Dodgeball Memories and Other Nostalgia

What a weekend.

As I sit in my office this Monday morning and think thru all that transpired this weekend I can't help but let a quite smirk pierce my lips and a tinge of nostalgia tease my spirit. Okay, I don't even know what that means, quite smirks and nostalgia teasing my spirit, I'm such a dork. But what I am trying to say is that I feel pretty blessed that I got to be a part of all that went down this weekend.

Friday night the Leydens had Krista and me over for dinner and Chuck served up the finest steak I have ever tasted in my entire 26 years. Between the steak, the shrimp, the croissant's (a must), the company and getting to see Josh in a wheel chair for elongated period of time I couldn't help but feel that good things were in store for this weekend.

Then came Saturday and with Saturday came Dodgeball. 62 students, 27 visitors, parents video taping the games, great music, a crazy guy in a afro wig, some amazing dodgeball, and an impromptu break out of "We Will Rock You" during the leaders game made that night a night to remember for years to come. In fact there were a ton of great thing that night that stuck out to me. One reoccurring super fine moment came when Kasey took not one, not two, but three dodgeballs to the head and shrugged them off like the other team was throwing pillows instead of dodgeballs. Not that the other team was not throwing them hard, they were, but she took them like a champ. One after another and not even a tear. What a girl. Another great moment came when Those Guys were bringing it to team Handicap and yet they couldn't quickly secure a victory because Josh had himself pinned against the wall in his wheel chair with only his head sticking out. Incredible strategy and yet the complete opposite style of his champ sister. Whatever works though. I remember seeing team Titanium Hippos strut on the floor with their uniforms made completely out of duct tape and thinking to myself these guys are insane and after watching them play deciding again that they truly were insane. One other thing that sticks out to me from that night is seeing Colin single-handedly keeping his team alive against the dreaded C-Unit by catching ball after ball after ball. What a performance. He did quickly bust out "In the Navy" though he did leave me wishing for more. What a show.

At the end of the dodgeball tournament, after the gospel, after the leaders domination, after all of the students had headed home and after Roger accidentally spilled an entire cooler of ice on the floor I had a chance to look through the response cards and to my delight and to God's credit one visitor indicated they had prayed to receive Christ that night, right there in the middle of a dodgeball tournament. Incredible. And on top of that several other students indicated that they wanted more information about how to have a relationship with Christ. How sweet it is. I was so proud of this youth group and the effort everyone put into inviting their friends to this crazy event and I was so honored to be a part of something even greater that God was doing right there in our midst. Praise God.

Finally Sunday rolled around. And even though the weekend was coming to an end the blessings were not. Summary Sunday was excellent. Getting to hear from Sean, Jessica and Brian was awesome. I thought all three of them had really good things to share. I love getting to hear from y'all what God is doing in your lives. I hope that He continues to work in your lives in this area of being influencers and real friends to your friends that do not know Christ so that one day in his timing He may use you to draw them into a relationship with Him.

But Summary Sunday was not the only reason I loved Sunday, for after Summary Sunday ended church didn't. What I mean is that a group of students stayed after the services ended and stuck around to help our youth leaders, Bobby and Kristin move. A picture of the church in action. (I know more of y'all would have liked to have stayed, which is really cool.) The one's that did stay worked hard all the way past 5 pm moving Bobby and Kristin from their apartment into their new sweet casa. Getting to see those students serve and blessing their youth leaders who serve them every week was so cool. Again I felt so blessed and so thankful for what God was doing there. What a great day. Sure, I didn't get to see all the football games I wanted to but I wouldn't change a thing.

All in all, looking back, this weekend was a great picture of the church. The Leydens having me and Krista over and blessing us as we eat and hang out together. The youth group reaching out to this community, to their friends and having fun playing dodgeball and investing in people's lives and seeing God draw at least one student into a relationship with Him as a result and finally getting to hear what God is doing in student's lives during Summary Sunday and getting to see what God is doing in student's lives by watching y'all serve Bobby and Kristin Sunday afternoon. What a blessing.

Like I said, what a weekend.