When it was written that the church should meet regularly, I'm pretty sure our youth group was not what was meant...
We study, mainly, more so than any other youth group I've ever heard of(and my parents used to be youth pastors, so I've seen a bunch), but when we get together for a night of fellowship...look out, haha. We gathered together tonight to mail out newsletters for a ministry to unmarried pregnant women that one of the families supports, it was an interesting time. Several thousand newsletters were readied for mailing, by about fifteen people in about three hours, I discovered there's a ton of hand muscles you don't realize you have - this coming from a guitarist, who uses his hands to play (and type)often.
It was fun, it was productive, we had some good conversations while working, and waiting for dinner. The friends who were hosting, their house has a nice atmosphere, it feels like you're at home. (Or maybe that's just cause I'm used to noisy, loud houses, being the oldest of five kids?) When you add in the little siblings that tagged along, there was about twenty-five or thirty people altogether. After a dinner break, and about a twenty-minute recess for playing Frisbee with the dog and shooting baskets, it was back to work. Until we ran out of tape. So, off five of us older teens went down to the pharmacy for some more Scotch tape. (We have this thing with pharmacies - We can never enter them without something strange and noteworthy happening.) It being like, eight on a Friday night, we were the only customers in there, and there was maybe one guy working a shift. So we, two guys, three girls, all go marching in, searching all around for Scotch tape. We finally find it, then stare at the prices for five minutes trying to figure out which brand is cheaper, and who has enough money to pay for it, and who we need to borrow from. We got it figured out, and look around for the checkout, making slight detours at the peanut M&Ms and Monster drinks(Already having had at least one apiece, and all on the edge of broke, we just window-shopped.) The guy working there is nowhere to be found. What do you do when the person you want is nowhere in sight? Well, if you have lots of little siblings(between us, we had ten), you holler. We would not have done this if any other customers were at the store; however, as previously stated, it was empty except for us. "Hello?!" "Yeah, um...we're awesome, so can you come check us out?!" The guy(a bored looking black guy in his late twenties or early thirties) comes walking up, me and Marie look at each other, then convulse with laughter. "SAM....!!!" Katie is trying to figure out what the three of us(by now, Sam's realized what she said) think was so hysterical, Dylan blandly buys the tape, most likely wishing he hadn't driven us all down here.
After returning home in the pickup, we rejoin the newsletter crew, who were taking an enforced break whilst the shopping commenced. We then finished the other thousand or so, amidst an atmosphere that could only be called "Bedlam". Or maybe "Teenagers on Sugar and/or Caffeine Highs". It was a little wild. So much so that you had to text the other people in the room, because you couldn't be heard in all the noise.
We eventually got them all done, though we found new ways to torment(good naturedly, of course) the middle schoolers while finishing. So then we went on to a game of Sardines in the very dark backyard. It was a little too easy, certain people don't know how to shut up when hiding. Then we found out we'd overlooked about twenty newsletters, so we had to get those out of the way. Once that was completed, a game of Red Rover was started, and the trio of seniors sat on the porch swing and talked. It didn't end so well. A routine shout-out wound up in a hammered forearm, and that was pretty much game over, sending a girl to the emergency room, we haven't heard any word yet, but it didn't look too good. Praying for her.
Strange ending to a strange, interesting night. I'll really miss these guys a lot, something I never thought I'd say when I was in middle school, just joined. But it's part of life, part of growing up, and they'll be okay. We've got a good teacher, and people who can step into our places well, they'll probably do a better job leading than we did. Life isn't exactly clear, what the next few months might hold, but it isn't exactly shrouded in fog, either. Kind of opaque, slightly see-through. But we're just trying to take one step at a time, when God shows us a little ways ahead, trusting that He'll work things out how they should. It's kind of scary, but kind of exciting. Wonder what the future's gonna hold?
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