“I’m a teenager I’m not supposed to be answering these questions!”

I got to join my co-leader of the high-school bible study as she took out one of the high school girls, Carlisha, for discipleship. Northwest Neighbors has a value of not only having a structured bible study for the kids to learn and discuss, but to also invest one-on-one in theirs lives. Carlisha has seemed to take a liking to me ever since I offered to give her a ride home one night. She seems to think my roommate and I are “cool”. She and her mentor, Karen, have invited me to join them on several occasions, but I’ve always had other plans. So I finally made it a point to meet with them.

After bible study that week I had asked Carlisha about the gangs in the neighborhood because I heard she was quite educated on them. She got excited to share about them with me as it’s a large part of her daily experience. She told me the names of the gangs, their boundaries, what colors they wear, how to know if they’ll shoot you or not, and so on. I asked her what percent of her friends were in gangs and she said 75%. Wow!! Carlisha herself isn’t in a gang and she has managed to gain respect from many gang members to the point that they won’t mess with her.

God has really put this young girl on my heart and I’m beginning to see how God could really use her. At one point when we were meeting with Carlisha she said “I’m not used to having people asking me how I’m doing. I’m used to always helping everyone else out.” We were trying to convince her that she can make a difference in society because she had trouble seeing that. She began to tell us how it is difficult for her because people come to her with some crazy situations. She gave us a couple examples: A Black girl is dating a Mexican and gets pregnant. Her mom hates Mexicans and her boyfriend’s dad hates Blacks. Does she have the baby knowing her mom will hate her or does she abort it? OR a girl has syphilis and gets pregnant, should she have the baby? Then Carlisha said “I’m a teenager I’m not supposed to be answering these questions.” All in all, it was a cool night. I feel like Carlisha is willing to learn, she just needs people to teach her. We were able to talk about privilege, global poverty, spending less to give more, enabling vs. empowering, catching someone a fish vs. teaching someone to fish, and how Carlisha can and is making a difference in people’s lives, in her school and in her neighborhood. To her she was just telling her gang bangin’ friends to go to class, but we helped her see that even though that seemed small, her friend being in class could save a life. I’m thankful God has allowed me to be a part of Carlisha’s life. I’m just asking God now, how do I equip and empower her to continue making a difference because her gang bangin’ friends aren’t going to be talking to me everyday and God has put her in this position for such a time as this. Now, to get her to see that!