopped believing in God; at least from a biblical view. Dave would still come to Campus Life but I knew that he was exploring other religions.

This past year I made it a priority to get Dave to camp. Money was a huge obstacle… they did not have any. But we worked together to get him to this awesome week. He was most excited about the tubing and motocross. We would still talk during the school lunches and he would share his various spiritual observations. Before we left for camp he made it clear to me that he did not believe in God or Jesus. He called himself an “agnostic.”

At camp Dave was fully engaged in every activity. He loved the water sports, paintball and interaction with other students. He especially enjoyed the speaker who challenged Dave in his disbelief in God because of the bad things that happened to his family. Through the small group interaction, the cabin time and in one-on-one conversations Dave began to adjust his belief system. By Thursday night in the Cabin Time he admitted that he did believe that Christ was God and wanted a relationship with him. Dave, however, was afraid to commit to a relationship because he was troubled by his unreliability!

The last day of camp as we were ending the day and after all the activities, small group interaction and the speaker’s talk, he was ready to make a decision to follow Christ. It was not an easy choice but he was fully aware of what it would cost him. He was ready and with tears in his eyes and a smile on his face he committed his life to Christ.

Island Lake was a remarkable week where God was made known to kids… where they were at. It was exciting to be there for the week and to watch God move on the hearts of the campers. David’s story is repeated over and over in the lives of students. What an awesome experience to be apart of life transformation.

Thank you for your prayers and financial assistance to impact the lives of 107 middle schoolers and staff!

I walk in the doors of YFC  and enjoy watching the visit happening between some birth parents and their kids.   Busyness is all around, and kids are in visit rooms and in hallways.  I decide to go get the mail, and as I walk around the hallway, there is a finger pointed in my face, “It’s her fault. She did it.”  With no further explanation, the woman continues in the room, and I decide…A quick run to Starbucks is definitely in order for today.

Upon my return, I see a clown getting out of his car.  A clown…at YFC…this is going to be a very interesting day.   I meet “Chuckaloo” in the lobby of the building and find balloon animals in all of the children’s hands.  Some days YFC feels like a circus, but today…it really is a circus.  I spend a half hour with Chuckaloo in a visit and am surrounded by balloon bears, flowers, and dogs.   I also end up with a turtle on my wrist.  Thanks Chuckaloo!  After all of the chocolate cake, presents and guests, the visit is over and a van hauls away the 1 year old and all of her new treasures. 

Reports are getting written, calls are being made, little fires are being put out and some are getting bigger.  Will someone be able to watch a kid on my caseload for a week?  Did that child’s fever go down?  Is my cell phone dieing again?  Can I go on vacation?  Who just got added to my caseload?  Is it my turn to blog?

There is one more visit to help with today.   I will get in and get out.  What’s that? You want pictures of all three of you?  Of course!    Camera…don’t fail me now.  Everyone on the couch!  You…out from under the table. Uncover your eyes.  Put that tongue back in…well…that’ll do. 

Whew…today is over and I realize…there’s nothing that I would rather be doing. 

It is truly amazing how God works!  Whenever He reveals his plan in people’s lives Jeremiah 29:11 always pops into my head,  ^“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  At a time where I was in a transitioning period I prayed that God would reveal His plan for me by closing certain doors and opening others.  By letting go of what I thought my plan should be for my life, I was shown that His plan for me was much greater than I could have imagined. 

I have always had a heart for children and desired to have a job working directly with them; particularly with children that have been abused and/or neglected.  Before coming to YFC, I was in a position where I worked with foster children but often felt that something was missing.  Then, God showed me that he had bigger plans for me and placed me at Tacoma YFC as a foster care case manager.  Now, I not only get to do what I love everyday, I also get to fellowship with people who share my same excitement for the Lord!  The staff at YFC is very supportive of each other and it is encouraging to pray with co-workers about anything and everything.  Furthermore, our foster homes are full of parents who not only love the Lord, but love and care for every child that come into their homes.  The foster care ministry at Tacoma YFC is definitely one of a kind and I feel blessed to be apart of it!

Friday mornings at Peirce County Juvenile Court are filled with laughter, balloons and cheers.  I was privileged to be a part of this last Friday morning as Bruce and Shari adopted Marie, a 9 year old girl.  Marie was so excited to be in a forever family she wanted to share her joy with everyone around.

Friday was especially meaningful to me because I was able to give Marie her Youth for Christ adoption blanket.  Adoption Blankets are made by a loving supporter of YFC she embroiders soft fleece blankets with a cross, the child’s new name, and the date of their adoption.  When I handed Marie her blanket on Friday she opened it with joy filled eyes and was so excited about what it said.  The rest of the morning Marie did not put down the blanket, she showed everyone that came by what it said.

Marie with her forever family! Notice her YFC adoption blanket!

On Tuesday night I took Kelsey, my 10 year old daughter to YFC National middle school camp at Island Lake, near Poulsbo. This was an opportunity to have a “daddy/daughter date” as well as watch some of our Tacoma YFC staff and volunteers in action. Kelsey was immediately struck by how many people were at camp – over 200 – and really surprised when I told her that over 100 were from Tacoma. However, my greatest joy was that continue

Brandon came to camp a “dark” young man.  His brooding personality combined with gothic clothing gave the aura of someone who wanted little or no conversation.  Yet here he was, 8 hours from home at YFCamp in British Columbia, away from the pressures and expectations of every day life.  His Campus Life director told me the other day, “There always seemed to be sadness and depression hanging over this kid.  We prayed all year for Brandon to come to camp.”

But something miraculous happened… continue