My wardrobe is all wrong

Yesterday it hit my like a ton of bricks: My wardrobe is all wrong.

1/3 of my closet contains a collection of what I call my "chaperone shirts". Each is a shirt from a youth trip that I have chaperoned. I can no longer count how many trips I have chaperoned in the last 17 years, but add them all up and it works out to over 6 months on the road.

Before each trip I count up the days, anticipate the work, ponder which young people were on which trip, double check the fit and then pack by bag with chaperone shirts for the trip.

My first chaperone trip was AMAZING, a mountain top experience. 40,000 teens descending on Atlanta for a national youth Gathering. I had pictures of the bus, pictures of the lines, pictures of the crowds, pictures of 40,000 people singing the same song, pictures of the speakers. I had pictures of all of the cool and amazing things. I got home, excited to show my bride and the world all of my exciting pictures....and no one cared. You haven't taken a camera on a trip since.

But, that collection of T-shirts is something of a postcard collection for me. I can look back over the years by looking in my closet. And I can feel good about doing my part to help an entire generation of young people find their way in the world as I earned each of those shirts.

But, yesterday it hit me: My wardrobe is all wrong. There are sooo many important projects going on in this world and my choice of wardrobe does absolutely nothing to expose the young adults that I am working with to these projects.

To Write Love On Her Arms // Clothe Your Neighbor As Yourself // Polaris Project // ......

Imagine the conversation I would have over breakfast on day 1 of a trip if I was boldly wearing a bold shirt. And, I don't mean "I <3 Boobies" (Which is fine if you are a lady, or are a guy who truly is into the cause....but comm'on guys at least get honest about why you are wearing the shirt) Then a second bold shirt on day 2. By day 3 the young adults would be asking what my shirt was about. By the end of a week I would have had something like 50 conversations about how young adults can become engaged in the world for justice.

Then, instead of wearing postcards about where I have traveled, I begin to create a road map of where they could travel.