Just as Joe Wenteworth from the movie Simon Birch says, "I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice, not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother's death, but because he is the reason I believe in God. What faith I have, I owe to Simon Birch, the boy I grew up with in Gravedown, Maine." This is true for me too. I'm not sure why I feel this way, but upon thinking about what I'm about to talk about, I thought of this one particular quote.
Simon Birch is not the reason I believe in God. But of the faith that I have, I do owe it to a lot of amazing people that I've come in contact with over the course of many wonderful years of growing up.
Two in particular that just stand out right now because I've been thinking about them a lot lately, are my two old youth pastors. I've had many Sunday school teachers at my church and many youth leaders, but not many youth pastors. In fact, these two are the only ones I would call youth pastors. Everyone else was a short term Sunday school teacher who not only taught us stuff on Sundays, but also chose to participate in our activities. Anyways, my two old youth pastors stick out to me the most right now because of what happened two years ago on this past weekend.
I just checked it out earlier today and realized that on the third Friday of October, it has rained three years in a row. It rained in 2006, 2007, and this year. That is so weird. And to think that I thought it was really weird last year thinking about it. I wonder if it will do the same next year. Two years ago, we had our second 30 Hour Famine, which was a blast. We did so many fun things. And it has been a major turning point in my life.
We watched almost every episode of Star Wars and a bunch of other movies. We played some very interesting games, which my team lost every time. There was a lot of saran wrap used. We saran wrapped our youth pastors to chairs and made them race. We stayed up until like five in the morning, but then the girls had to go into the other room. My one youth pastor said that if I hadn't been awake when she told me the girls were going into the other room, she would have dragged me into the other room. Then we all got saran wrapped together and had to walk as a team. I lost my balance, fell, and everyone came with me. I hit my head really hard on the floor and was paranoid about the whole thing for a while. After that, I was in the bathroom or something and everyone decided to see how well our youth pastors could work together, so they saran wrapped them together (did I mention that these two are now married?) I walked in and saw it, but walked back out because I didn't want to know what was going on. Since we stayed up so late, we basically did nothing on that Saturday. We laid in our sleeping bags almost all day watching movies like Over the Hedge. Never ever watch that movie on an empty stomach. It's a bad idea. Sometime in the middle of the night, I also started laughing for no reason and my youth pastor said, "Uh oh. I think Chelsea is slap happy."
What you are reading is mostly from my journal and another blog. You know, I think at the time of this happening, I might have thought about not going at all. My best friend wasn't there because she had to go to a wedding and at the last famine, we had totally hung out together. This time I might have been afraid to go alone, afraid to make my own path in the world. I used to follow my best friend around at youth events (and I still do sometimes), but this event was different. I don't actually remember ever being afraid to go alone. I just remember being ready for marching band to end that night, so I could go to the church and hang out with my friends.
That weekend, I got to know my youth pastors even more than the first 30 Hour Famine. I became more of an individual during this weekend. As I said above, I still do follow my best friend around, but not so much anymore. I'm comfortable with making new tracks in the dirt. I'm not afraid to go to things alone, at least youth group things (dances at school are a different story) anymore. Through this weekend I also started listening a lot more to our youth pastor. I finally got it and wanted to cut through the crap of youth group problems of no one paying attention. I craved and still do today spiritual food. I was listening to everything spiritual especially in Sunday school and to the Sunday sermons.
Last year I kinda lost all that and I really missed it. This year, I feel revived and fully on fire for the Lord again. I'm so glad about that. Unfortunately, I've been finding that I'm having a tough time getting anything out of Sunday school. Not sure what the problem is. I've been fine on Wednesdays ever since that icky etiquette class ended. I just don't get what etiquette has to do with our spiritual well-being. I find we don't get through much in Sunday school anymore. We do dumb things like trivia (who needs that anyways?), words of the day (good for vocab, but not meant for Sunday school), and questions (good discussion starters, but what if it has nothing to do with what we're talking about?) I just don't feel challenged enough in that area. All the other girls are completely for it. Of course, I'm sure we're all at different levels in our spirituality. I feel like I wouldn't belong with the adults either though. I wish there was an in between class. Though I could go macho and be with the boys. I used to do that because I really enjoy what my pastor teaches them. Even if it's the same thing the girls are talking about, I feel like I get more out of Sunday school if I sit in with the boys.
Anyways enough of my complaining about Sunday school. I completely just lost my train of thought and where I was going with the 30 Hour Famine. Oh wait...I got it back.
I could never thank my youth pastors enough for all that they've ever done for me. I know I say it a lot, but it's so true. I thank God everyday for sending these people into my life. And they're not gone just yet. I still talk to them and I'm thankful for the days I can still talk to them. And I think that's just about all I wanted to say for now.
Oh wait...one more thing. Thanks Matt and Lindsay for all you've ever done for me. You guys rock my socks!
No comments:
Post a Comment