#42: The answer to life, the universe, and everything—according to author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series, Douglas Adams.

#47: Guaranteed, there’s at least one other Star Trek nerd out there who’s rejoicing with me on this one. I’d explain it to you, but it would take the whole column.

#231: The answer to the question I’m constantly asked.

More than a decade ago, a new church-planting pastor met a struggling graduate student who was looking for a place to live. Today this senior pastor and youth minister are friends, colleagues, coworkers, and, most importantly, companions in ministry.

We were at a student conference getting “trained” on how to witness to people.

I sat and listened with my youth group. There were more than 600 students in the room. The guy up front was walking through a pamphlet I’d read at least a thousand times.

The summer before a young man’s senior year in high school typically includes having fun with friends, watching a little football, spending time at the lake on a hot summer’s day, or catching up with the endless supply of summer movies. But for Colten the summer of 2007 would be one that was far from typical.

Ten months ago my husband died. Our second child had just been born. I’d been banking on “happily ever after.” Now, he is dead and I am not. I’m here on this earth with my “happily ever after” shattered in small, small pieces around me.

Just before lunchtime on April 20, 1999, I was sitting in a room with six youth leaders as another pastor burst into the room and interrupted our meeting with the news that “something bad was going down at Columbine.” He implored us to pray. We did. And then we carried on with our meeting.

Somewhere in Idaho there’s a kid eating an entire bag of Fiery Habanero Doritos. Meanwhile, in Vermont, another kid is eating a one-pound bag of Skittles. The tropical ones. Seriously. It happens all the time.

People need us—the church—to be a people formed by God’s story and mission to provide a path of escape, an exit from pain, a respite from wandering, and a shield from what assails.

Have you ever wondered if the little things you do from day to day as a youth pastor will ever make a big impact on students’ lives?

Three small things that other youth pastors have done for me have certainly made a huge impact on my life, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to tell you about them.

In the process of discernment, of opening myself to hear God’s intentions and leadings, I must quiet my mental processes. Not turn them off, but quiet them in order to hear/feel/experience God’s deeper call in my life.