From the Thanksgiving holiday:

- Ashes on a hearth rug smell like burning rubber. Ewww. Open up the doors & windows!

- No matter how smart it seems, if you can't open an old jar of molasses, slamming it on the concrete patio is not a good idea.

- Mixing red and blue food coloring into frosting does *not* make purple. It makes a disgusting purple-tinted brown.

-Uninspired Christmas shopping = 7 1/2 hours in a shopping mall with no gifts to show for it. But I did have a good time!

- A cafe mocha does strange things to me.

- Pioneers who heated their homes with wood-burning stoves must've been nothing short of amazing. It seems like all I do is feed that fire. It's a ravenous monster!

- Being on the mountaintop alone means I sleep with a dog at my feet and a shotgun within arm's reach. And still, I only lay down and sleep in peace after praying.

Finally, don't schedule things every day on a four-day weekend. As The Sis succintly said, "I hope you learned your lesson." I hope so, too.

A housefull of teenagers means hilarious, raucous, incredibly fun times. Let them loose for an hour or so and they'll take over ten or more rooms---always gravitating towards the food. They will sing Christmas music in mid-November, scramble around on the floor play-fighting for a pen, take the noise level up several decibels, turn a card game into violence... and end up cushion-sledding across a hardwood floor. "They'll entertain themselves." A slight understatement. :)

I love youth people. A card game called "Apples to Apples." And parties. Most definitely. :)

... Because they break the heart of God.

It's hard to see the destruction that sin brings on people's lives. There's been many times lately that I've felt heart-pain or physically sickened by the manifestation of sin's consequences in the lives of people around me. Truly, the enemy does come to Steal, Kill and Destroy. Through the sin of man's rebellion, we have opened the door to the enemy. Now he has free reign over sinners. And us saints, we just have to sit back and grieve over the destruction--crying out to those suffering, "Why don't you surrender to the Savior?" Now I'm not preaching a life-enhancement Gospel. I'm just saying that when you surrender to the Lord, that Death cannot have dominion over you anymore. Your destination is not Eternal Death, and your journey is no longer laced with the shards of broken glass that you are dragged over through this life. For a true Christian, life may be pain... but we look forward to the Hope of Christ. For the sinner, there is not hope, no future joy, NOTHING but agony and destruction and the horribleness of pain that never ends.

Onward:
-the sound of a man arguing with his wife on the phone at work.
-a long line of barely-toddling babies walking down the sidewalk, with their care-takers walking in front and behind. Where are the mommies?
-teenagers who come home to an empty house.
-fathers missing physically or too weak to stand for Godliness in their own homes.
-mothers acting like children.
-kids who have never heard a loving, compassionate or kind word between their parents.
-girls who sacrifice their purity in the name of fashion.
-young men ashamed to pray, ashamed to worship, ashamed to stand on God's side.

I could go on, but that's enough heartbreak for one night. The fact remains: Unless people humble themselves before God Almighty, their lives will continue to spiral into darkness that ends only in the burning depths of hell. It is the selfish rebellion of humans that causes pain and heartbreak. The person who thinks their sin will only affect themselves is deluded. Sin sends a ripple of earthquake-sized destruction through family, friends and many others. Sin does not only touch the guilty; it also affects the innocent. But on the guilty, there will be great judgment.

And Christ is the only answer. Not counseling. Not therapy. Not money. Not anything else. Only Jesus Christ, our Lord. May His name be exalted above all others!

Last night the youth group and the campus group united for a Halloween outreach. We went downtown and did the "Freedom" drama about 6-7 times. In between dramas, and the campus group did this all the time, we handed out tracts with candy and talked to people. I estimated that we handed out about 1000 tracts! As usual, there were some interesting responses. One person said, "I just KNEW you were a cult!" The Little Bro calmly answered, "Oh no, we're not a cult. Anyone is free to leave any time they want to. In cults, you are forced to stay." Smart boy, that one. :) Let me ramble for a second though---just because we care enough to talk with people about their eternity does not make us a cult. It makes us unselfish. It makes us real Christians. Anyway, the outreach was a really good time and we all came back tired and happy.

The Appreciation deal came before the outreach. My fingers were covered in red, black and green face paint (which combined into a very ugly color) and everyone's talkin' and laughin'. The Sparkly Girl gets everyone's attention and basically says to me, "Because it's Pastor Appreciation Month, and though you're not our pastor, you're our leader-person and we just wanted to tell you that we appreciate you alot!!" Awwww. So they gave me a card and gift, which someone else had to open for me--because of the paint all over my hands! It was some Sour Patch Kids (cause I love 'em) and Swedish Fish (cause I love making "Swedish sushi") and..... drumroll please.... a gift card to Barnes & Noble! How awesome! Now I just have to figure out what I'm gonna buy. I'll probably end up putting it towards a set of Old Testament commentaries. I need to get The Pastor's recommendation on non-heretical ones first, though. :) If anyone knows good ones, please comment and tell me.

I (heart) my youth... and not just 'cause they gave me presents!