Battleground

Man, here I am again, thinking that I have some really funny things to post and not being able to recall them! I know that since the last post Lucy has cut her first tooth, Simon was in the emergency room (all for me to watch an MD use a giant clippers, and not much else), and Tavin is as dark as coffee (sun tan already).

Wednesday nights are our Youth night and this week I think I saw the most disgusting "activity". The kids were divided into "chocolate" and "vanilla" groups. Then, each team was given a tin of chocolate or vanilla pudding with SARDINES in them. The object was to be the first team to get the sardines out, using only the fine motor skills of their toes. Dih-skuh-sting. It can be a difficult ministry to be involved in, you want so much to help some of the kids that are from really hard families and tough situations. We are regularly approached by kids that have been assaulted, have a pregnancy scare, make bad choices, etc. and are sometimes the only people they have to speak truth and God's love to them. And then keep on loving them anyway, and give them a ride home, while you want to grab their shoulders and shake the living daylights out of them. I am continually reminded that "People are expensive", one of our pastor's wife's favorite sayings. I also had a very wise woman tell me "Baby Christians are just like babies...they poop and puke on you." Amen sister. I guess it should be considered refreshing that some of these kids just haven't been in church enough to learn to pretend that everything is fine and that they should act differently at church than they do anywhere else. No plastic christians here. It has definitely felt like a war zone the last few months.