Lately, the class I teach in Jr. High has been "half-rearing" it. This is more a fault of mine than a fault of theirs; over the last many weeks, I have not been spending enough time preparing the messages nor praying for the messages' deliverance. In class today, before the fifty-odd kids, I said, "Only one of about fifty of you brought a Bible. I want that to change. Start bringing your Bibles. We're going to take this seriously. When we gather together, we are gathering to learn about God, His actions in history, His beautiful Son, His Son's Kingdom, and His call and command upon our lives. We are going to treat this time in a spirit of humility and reverence: humility, for we are to open our hearts and minds to the teachings of God; and reverence, for we are in the presence of Yahweh, the God of gods." The kids just stared at me, but I think they got the point. Throughout the rest of our time together, we talked about Christ's command: "Give to God," and we spent much time in laughter and contemplation. It was a good message, thank God. I pray that the kids will take Christ's command seriously, and I pray that I will, too!

As you know, I have been reading the book of the prophet Joel. I continue to return to this passage, which reads in The Message:

But there's also this, it's not too late--God's personal Message!--"Come back to me and really mean it! Come fasting and weeping, sorry for your sins!" Change your life, not just your clothes. Come back to GOD, your God. And here's why: God is kind and merciful. He takes a deep breath, puts up with a lot, this most patient God, extravagant in love, always ready to cancel catastrophe. Who knows? Maybe he'll do it now, maybe he'll turn around and show pity. Maybe, when all's said and done, there'll be blessings full and robust for your GOD! (2:12-14)

Some kids in class today were surprised that I'm in college. One of the mentally-handicapped kids, whom I think is amazing, stood up and started talking about dinosaurs. Once we quieted him down, I announced to the class, "For those of you who don't know me, I love dinosaurs with a passion. My two career choices were ministry at Cincinnati Christian University or paleontology with an emphasis on dinosaurs at Berkeley. Obviously, I went the ministry route." A bunch of new kids just stared at me with the look on their faces: "He's in college?!" I'm used to it by now. During Winter Weekend here last weekend, several times I was confused with one of the visiting High Schoolers. Most of the kids in Brian's youth group looked older than me.