The Middleton

Perhaps you are taken aback by the title fragment on the line above. Seemingly uncharacteristic of an English major, isn't it? Answer 1: Even the mind of an English major thinks in fragments from time to time. Answer 2: Before we graduated, they told us that we were allowed to use fragments so long as we knew they were fragments and did it for a significant reason.

The interesting question behind the fragment is one that the greatest minds of the world have pondered before undertaking anything. Even the not-so-great minds have a habit of asking if the outcome outweighs what it requires. After having hypothesized, some hesitant soul reaches a conclusion and acts. Yet, even the most forward-thinking, perceptive, brilliant mind must take a moment to reevaluate the situation after having acted upon the final hypothesis. My point? I'm not only normal for doing what I do, but perhaps also prudent to do so.

Today, having not just tested the waters but having been fully immersed in the new position at Miracle Meadows, I began to ask myself the same question. Here I am, working in the middle of nowhere trying to help kids who appear to not only have no desire to be helped but present a resentment for the implication of my presence that perhaps they do need help. Earlier in the day a student began comparing me to other staff members, stating that I am the best one there (for clearly biased reasons) and predicting that I would eventually hate the school but would never leave because I don't ever give up. It's funny how kids have their own little way of giving their expectations all the while trying to pass them off as reality. (Looks towards the clock—poised at 11:56PM—and slaps forehead muttering, "Focus, man! Focus!") But, I must digress.

Worth it? The answer came this evening as I had a conversation with one of the older students. It started with him just asking about me and my background, seeing that we'd never really conversed seriously. The discussion then turned when he began asking what I learned at the ARISE Institute—from which I just recently graduated. I told him of all the classes and the things we studied in the Bible. He then asked about prophecy and just what the Bible says is still left to transpire before the Second Coming of Christ. I led him through some passages I could think of off the top of my head that have not yet been fulfilled, and from there, the conversation grew. In the end, the heart of the discussion was a follow-up to the biblical view of Judgment Day. We talked about what God is really looking for in His people and how we, knowing the standard, seek to meet it in our own strength—which always proves to be wholly inadequate. I then showed him the man of Romans 7, who has the desire to live a Godly life but, while serving God with the mind, finds his actions inconsistent with his desire. As I talked with the young man, he completely identified with that frustration and expressed the desire to escape from it. Before bedtime arrived, I was able to share with him some simple methods from scripture through which he can begin to unite his actions with the Godly aspirations of his heart. As he was walking away to retire for the evening, he said, "Thank you," and then asked if we could talk more tomorrow.

Worth it? Yes. These few days in the wilderness of Salem, WV have not been the easiest in my life—more like some of the most challenging. Tonight I ask myself, is it really worth it? It is. If that is the most I ever get to minister to the students while I am here, it is still worth it, but I speculate that this is only the beginning. Worth it? More than worth it.

Hello to all. As you may have guessed, I miss you all a lot.

I just arrived to my new job as dorm staff at Miracle Meadows School (a boarding school for at-risk youth in WV) two evenings ago. Last afternoon began my "Two Weeks of Hell," as it has been called by the staff. The basic idea is that I'm working 2 weeks straight in the dorm (336 hours in all) to see what I'm made of. Being nearly 24 hours into it, I see why they call it what they do.

Naturally, this endeavor has been accompanied by intrepidity and and anxiety--intrepidity in that I'm doing something I've never done before on a scale that I've never even imagined, and anxiety being the natural result of uncertainty. The only certainty in my mind at present is that the Lord has called me here, and keeping that in mind, I press on.

One passage of scripture has been indelibly etched in my mind since I decided to come here; Philippians 3:7-14

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith--that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Coming here, I realize that though I have a decent amount of knowledge and experience in a lot of things, I cannot rest on that, but rather I must consider all my accomplishments as worthless in order to reach the level upon which the Lord is calling me to minister here at MMS.

Your prayers are and will continue to be much appreciated.

Much love to you all,

-The Middleton

"The key to deception is to provide just enough truth to make people swallow the lie."