I work with a very talented and competent youth minister. He is in the process of pursuing a graduate level degree that will better equip him to serve families. Naturally he comes back to Granbury armed with all kinds of new information that he is gleaning from his coursework. I love it. I can be in school again vicariously. He is on the cutting edge of research being done about families, which is helpful to all of us on the church staff.

Last week he presented some material to the entire church regarding teen culture. It was very insightful data. When he pointed out research that indicates that adolescence is stretching into a person’s mid-twenties, I wanted to run away from home. He is also pointed out that adolescents of all ages in today’s world feel incredibly abandoned. Even kids who have two parents at home are not immune to feelings of abandonment. That caught my attention…

Our culture fosters a scary kind of isolation for young adults. I see it in the lives of the teens I interact with everyday. Parents are busy with their own lives and their children are doing their own thing. Kids are left alone to maneuver through the maze of decisions that are faced with everyday. The sense of community that small town life offered kids growing up is disappearing fast.

I needed a word of hope after his message the other night. I needed to know that there are still good things happening in families. I needed to hear a story of hope in the midst of the craziness. It came rather quickly.

A friend in another city wanted to find her biological father. It was her intent to at least be able to gather family medical history. But God had much bigger plans in mind. He always does. Her brother found her on Facebook of all places. His search and subsequent discovery led to his newly found sister meeting him, her father, and a host of other family members. His simple search led to a family gathering that will no doubt linger in every participant’s mind for many years to come. It was a sweet reunion. It was a moment of reconciliation. It was a time to catch up. I suspect that hugs and tears were abounding all weekend. And I have a strong hunch that most, if not all of those family members have felt the hollowness of abandonment over the years.

Abandonment hits people like a tidal wave every single day. It is a damaging wave that refuses to go away. But the damage can be averted. Healing begins when someone takes that first step. Someone has to log on to Facebook, and start searching. Someone in the family has to be willing to be vulnerable and risk potential rejection. God can work miracles in the midst of such actions.

When I heard this story of reuniting, I thought immediately of the movie, Antwoine Fisher. It may very well be one of my all time favorite movies. In the final scene, the matriarch of the family reaches out to the young man who has finally found his relatives, and grabs his hands. The camera pans in on the older woman’s wrinkled hands, as she says…..Welcome…. That is the cure for abandonment. A warm welcome from those whom we love the most… Let’s stop the daily wave. Let’s choose to make the first step.