Youth Group = Battle Wounds

Happy Earth Day! I got made fun of saying what I'm about to say right now tonight at youth group, but one of the people I follow on Twitter had a good thought about Earth Day. And I of course mention this to my youth group and a few people start making fun of Twitter and calling it mean names. I like Twitter though. Anyways, one of the people I follow on Twitter gave the verse Genesis 1:1. Does anyone ever think about how the earth is actually God's creation on Earth Day? Does anyone ever celebrate the creation God made?

We didn't get much reaction out of that. People tend to just think about the 3 R's on Earth Day: reduce, reuse, and recycle. But I think we should celebrate and thank God for giving us this place to live. We still also need to take care of it because I think that's what God wants us to do. We can't just trash this present that God has given us.

So what do you think about my picture? Do you need an explanation besides my title? That's my knee. I skinned it playing a game in youth group tonight. Tonight was the funnest time I've had in youth group in a while I think. I'm not saying that I don't like what we talk about normally. Normally we do a parable and I like learning about the parables and usually it's very interesting and informative. Youth group isn't all fun and games, but it also isn't serious all the time. I'm glad we had this chance to do some really fun games tonight.

At first, we split into two teams: boys vs. girls. Nothing wrong with that except the girls sadly outnumbered the guys by a lot. In the first game, I volunteered myself (actually no wait, my team volunteered me) to do it. They put a shower cap on me and safety goggles. Sound dangerous yet? Then they duct taped the shower cap with the sticky part sticking out. They gave each person a straw. No, not spitballs. Gross! Instead they gave them q-tips. You take the q-tip, stick it in the straw, and blow. My team couldn't step on the mat that we had to protect the floor and I could move any which way as long as I stayed sitting on my chair. For being girls, they did a lot better than the guys (but I heard the guys cheated too). They got 66 q-tips on my head. I'm really glad I had safety goggles on because it would have been rather dangerous without them.

The second game we played, we went outside. It was kinda chilly. We were given coffee pots and inside the coffee pots were frozen blocks of ice with a t-shirt in it. The goal is to get the t-shirt out and put it on. We played that game at our 30 Hour Famine last year. Yeah, it was interesting. The guys won this game tonight. Us girls, we were kinda wimpy. What? It was cold and a chunk of ice and we didn't have gloves or coats on. Ok, it was probably in the 40s, but still that's kinda cold.

The third game we played involved pantyhose and flour. Four of us (once again I was involved, but only because the girl who was gonna do it saw what was going on and didn't want to do it) took pantyhose filled with flour and put it over our faces. The goal was to grab the other person's pantyhose with yours and pull it off their head. The guys won that one too. And we got flour everywhere. I needed to get my back dusted off. I was really bad at that game and my partner got flour in her eye. I think I might have gotten flour in my hair as well.

The last game we played was paper bag limbo. We couldn't touch the ground with our knees and couldn't use our hands. Every time we got the bag, they cut it lower and lower. It was really hard. Of course I didn't get very far because my flexibility skills are lacking. A boy and a girl ended up both winning and they got a cup of candy. It was fun seeing how they managed to get down there without touching the ground with their knees or hands. For one of the times I was in on the game, I bent to far and tripped and fell and that's how my knee got scratched up. That was my battle wound.

Overall, it was definitely a fun night. I probably didn't mention who did this with us. It was a couple of pastors at my church who travel all over the country doing illusions and really cool balloon creations. They are such awesome people. And truly kids at heart.

I don't know how much everyone else enjoyed it, but I really enjoyed the night. During the first game, people wanted to take pictures with their phones and our senior pastor's wife told them not to, but I told them to go ahead because I thought it was funny and I probably looked hilarious. If that's what will get someone to laugh, then so be it. I hope that picture makes them laugh. Tonight as one of the pastors said, I was just being a good sport with all the games. I'm not used to having so many games in one night, so why not take advantage of the time I do have to play these games? After all, I'm not gonna be in youth group much longer. After about 9 years of being in youth group and I'm done this year. That makes me sad, so I'm just enjoying youth group right now while I still have time left in it.