Today, at TreeHouse, is our All-Staff Fiscal Year-End Celebration. Today’s event is our annual review and celebration of what God – through people – has been doing at TreeHouse in the past fiscal year. We’ll enjoy lunch, have fun together and sing celebration songs.

Today will also be the announcement of our “Persons of Hope” award winners.

Each year, staff submit their votes for awards are given to recognize TreeHouse employees for their excellence in what they do. As our Executive Director Becky Walker explained, “we know that some go above and beyond the ‘call of duty’ each and every day and we want to acknowledge those efforts!”

Last year I read Grace by Max Lucado in which I found some profoundly good news.

Jesus does not say, “Come to me, all you who are perfect and sinless.” Just the opposite. “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28 NASB).

There is no fine print.

A second shoe is not going to drop.

God’s promise has no hidden language. Let grace happen, for heaven’s sake. No more performing for God, no more clamoring after God. Of all the things you must earn in life, God’s unending affection is not one of them. You have it. Stretch yourself out in the hammock of grace.

Reader JenniferMacLeod[~= @JenMacAtlGA82 recommended that Josh Groban’s “You Are Loved (Don’t Give Up)” be included in this series.

I had forgotten about the song, and when I watched the video I fought back tears.

Watch You Are Loved (Don’t Give Up) here. (Lyrics below)

I cannot begin to tell you how accurately this song describes what I have experienced at TreeHouse since 1989.
– Teens lost, lonely, and screaming-longingly to feel heard.
– Parents seeking, searching, and silently-longing to be encouraged.
– Friends hoping, hurting, and helping their friends limp along.
– Youth ministers, teachers, counselors, politicians and police officers looking for solutions.
Every week I see the looks on people’s faces when they feel heard and find hope.

Be a part of the transformation and make a difference in the lives of area teens at the annual TreeHouse Gala!

Musical Performance by Singer, Songwriter and Actor
Josh Groban

Thursday, May 2, 2013  – SORRY it’s SOLD OUT
Reception, Raffle & Silent Auction will begin at 5:00 p.m.
Doors open for dinner at 6:00 p.m.
The Depot, Minneapolis

A year ago I only knew a few of Josh Groban’s songs other than his Christmas album called Noel. My early take was great voice, beautiful melodies, and, well, a handsome guy. That was several months ago.

Last night as I sat in a TreeHouse support group I sat in awe.

There surrounded by junior high teens I found myself grateful for their patient listening, gracious sharing and genuine compassion.

Most of the teens in my small group had been part of TreeHouse only a few weeks, yet directly and indirectly each teen reminded the other that “this is a safe place.”

Safe places are too few and far between. Those safe places, cared for and nurtured by safe people are safe harbors for the strong and the able, the weak and the wounded, and the lost and the wandering.

I’m an introvert with an extrovert’s job.

I’m an introvert with an extrovert’s personality.

Most people who see me work, especially when I’m teaching, would have no idea I am an introvert. 1
– I’m loud
– I’m funny
– I’m dramatic
– I’m engaging
– I usually teach dialogically
– I pursue relationships with others

And, I’m an introvert.

I’m reading Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities.  It’s been a hard book to read; lots of pain.

“If you hear in my voice — I don’t know that it is so, but I hope it is — if you hear in my voice any resemblance to a voice that once was sweet music in your ears, weep for it, weep for it!

If you touch, in touching my hair, anything that recalls a beloved head that lay on your breast when you were young and free, weep for it, weep for it!

Unconditional love, unfailing love (as the Bible calls it) or “love without strings” as we call it at TreeHouse is a rare & precious commodity.

A commodity that you and I can increase.

To paraphrase Leo Buscaglia, “A loving relationship is one in which the loved one is free to be herself or himself
– to laugh with me, but never at me;
– to cry with me, but never because of me;
– to love life,
– to love yourself,
– to love being loved.
Such a relationship is based upon freedom and can never grow in a jealous heart.” 1

While it’s true that love can happen anywhere, there are standards and expectations that provide an environment in which a healthy community grows.

As I wrote yesterday, “every week as I sit in our TreeHouse support groups I am in awe. Teens find hope amid their hurt, faith amid their fears, and love despite their pangs of loneliness…I wish everyone had a community like that.”

I Wish We Did Too

As my friend Hudson pointed out tonight, the following list is a wish list — Imagine If… — based on hopes and dreams. While some of them are possible, and others are measurable, there are on the list that are almost fantasies; but, still we reach and stretch for more.

Every week as I sit in our TreeHouse support groups I am in awe. Teens find hope amid their hurt, faith amid their fears, and love despite their pangs of loneliness.

I wish everyone had a community like that.

As I tell the teens all the time, this level of communication, this kind of intimacy and this freedom to be flawed or successful without judgement can happen anywhere, at anytime when people have the same vision and similar communication skills.

Love can happen anywhere.

It’s a choice.