Conflicted

It's been an interesting few days to say the least. My youth group put on the second annual The Big Night yesterday and all in all it really did turn out to be a great event. The weather threatened all day and we got a few hours of clear skies but when the skies opened, boy did they open!!! The rain was one thing, but with lightning all around us we really had to consider everyone's safety and call it about 3 hours earlier than we had planned on. We ended the night with the guys from Our City Sleeps singing "Rain Down" which was a perfect way to end things. Speaking of Our City Sleeps, if you get the chance to see them live you should go do it!!! They really are one of the best bands I've heard in a long time and genuinely nice guys to boot.

I also got some unsettling news from a friend yesterday. While it wasn't unexpected and I kind of saw it coming, it didn't make it any easier and right now I'm wondering if there's anything I could have done to prevent it. If you're familiar with the situation you'll know what I'm talking about, otherwise just call it a semi-unspoken prayer request and say a prayer cuz God will know what you're talking about.

Here's a song lyric for this week:

Cold rappin' for the King with a sting in my voice
Not condemnin' men or women, but relayin' a choice
Higher groud is the sound that I'm talkin of
Opportunity knocks through a different love
Not love like we know it, like ya love your girl
It's a love from above not of this world

Tidbits from my youth group

Even though I've been a youth leader for close to 20 years, teens never cease to amaze me. 2 examples from recent meetings:

2 weeks ago I did a lesson on how the kids view themselves, their future and why it's important to keep God first no matter where you think life might take you. I was asking a series of questions; one of which was "When you meet a person of the opposite sex, how do you see that person in relationship to yourself?" My experience tells me that this question had serious rabbit trail potential. So before asking I told the group that I wanted them to write down the first thing that came to mind, and not to over think it. Well that might work in a youth group without Kody L. in it, but Kody just has a unique way of seeing the world and has had the whole class in belly laughs with his comments and opinions on multiple occassions. So we're discussing the answers to the question and Kody L. raises his hand and says "you said the first answer that came to mind, right?" My brain went "ut oh" and I said "yes" and he said "OK, cookies and pie." Which preceded to send the whole group, myself included into what was probably a good 3 minutes of the aforementioned belly laughs.

And last night we were talking about Jesus healing the 10 lepers and just the one returning. I threw out the question "How do you think Jesus felt when only one returned?" After the standard "disappointed" "sad" "angry" answers, Abbey H. raised her hand and asked 'Why did he have to feel anything, he's God he knew the weren't gonna come back didn't he?' The question is even more insightful when you consider that Abbey just moved up to senior high 2 weeks ago. Carey and I explained that we don't know for sure that "man" Jesus knew everything beforehand and she seemed okay with that. Since Carey is her dad I'm sure it made for interesting car talk on the way home though :D

Never, Ever Forget

Random Stuph 09/06

I know it's been a while, for some weird reason this time of year always seems to be a down time for my blog postings. No idea why, it just is.

I've had a pretty busy few weeks, took my old Taurus for inspection last Friday and they said it needs new ball joints and new tires and it'll be about a bajillion (ok, $700) bucks for us to do it. I told them to go ahead and put a rejected sticker on it and I'll see if I can get some help from some friends. I called my friend Homer and he said he could do the ball joints if I bought them. Well they cost me about 60 bucks and he has my car right now fixing it. Although after talking with his son yesterday, Homer may be regretting actually agreeing to do it. More on that in another post. Once the ball joints are done, it's off to Mr. Tire, Costco or somewhere that tires are cheaper than what the other guys want.

I rediscovered Larry Norman recently. Larry was really the first "Christian" rocker. He was an incredible musician and definitely did not fit into the mold that the church wanted him to. If you get a chance check out some of his music, it may sound a bit dated but the lyrics are incredible and you won't be disappointed.

Speaking of music, if things work out there will be another Song Lyric Sunday Contest soon. Now, I may post lyrics on Sunday between now and the start of the contest but there will be NO PRIZES until the contest officially starts.

I spoke at The Night last Saturday night and while I have been a youth teacher/leader for close to 20 years, this is the first time I've actually had to prepare something akin to a sermon and deliver it front of a crowd. I was a bit nervous but other than feeling like I rushed through it a bit I thought it went well. I got good feedback from several people who would have no problem telling me if there were problems with it.