"Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd

So today was my first Sunday, and it has been stressful. Its amazing how different it is to go to church when you are going as part of your job (at least on some level). Things were different (obviously since I'm at a church whose record attendance falls in the 60s not 600s), but not bad.

My lesson this morning on Acts 3 & 4 could have used some polishing. I would attribute my troubles adjusting to this being a serial class as opposed to what I am used to, which is a more idea by idea approach. that coupled with not knowing how long the class should be (I thought 30 minutes; correct answer 45 minutes)

After church we headed to a nice little diner in town the Down Dari Delight. There was one waitress. A pleasant girl to be sure and must have expected us since about half the church arriving didn't phase her one bit. I had a good burger and some fries and was introduced to the idea of a Horseshoe. The Horseshoe (as I came to know) is a piece of bread topped with some kind of meat (chicken tenders on the one I saw) with a load of fries on that and topped off with cheese sauce. So the heartstopping (literally) style of meals is alive and well in the Midwest, though admittedly behind the Southern way of doing things: Bread it, Fry it, Put a stick in it and its a delicacy.

After lunch I spent sometime chatting with Phil at his house, some about how I might be able to better integrate into the youth group, some good ideas were brought up about what they might respond best to. I expressed some concerns that had been eating at me for a time. About these kids backgrounds and how worried I was that even if I reached the point that they trusted me enough to share their struggles with me, what would I say? I don't know what its like to be abused, physically, sexually, or in anyway, I mean my life hasn't been easy I have had my struggles, but I worry that even with those I am still so far from these kids experientially, so how could I connect?

It did help to get that off my chest with him, I had talked with Preston (my roommate) about it briefly last night, but I felt like if I really wanted Phil to see where I was coming from he needed to know how I feel about this. All this is not to say that I'm not going to try, and that I'm not going to lean on God to help me, but it is to say that I reckognize that weakness, and I'm praying that God will fulfill his promise and show his perfection in my weakness (as I know he will).

Tonight at church I gave the youth my first real devo, about worrying. Seemed appropriate. In fact Phil went ahead and pushed me off of my first cliff; he made me sing solo to the kids (an exercise they have all done) I did and they say I'm not too bad. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on that.

So I went ahead and told them about the first time I understood the idea of Matthew 6:25-34 which ends with one of the most calming things Jesus ever said, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." I shared with them about the worry that came over me around the time of my parents, all the things that were thrown up in the air, the things I couldn't know or even control the outcome of (like whether we could keep the house, car, and dogs), and it was only when I let those go that I was able to do something with those things I could help (taking care of my Dad and Sister the best I could, getting and maintaining a job, while balancing that with schoolwork).

As many of you know there is more to come from that time in my life, but I wanted to share with these kids who live in uncertain times, in uncertain circumstances, that they shouldn't carry that worry with them but let it go.

During the devo I read the afforementioned passage and a girl, Ashley (the oldest among the girls still in High School), began to giggle. as I ended my lesson I looked at her and she explained that she was laughing because apparently I say "grow" funny. I don't know what that means really, but I already knew I had a slight accent and I had told them that, so whats the deal.

the Song of the Day is "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Because it is my ringtone and reminds me of home when I'm a long ways off.

-matt