Jul 8, 2019
Last weekend, like most weekends this summer, I stood in front of teens at a Steubenville Youth Conference talking about heaven and hell. Also last weekend, like most weekends, fewer teens came than I'd hoped to see.
Don't worry; I'm not taking it personally. At the conferences, the workshop is offered at the same time as a workshop about dating. Ninety-five percent of the teens opt for the dating talk. The other five percent opt for mine. Which makes sense. Discussions about relationships naturally capture young people's attention more than discussions about eternity. Nevertheless, last weekend, out of curiosity, I began my talk by asking my five percent why they came to my workshop and not the dating one. One young lady raised her hand. "I want to make sure I go to heaven," she said.
Jokingly, I responded, "So, you think everyone at the dating talk wants to go to hell?"
The teens laughed, and I moved on with the talk. But I've been thinking about her response ever since. It's unusual. Not because she wants to go to heaven; I think everyone at the conference wants the same. Rather, it's unusual that she's thinking about heaven at all.