The Kid With Long Hair

The Mexico mission trips were always a blessing, and an adventure.   We were always careful to send mission trip information to the churches prior to all trips.  And part of that information was the dress code, which unfortunately, was a mine field (I will write about that at a later date).  The rule regarding hair was that the men needed to have it cut and off the collar. 
On this particular week we had three different churches come on the trip.  Not long after they all arrived, someone came up to me and said a teen boy with one of the groups came with hair down on his shoulders.  So I investigated, and sure enough, there he was.  I went to his youth leader and asked him if he read our dress code.  He said he had, but was afraid if he told the boy to cut his hair, he wouldn’t come (my eye-roll occurred here).  Almost immediately after that, the other two leaders showed up and said they told their youth group boys they couldn’t come with long hair.  This wasn’t fair that one boy could disobey the rules and I needed to do something about it.  So, I prayed, and headed for the kid.  This was Andrew.  He was several inches taller than me, a loud and in your face kind of 17 year-old.  When he laughed and talked, he would whip his head around and his hair would fly.  I figured his hair was his “intimidation mask”.  We were in the print shop and I walked straight up to him and got in his space.  He started backing up, but I moved also as I talked.  He backed into a wall and stopped and I was still in his space.  I looked him in the eye and said calmly, “Did you know we have a dress code regarding hair?”  He looked somewhat startled, and politely responded, “No, I didn’t know that”.  We were both silent for a moment, then he said, “But I’ll cut it if you want me too”.  “You will?” I said.  He said, “Sure”.  “Wait right here”, I said, and left.  I grabbed Hector and told him to get his scissors and comb and follow me.  I pointed at the kid and told Hector to cut his hair.  He looked at him and asked me how he should cut it.  I said, “Just look in a mirror and cut it like yours”.  Hector said, “Brother, he has a lot of hair!”  I said, “He does, but he is agreeable, and we need to strike while the iron is hot!”  Hector put him on a chair in the warehouse and spent an hour cutting his hair.  After the haircut he not only looked very different, he became a different person.  He went from loud and in your face, to quiet and respectful.  And the ladies in the kitchen pointed out that under all that hair, he was really a handsome young man!  And they didn’t hesitate to tell him!  I told him he really blessed my heart that he was willing to give up his “right” for long hair and cut it for the mission trip.  That rule was there because the Mexican pastors we worked with requested it (as they were the requestors of most of our rules).  He told me when he got home his buddies were going to give him a hard time, but his dad would love it.  He had a great week and loved the mission trip.
I told that story to many churches, about the young man who was willing in this case to cut his hair if that would help bring people to The Lord.
About 6 years later, on one particular week we had several churches come with their youth leaders.  One particular group had about 15 kids, and the youth leader was being little hard on them about sticking close to our rules.  I walked up to him and told him that he didn’t need to be so tough on them as I saw they were really a good group of teens.  He then said to me, “Good!  I just didn’t want them to cause any trouble”.  Then he said, “You probably don’t remember me, but I came here about 6 years ago and I had long hair and Hector cut it”.  I said, “I didn’t recognize you, but I so clearly remember that!  I’ve talked about you and what you did to a lot of churches!  He said, “I went home and decided to go to Bible College after high school and I became a youth pastor.  I told my youth group about the mission trip that changed my life – and finally I was able to bring them to BPS El Paso!”
Andrew gave this missionary a wonderful blessing that day!  Thousands of young people and adults have been on those mission trips.  When someone came on one of those trips, for whatever reason, my goal was to have them consider missions or some kind of work for God as a life goal.  I wanted them to experience the joy and excitement of seeing the lost come to Christ.  To see the tears of the lost, the wonder in their eyes when they hear for the first time that God wanted all of mankind, that God’s initial goal was that none would perish, and that included them!  And it was a gift, a free gift!  And, how God always took care of his workers through prayer…. and see with their own eyes that prayer REALLY worked!  I encouraged them to turn their will over to God – and let HIM do the driving in their life.  He would put them on the best road!
And when I would run into people like Andrew, who was now serving the Lord and directing young people to follow God, I rejoice to think God gave me a small part in Andrew’s life.
If only we all would cast all our burdens upon Jesus, and follow Him! 
Praise God and shame on the devil!