each end of the spectrum

I know I have a habit of using annoying words. I digress (I'm doing it again). A couple of weekends ago, I experienced two complete opposite kinds of physical contact with youth. I'm not a creepy weirdo so I don't seek out physical contact with minors. Anyway, I am employed at two places which have similarities at times, but are usually very different. They both involve working with middle school and high school students. I work at a church where I do things like teach the Bible, plan events, and much more. I also work at a Juvenile Detention Center. At the church students come because either their parents made them come or because they want to be there. Youth come to the Juvenile Detention Center because they were arrested. I really like my job at the juvenile detention center. I really love my job at the church.

Most Sundays I am at both places. A couple of weeks ago I was reminded of just how different these jobs can be even though they both give me the chance to try to care for students. In the morning I performed my first baptism. It was a big honor, nerve racking, and a humbling experience to baptize someone. I had not been in a baptismal pool since I was nine years old when I was baptized. I can't really put into words, but it was a great privilege to baptize someone. I did it mostly right. I thought the waters were higher than what they are and didn't go down quite enough. I love how we do baptisms. The person getting baptized tells why they want to be baptized. The answers are so bold and exciting!

I experienced the opposite when I was at detention that night as I was involved in my first board restraint. At the Juvenile Detention Center sometimes we have to physically restrain youth if they continue to insist on being a threat to themselves or others. Occasionally, it progresses to a point where we need to strap the youth down to a restraint board if the situation isn't really improving after a long enough time and they are still a serious threat to themselves or others. After physically restraining a youth (out of nessecity and not because I wanted to) we had to strap his entire body straight onto a board so that he would not harm himself. Every 10 or 15 minutes that he was calm then we would take a strap off. I imagine that would be a traumatic experience. Anyone who would need to be put on a restraint board has likely already been threw many traumatic experiences. It was a very emotionally intense experience for me. I was glad we were able to stop the boy from trying to hurt himself for the rest of that day.

Both experiences involve caring for youth and wanting good things for them. However, these experiences could not be much more different. I am so blessed to have two jobs that I really enjoy where I can care about adolescents. They give me such a rich variety of experiences. Life is such an adventure!