INTERN VOICES

intern voices

Hannah Cayetano, from Medford, OR, completed her internship last December. She returned to Liberty University to fin­ish her Bachelor’s degree in Social Work this spring.

Hannah shares, “I have never laughed more in my life than I have in the three months of being at the Ranch. I never expect­ed to care this much about a group of teenagers. I never thought that I would want to cry in loss at the thought of finishing my field internship. God made these beautiful, ridiculous, and bold teenagers. He placed them in my life for this time. And yes, they drive me crazy with their antics. But they make me laugh in pure joy and they inspire me through their resilience to get back up again and again after being hurt. What an honor it is to love them. What an honor it is to know them.”

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Alec Thies also completed his intern­ship in December, returning home to Kalamazoo, MI.

Alec reflects, “I’m a big picture person; I spend a lot of my life thinking about the overarching truths of my life: God’s purpose in creating the world and me, heaven and hell and what happens after death, and just the mind-blowing fact that I exist.

There’s nothing wrong with dwell­ing on those realities, but God has begun to show me that there’s a disconnect between these realities and the way that I actually live my life. Maybe I can put together a great sounding dialogue on God’s sovereignty or the problem of evil, but can I fight my selfishness enough to take extra weight from someone’s backpack when they’re struggling? I can spend hours reading the Bible or a theo­logical book, but can I take five minutes to come alongside someone in pain? Jesus didn’t spend his whole life reading books and pondering theology; he was with people, living with them, healing them, loving them. He didn’t keep score with a transactional, this-for-that love, expecting something back from those he loved and growing resentful if it didn’t happen. He loved freely, sacrificially, unconditionally.

I feel that God is calling me to love in that way. To bring the key realities in my life from heaven and down to earth; to live them out in whatever season or wilderness trail or dorm room He’s called me to. I’ve missed this call for a long time, and I will continue to struggle and fail, but I know that God’s grace and  the power of the cross will sustain me.”