This morning we did an hour long show at the Girls' Teen Challenge house in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Teen Challenge is the ministry that grew out of David Wilkerson's outreach to hurting young people as told in the classic book, "The Cross and the Switchblade". http://teenchallengeusa.com/ Since that book, written in the late 1960's, Teen Challenge homes are all over the world, and this one is in a beautiful old home in the small city of Fitchburg and it is specifically for teen age girls. Many of these girls struggle with self injury, addictions and / or promiscuity and other anti social or criminal behaviors.

The first thing that we always observe when we go here is how young the girls are. I would guess the average age is 16. The second thing we always observe is how quickly they become kids again. They laugh, make witty comments, applaud, and ooh and ahh over the rabbit production. They love to volunteer for audience participation bits. There's something about juggling and magic that breaks through hard exteriors.

The show was good, although it took me a little time to get used to the low ceilings. In my opening routine, I do a neck catch which I immediately throw back up into my regular three ball pattern. When I went to throw it off the back of my neck, it bounced off the ceiling and hit me on the head. Note to self: always check ceiling heights before opening routine.

I ended the show with the story of the woman who burst into the party where Jesus was so she could wash His feet with her hair. The girls were hanging on every word as they were told that the woman's background, reputation and history were not what Jesus saw in her. He saw her broken heart and her willingness to humble herself and receive His grace. It was a special moment.

After the show, they were going to be going into a church in Boston as they girls at TC have a choir and they were going to be out ministering to others later in the day. How cool is that?