Who Are You?

Fifty high school kids are crammed into a basement designed for a family of five. Couches are squeaking and creaking under the weight of football players, cheerleaders, a couple nervous freshmen, and a kid no one has ever seen. The music gets everyone on their feet, singing at the top of their lungs, dancing like the night will never end. This could be any drunken house party on a Friday night, until the owner of the house steps into the picture.

A former professional basketball player in Australia, standing six feet nine inches tall and pushing three hundred pounds, Dewey Michaels (the home owner) is hard to miss. Standing at least a head taller than every kid in the room, someone asks if he played “Jaws” in that James Bond movie. More noticeable than his stature is the sound of his voice. On this Tuesday night, Dewey is sharing his own experiences from high school, capturing the attention of a very diverse group of kids. The room is silent as Dewey talks about what life has been and can be like – lonely, painful, confusing, boring, and scary. You can almost hear every kid’s heartbeat while Dewey explains that everyone has the opportunity to have a relationship with God. Hearts are stirring while attention spans are shrinking. Dewey ends the night with a simple yet profound question – “Who are you when you are alone in the dark?”

Dewey made a large footprint in my life right about a week after Paul Kneeland (see post on 4/22/10) moved to Sioux Falls, SD. I saw more leg than I really wanted when I noticed Dewey sitting in the sun at Foys Lake. After commenting on the amount of flesh that could be getting a nice sunburn, Dewey turned the conversation toward me. He asked if I was going to come to Young Life at his house on Tuesdays. I had a fun time at Young Life’s Fall Camp the year before, so I quickly agreed. Little did I know, Young Life’s focus was building relationships that encourage a relationship with Christ.

Dewey was good at building relationships with people. Sometimes it means he is pointing out the stupid things you did last weekend. Maybe he’s encouraging you to do your homework so you can graduate from high school. Quite often it includes talking about sports. More times than I can remember it involved laughter. But no matter what, Dewey’s main concern is where you are finding your identity.

In 1 Corinthians 15:10 Paul says “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”

Read 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 and ask yourself the question –

“Who are you when you are alone in the dark?”


(note - much much more could be said about Dewey Michaels - my sincere apology for trying to contain such a big person into such a short writing, but it is the end of the semester and there is so much work to get done ...)