I felt extremely blessed to have these opportunities and it reaffirmed my hope for the young church of both the present and the future.
However, I didn't get to spend a lot of time with my family during the 4 days. Sure, we went out for meals for Mother's Day on both Saturday and Sunday and Gail came with me to the concert on Friday night, but I felt a tad unfulfilled amidst the busyness.
I do my best to limit how much I'm away from home but it's always a challenge given the frenetic world of youth ministry. I constantly need to remind myself that youth ministry, as much as I love it, is my job. It's my career (for now). One could even say it's my calling. But it's not my vocation.
My primary vocation is husband to Gail and father to Sean, Jacob and Kayla.
My job is youth ministry.
As my good friend and mentor Mike Patin always reminds me: when it's my turn to give an accounting of my life as I sit face-to-face with Jesus, he's not going to ask me how many teens came to my office's latest youth rally, how many people I spoke to at the last conference, or how many people read my blogs and watch my videos.
He's going to ask me about the 4 people at home that he gave me to love.
He's going to ask me if they knew who he was.
I pray that my answer will be a resounding YES.
Clayton Imoo is husband to Gail and father to sons Sean Isaiah and Jacob Isaac and daughter Kayla Marie. He has served as the Director of the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver for the past ten years. Learn more about him at http://www.claytonimoo.com or follow him @claytonimoo
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