Hunter Lambeth and his family recently moved to Nazareth where he works with middle eastern teenagers. I met Makloof, and would have voted him ‘least likely to ever sign up for a Bible study’ after our camp this past summer. Below is a reminder of the power of God’s love, reproduced with permission from Volume 2, Issue 5, of Young Life Middle East Newsletter.
Susan’s mom, Lou Taylor, had a stroke last week. We would cherish your prayers as she has been moved from the hospital to a stroke center in Chattanooga.
Makloof with Hunter
Makloof was one of those kids. The kind that can drive you absolutely crazy and yet remind you why you signed up for this kind of work in the first place. On the outside he’s as tough as they come. Big, brawny, broad shouldered, always has his sunglasses on, indoors or out. Only wears shirts that pull tight around his bursting seventeen-year old muscles. I’ve been told he likes to challenge the young Israeli soldiers at the checkpoints on the edge of his native Palestine.
Makloof went to our Young Life summer camp this past July. I was glad he was there; a rough, raw kid who needed to know how much Jesus loved him. We met Day 1 as he came off the bus. That night I was ready to kill him.
We had our first run-in sometime after 2:00 am. I was trying to control my own room of hyped-up teenagers and Makloof was loudly roaming the hallway outside, apparently establishing his dominance as BMOC. I asked him to please find his bed, to help me help others do the same. I tried all the tricks of the youth ministry trade to try and get him to cooperate. Nothing worked. The next day I found myself spending most of my relational energy chasing Makloof to one event or the other – to meals, to club, to the activities we had planned, walking that fine line of buddy/leader. The leaders from his hometown who actually knew him tried as well. But Makloof seemed determined not to be broken – by us or by Christ.
We tried our best with Makloof and the other dozen or so teenage boys that were determined to imitate his defiant demeanor at camp. And he did begin to soften a bit, but to be honest, when camp finally concluded and the bus pulled away, rumbling off into the Judean desert, I finally allowed a deep sigh of relief. No more Makloof. At least for a while. At least for me. I was completely committed to praying for Yousef and the other leaders who would be tasked with the mission of remaining in Makloof’s life and working hard to continue building the bridge between he and Jesus. But as for me, I was very thankful to be headed in the other direction.
The next time I saw Makloof’s name it brought tears to my eyes and again, I was reminded of why we do this crazy thing called Young Life. It was in an email from Yousef, a week or so after camp. He had run into Makloof’s mother. Here is what Yousef relayed to me:
”I saw a woman (Makloof’s mother) calling me and I went to her to see what she wanted. The first question she asked me was, “Why does Makloof love you so much? And I answered her that it’s because I love him too. She told me that she likes me being a friend to him. So now Makloof is kind of visiting me everyday. And the last time he came he brought five friends of his to my house. It was so cool. Pray for us.”
Makloof with his Young Life leader, Yousef
That was in July. I was in Makloof’s West Bank village last weekend. He was there at Young Life club as he is now for every club. And he and Yousef and many others have been faithfully meeting together regularly, reminiscing about camp, dreaming about the future, opening up the scriptures, learning more about what it means to really know and follow Jesus. In fact, today approximately 40 of the 91 kids who went to our summer camp are involved in regular “campaigner” groups, studying the Bible and journeying together with their leaders through a life and in a place that often doesn’t offer much hope.
Thank you for helping change a life like Makloof’s. Thank you for helping us change dozens and dozens of lives in Israel and on the West Bank. Thank you for leveraging your prayers and your resources so that God’s Kingdom might increase in this complicated part of the world.
“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” — John 10:10
Hunter