The Bartletts

I’ve been working at Youth Horizons for about 10 months. It has been a short 10 months filled with lots of learning and new experiences.

One of the things that I’ve learned is that there is a great amount of need “out there.” I know that may seem like a no-brainer to some of you, but I live in a bit of a bubble sometimes. Happily married (at least I think so… maybe I should check with Tiff on that), three awesome kids (although they are growing up fast), great friends, a roof over my head, and food on the table. Sometimes I feel oblivious to all the needs that are out there, until I start connecting with some of the people on my caseload at Youth Horizons.

Just this last week I talked with two parents that were looking at a bit of jail time and one of these parents had no idea what to do with her children if the impending jail sentence was laid down. What a hopeless situation and I could do nothing to help.

As I talked to these people I remembered our vision statement at Youth Horizons – “Breaking the Cycle of Fatherlessness.” I realized that we are working to do more than break the cycle of fatherlessness. In many cases, we are working to break the cycle of poverty, incarceration, and welfare dependence.

As I thought about the need, I started to get overwhelmed.  Then I remembered our mentors, our donors, and our God, each working with us to help break the cycle.  I am grateful that I, and we at Youth Horizons, are not alone and I am grateful that “with God all things are possible.”

Just the other day I was visiting with one of our mentors, Ted. Ted is a business owner in Wichita and has been mentoring for a few months. He is a tall quiet man, loaded with wisdom and experience. His protege lives in the North central Wichita in a small house with a big backyard. I was talking to Ted in mid-June and he mentioned that the backyard at his protege’s home had not been mowed yet. The grass in the yard is above your waste and the yard is about an acre in size. This was a great opportunity for Ted.

Ted asked the mom to save up $200 and then Ted went shopping for a small riding lawn mower. He found a mower and brought it to the home. His protege, Carletos was charged with piloting the mower after a few lessons from Ted. You can be sure that a 12 year old boy feels like the man of the house at the helm of a gently used riding mower.

After sweating in the heat for most of the morning and nearing completion of the project, mom comes outside and wants to rescue Carletos. Ted saw an opportunity to teach and stepped in. “We have 5 minutes of work left, we need to get this done.” Carletos gladly stayed outside and finished the work.

At the end of the day, Carletos and Ted surveyed what they had accomplished. They had begun to tame a 1 acre jungle in Carletos’ backyard. Ted then turned to Carletos and said, “Carletos you can take care of this yard. There is no reason why you should have a junky yard.”

When Ted told me this story, I was beaming. There is so much that Ted taught Carletos in this one morning

• Finishing what you start
• Taking pride in your work
• Caring for your possessions
• Honoring your mother

I could go on and on. Ted is still a new mentor, but he is a great asset to Carletos and his family. I am grateful for Ted and grateful for the many mentors like Ted that invest in the lives of children in Wichita.

I’ve been working at Youth Horizons now for about 6 months. In some ways, I’m getting comfortable and in other ways I feel like I’m just getting started. The more I learn and experience, the more I see and understand the need for mentoring.

Coaching is one of the responsibilities of the mentoring staff at Youth Horizons. Our job as mentoring coaches is to stay in touch with our mentors, the proteges,  and their parents to help support the mentoring matches. I’m learning that sometimes it can be a challenge to track down the mentors and families, but it is also exciting to learn what is happening in these relationships.

Last month one of our mentors told me about a conversation that he had with his protege. At dinner together, the boy, who is in middle school said, “when I own my own house, I’m going to hang the poem ‘Footprints’ on the wall.” To which the mentor replied, “Really, why?” And the response from the protege was, “With all that I’ve gone through I can really relate with that poem. I can see that through all the difficulties in my life, God is with me.”

This may seem like a small story but it was significant in this mentoring relationship. Our mentors rarely see the impact that they are having in the life of a child. The short conversation shared above was encouraging to this mentor.

Thank you for investing in the ministry of Youth Horizons and allowing us connect mentors with children that need someone to listen them and show them they are people of great worth.

If you are investing in a child, either your own or someone else’s, I’d like to challenge to be faithful. At times it feels like we are having little impact, but  stay the course. Keep doing what is right. God is at work,  even when we cannot see what he is up to.