derring-do, bubbling with life. Just was a college freshman when I first heard about Christ's Youth in look at them, so cool and hip! But look Action (CYA).But it wasn't until I deeper - they are coming to terms with their identities. They are flustered was a senior that I finally became involved. Before long The word conjures up images of vigor, bursting I would be • enthusiasm, derring-do, bubbling with life. graduating from by the world with its thousand-and-one college. Having been a member for such ideas, philosophies and lifestyles. a short time, I felt that it was too soon for me to leave it. I enjoyed being part of CYA.I believed in its mission. It Not surprisingly, many are fearful and anxious, from the mundane ("Oh no, what a disgusting pimple on my nose!") to the truly profound ("What's the meaning of life?"). They are apprehensive about their future, and dismayed with the relationships they can't seem to handle - with parents, with friends, even with themselves.
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Youth'
Don't pooh-pooh their worries. Many of them are growing up in dysfunctional families. Some never knew their parents. Some have been abused or molested. Some have too much money to spend, too little love to really feed on. Be there to help, and if you can't help, just be there.
They Are Searching For Their True Identity That was true for me. I guess I was grappling with an "identity crisis" as early as Grade School. But it was only in my senior year in college that I realized that I was trying to be "everything to everyone." A people-pleaser, deep down I was terribly insecure about myself. I became very dissatisfied and unhappy. Overthe years, with the help of friends and books, and seized with a growing confidence in the unchanging
made sense to me, therefore, to set aside (what I then thought as) a "couple of years" to serve as a full-time staff worker. Little did I know that the "couple of Don't pooh-pooh their worries ... years" would become eleven! But Be there to help, and if you those were 11 of the most can't help, just be there. meaningful years of my life. In that span of time I learned many lessons about youth and about youth love of God for me (for me? Incredible, work, which I would now like to share put true!) I gained deeper insight into with you. who I was, and who I could be.
The Youth Have Many Fears and Anxieties Youth! The word conjures up images of vigor, bursting enthusiasm,
An "identity crisis" need not be a crisis if you're there to point them on the right direction. They need to learn that they won't discover who they Continued on page 2
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