Teenagers amaze me. So many of them love life with grand passion and face it with unrelenting optimism. Sometimes they demonstrate the Christian life in ways adults can only hope to emulate.

Such is the case with Carissa, a teenager who loves football, friends, family and Jesus. In 2000 her mother was diagnosed with cancer. Carissa was just 12 years old but she began caring for her mum.

During the next few years, Carissa often fed her mum, dressed her and helped her do anything she couldn’t do for herself. “It was so hard to learn,” she said. “Can you imagine, a mother and daughter literally changing roles? I truly learned to be a humble servant.”

Sometimes, while her friends were out having fun, Carissa was helping her dad to take care of her mum. She continued to do so until the summer of 2004 when Carissa and her family said goodbye to their mum for the last time. As Carissa puts it, “God took her home and made her perfect.”

Carissa reminds me of Epaphroditus who sacrificially cared for Paul’s needs (Phil. 2:25-30). What examples of caring, love and compassion! Not all of us, of course, could set aside our lives to give as they did. But their sacrifice can teach us all about the value of servanthood.

Author

Dave Branon

Topics

Our Daily Bread