Appreciation

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!