Reflection: Joe who?

Recently a friend recommended the movie "Empire Records" to me as one of his favorites. So I watched it and I have to say I really liked it.

For those who haven't seen it, its the story of a group of teenagers working at a music store in the mid 90's. The opening scene shows Lucas, who has been trusted with closing the store for the first time. He repeats "Joe's rules" (the boss) and vows to uphold them, and immediately the scene cuts to him not only breaking every rule at once, but also snooping around. He finds a proposal for the store to be bought out by a mega-chain and instantly decides to help avoid that fate by taking off to a casino with the entire night deposit planning to win enough to save the store. Naturally, it doesn't work out.

As the movie progresses we see that all of the teens are dealing with some pretty serious personal problems including drugs, sex, suicide, and shoplifting, and this is the short list of issues. And in the middle of it all, there's the store manager Joe. Despite being short $9000 he spends most of the day trying to help his workers to work, and still find a way to save the store. He does everything he can to buy time for Lucas to come clean about where the money went. He seeks out the hurting kid who has a bandage on her wrist. He wrestles another to the ground when she breaks down and becomes a danger to herself.  He stops everything to face off with an angry hurting teen he hasn't even met before. He doesn't just hold the store together, he holds these hurting kids together. Over and over Joe gives them a chance when no one else would. He believes in them, and by doing that, gets them to believe in themselves. Kids need a Joe.

It reminded me of why I first got involved with youth ministry to begin with. I want to be a Joe for kids who don't have anyone else. Someone believed in me when I needed it most, and its a big part of why I am who I am today. If I'm honest, I have to admit that it took several someones believing in me to get through to me. I'll always remember those people as the ones who noticed and cared enough to do something about the mess I was in.  It wasn't their mess, it was mine, but they helped me in all sorts of ways.

It was big stuff and little stuff.  Someone gave me rides to work when it was raining and I was too young to drive. Someone was there to talk to when my parents got divorced.  Someone told me that the 7th grade wasn't a good time to try and grow my hair out into a mullet. Someone got me tickets to a concert or two.  Someone gave me reminders about important things.  Someone told me "It's not all about you." Once someone literally dragged my brother and I to his car and raced to the store to buy some cards, flowers, and chocolates for my mom before she could get home... Did I mention this was on Mothers Day?  Also a little known fact: every few years my mom's birthday is ON Mothers Day... Sadly this fact didn't help us to remember either event.  His advice before he drove away: "Greet her at the door, yell 'Surprise,' give her these, smile big, and most importantly don't say anything about this conversation!"  It was pretty good advice.

These people believed I was worth the effort and time.  Why don't you take a moment to remember who believed in you when you didn't, and notice the difference it made.  Then figure out who you can "be a Joe" for, because sometimes knowing who believes in you is more important than knowing what you believe.  Because usually a person won't figure out what they believe, until they know someone believes in them.