Karen and I are headed to Guatemala tomorrow morning to do the final debrief of our World Race team that has been going around the world for almost a year now. It is such a thrill to see these young people come alive.

Along the way they got rid of a ton of internal baggage, began to drill down to their true identity in Christ, and they began to wake up to what he's doing in the world and how to join him.

So it is such a privilege to assist them in this process. When we first started the World Race, I thought that it would be a year and then they'd move along in life, leaving me to process some new group. The surprise for Karen and I is that we can't let them do that!

During the course of a year as we watch them press in to the growth process so intensively, we begin to fall in love with them. And by the end of the year, many of them feel more like sons and daughters than they do like participants in some program.

So as we become enmeshed with these young people, our lives are being changed, just as their lives are changing too. I was born to build things and manage things - that's been my identity for much of my life.

But these kids are turning me into a softer version of that person who listens to stories and gives hugs and even weeps when they're going through a hard time.

It's disconcerting and awkward sometimes, as most deep change usually is.

If it were just a debrief or two, it wouldn't happen, but

when we help launch them at training camp, hang out and comment on their blogs, pray them through their crises, and fly around the world to meet them counsel them and encourage them in who they're becoming, it's just an inevitable thing.

Some of you empty-nesters out there need to try this ministry - it will wreck you. You can start by reading their blogs.