YouthWave Malibu

It is Monday morning here at YouthWave and I am thinking alot about what Ben started. I continue to believe that the fruit of this event will be seen for many years. Someone once said to me and I have repeated many times, "You can count the seeds in an apple, but you cannot count the apples in a seed." It is fun to see the development of the people who are working here. I am in a very different role than I have ever been at a youthwave event. I am a dad and a sponsor. I am not speaking or training at all. It is kind of weird and wonderful. I love Brian Mashburn and I am really enjoying the ministry God is doing through him. But it is still different to have to be on the kids schedule. They stay up later than I like to and they are in class all morninng. It is good for me to go back to the beginning.

I sure am proud of Hutton and Bailey. They are so good. They exhibit a love for God and a sensitivity to the people around them that makes me very proud. I have to wrestle with how to balance being a sponsor/minister with being their father. The tension between discipling my kids and giving them room to grow is a little tough. Both of them have expressed that they feel the pressure of trying to live up to the family name. I sometimes forget that. Sometimes the family legacy feels like a burden to carry instead of an inheritance to enjoy. We have several kids here without that legacy or with a legacy of an altogether different sort. I know my kids wouldn't trade places, and that line of thinking isn't always helpful. Pray for us. I really want Hutton and Bailey to experience the living Jesus in the fullness he desires.

Grace,
Tod