Grant Cain
The amazing thing about Judas and Guadalupe was that their love of life and living it to the fullest was always the first thing I could see in their eyes. They were two of the twenty or so youth that I had the privilege of being with during the summer of 2007. On a typical day, the kids would be “diligent” doing whatever task they were to, and usually did, overcome. Sometimes, though, when that spark went off in Judas’ head, he would just get it and before I knew it he was asking me with his curious eyes to lean down and he would let me know that he knew how something worked. It was a joy to watch him put whatever he could of himself into the situation. Sometimes he would understand how to put just the right amount of spin on his dodgeball throw, and other times he would pipe up during the times we discussed God and clarify a point, nodding his head backward in confirmation of his achievement. Guadalupe would see the good in everything, even during the hard times (which there always were). When I had personal bad days (and admit that they were plenty), she would somehow know to come up to me in the midst of all the chaos and the noise and ask me to stoop down, farther than I had to for her brother, and tell me softly “You’re my favorite intern.” Nothing else could have made my day brighter. During our reading time, she improved massively, but much more in her confidence than her ability. She was already an excellent reader and it grew to become a joy in her life when, by the end of the summer, she would read aloud with determination to push through the difficult words.
Going into the summer, I thought I had a lot to offer to both my fellow interns and the youth I was going to be around; it wasn’t until the scales of pride fell off day by day, however, that I realized who was really being transformed. PT made me a better leader by forcing me to follow, listen, and learn from the simple and strong hearted. God brought many lessons throughout the summer, most of them through the kids; the last day, Judas and Guadalupe came to me individually and thanked me just for being me, what they didn’t know was that they had helped me be the person they could love openly. These are the rewards in heaven for us, and they are waiting for us to let God move us to the point of least resistance so that we can say as the light sparks on in our heads: we get it now. This is God in action.