I was chatting to one of the young people yesterday who had been on one of the two recent CRED trips. We talking about the trip, and what it had meant to her, and what she had brought away from it. I have promised not to name the individual, but she is happy for me to share what she said, as I feel that exemplifies another aspect of what CRED trips, and my work, are all about.
The key thing that she brought back from the trip is that life is too short and too precious to be wasted; and instead life should be treated as a gift that needs to be lived every day with meaning. So each day is to be lived seeking to do something that makes a positive difference - a pretty commendable attitude in my mind.
This young person is hoping to go to University to study law, and whilst she hadn't ever been totally clear in her mind how she wanted to practice law, the general feeling was to become a barrister and earn reasonable amounts of money. Yesterday she admitted that she's not sure that she is comfortable with that focus anymore - in her words 'whats the positive that I do for the world if I'm just helping one rich person sue another rich person'. Instead, she is now finding her thoughts drawn more to exploring options around law reform, and seeking to help change the laws that currently advantage the rich and disadvantage the poor, vulnerable and marginalised.
Now I totally recognise that after 3 years studying law things could turn out very differently again, but I was very encouraged by this conversation, especially as she attributes it all to the challenging, thought-provoking and inspiring CRED trip she went on.
These trips aren't just about helping the people overseas, although that is a very much a primary focus, and if we weren't bringing benefit to them we wouldn't do the trips in the first place. But another key side of the trips is about the impact that they have on the young people who take part.
This young person doesn't want to practice law anywhere other than in the UK, so its not that we are training up lots of young people to go and work abroad and abandon the local issues and the local communities. No, we are taking young people out to an overseas mission field, whether they recognise it as that or not, and then bringing them home to the local mission field, to get involved, to make a difference.
These young people are our next generation of leaders, and giving them opportunity to take part in life-transforming experiences such as these trips, is helping to shape them into stronger, wiser and more grounded individuals who thus have a greater capacity for dealing positively with the challenges ahead of them.
'Tis a privilege to be involved!
The key thing that she brought back from the trip is that life is too short and too precious to be wasted; and instead life should be treated as a gift that needs to be lived every day with meaning. So each day is to be lived seeking to do something that makes a positive difference - a pretty commendable attitude in my mind.
This young person is hoping to go to University to study law, and whilst she hadn't ever been totally clear in her mind how she wanted to practice law, the general feeling was to become a barrister and earn reasonable amounts of money. Yesterday she admitted that she's not sure that she is comfortable with that focus anymore - in her words 'whats the positive that I do for the world if I'm just helping one rich person sue another rich person'. Instead, she is now finding her thoughts drawn more to exploring options around law reform, and seeking to help change the laws that currently advantage the rich and disadvantage the poor, vulnerable and marginalised.
Now I totally recognise that after 3 years studying law things could turn out very differently again, but I was very encouraged by this conversation, especially as she attributes it all to the challenging, thought-provoking and inspiring CRED trip she went on.
These trips aren't just about helping the people overseas, although that is a very much a primary focus, and if we weren't bringing benefit to them we wouldn't do the trips in the first place. But another key side of the trips is about the impact that they have on the young people who take part.
This young person doesn't want to practice law anywhere other than in the UK, so its not that we are training up lots of young people to go and work abroad and abandon the local issues and the local communities. No, we are taking young people out to an overseas mission field, whether they recognise it as that or not, and then bringing them home to the local mission field, to get involved, to make a difference.
These young people are our next generation of leaders, and giving them opportunity to take part in life-transforming experiences such as these trips, is helping to shape them into stronger, wiser and more grounded individuals who thus have a greater capacity for dealing positively with the challenges ahead of them.
'Tis a privilege to be involved!
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