Hope is Putting Faith to Work When Doubting Would Be Easier.

This morning, I got an email from someone I had never met before.  I realize that's normal for everyone to find in their SPAM folder (or occasionally in their inbox when the junk filter fails them), but this was a directed email, specifically for me.

It was from a high school student, from where, I don't know.  But she knew my email address and she was asking about how she might go about volunteering at Pomona Hope (which means she also knew I'd be the one to talk to).

Who knows if she'll follow through?  But for a high school student to take that step with no prompting and no previous connection to me is very brave.  Actually, it's not just brave, it's faith.

If you've ever received a mission letter from me in the past, you'll have already read my views on faith.  But here goes again:

Faith is risk.  This is something I learned from my favorite Bible professor in college and it has followed me around ever since.  To better explain this, I remember a story about the difference between belief and faith that I once heard.  

There was once a world-renowned tight-rope walker who was set to walk a tight rope across Niagra Falls while pushing a wheel barrow.  He asked one of the spectators if she believed that he could do it without falling, and she replied "yes."  His response was to tell her to get in.

It was a risk for this high school student to even try to step out of her comfort zone to help some kids she's probably never met.  I never would have considered it in high school.  After subbing for high school for 4 years, I think I can safely say that most high school students wouldn't consider it "cool".  But this girl found Pomona Hope, thought (if even for a split second) that she might like to volunteer there, and then wrote an email to the person she found was the best to ask.

Maybe not a big risk to some, but considering our continued need for more volunteers to offer the best after school program possible to our kids, maybe it is a big risk for most.

I hope she comes to the training tomorrow.  I'd really like to meet her.

UPDATE:  She's from a high school several towns away (still no idea how she heard about us... as far as I know we don't have any connections there) and she probably can't make tomorrow night's training, but we're working on figuring out when she CAN train. :-)