“Kids these days!”  I can’t even count how many times I’ve heard that said.  The statement alone puts an incredible rift between adults and kids.  I’m realizing that this ambiguous, yet ever-present “rift” is doing far more damage than I can fully wrap my mind around.  From my own experience in adolescence a few years ago, to teaching middle school kids in a suburb of St. Paul to working at an alternative school for “at-risk” kids of Philly, to the a high school class of Rib Lake students, to countless campers and youth groups—-I’ve watched a lot.  My heart has been broken by what I have seen in the lives of so many adolescence. One thing is certain—I am reminded over and over again how challenging life is for today’s kids and teens.  Our world and culture has changed dramatically; subsequently, today’s youth are not the same as they were 25, 10, or even 5 years ago.  Today’s teens are a highly misunderstood and abandoned generation.  This weekend, through hearing from and talking with Chap Clark, one of the leading researchers of adolescent development and youth culture, Larry and I were reminded of the hurt they carry and the implications for connecting with them.  My heart is aching for kids, students, adolescence all over.  So as I type this and step into the summer,  I commit to a few things. I commit to approaching youth without an agenda.  I commit to sitting on the steps of their world.  Instead of creating a relationship fostering a need to perform and conform, I desire to know the story of students regardless of how messy it is.  I’m not sure exactly what this will look like.  But isn’t this what we all want?...a desire for others to approach us without an agenda, a desire to be understood, a longing to be loved no matter what?  Somehow that’s the sweetness of the gospel.