Just Hanging...

Tonight was a special night.  It was a crazy day that ended in a restful, easy, healing evening.

As always, Sundays are our ministry day.  This week, we started early with church at 8am to hear a dear friend read Scripture, something he has longed to do at his church for a long time.  Though we aren't his parents, we couldn't have been more proud of his heart in wanting to share his love for Jesus by reading His Word in front of his church.  We were honored to be there.

What that meant from a practical standpoint was that our day started really early!  And it wasn't going to end early, that we knew!

After breakfast with my husband at my favorite breakfast place, we headed home to begin the work of ministry.  And by that I mean, my husband took a nap and I began cooking.  Preparing a meal for an unknown number of people is always a quandary.  We've had as few as 29 and as many as 35 this year, and we just never know how many will come.  So I just cook a lot and pray it will be like Jesus and the 5000:  that the fish and bread will multiply and everyone will go home satisfied.

Today was breakfast day.  One of the students had made that suggestion and even offered to come and flip the pancakes.  I couldn't resist the offer to have some help in the kitchen, so the menu was decided. I'd done the grocery shopping on Saturday, and the fridge was full.  Even had an egg casserole in the fridge ready for the oven an hour before we got started.

But that was it.  All the other prep happened today.  Fruit needed to be cut:  mango, pineapple, strawberries.  And the blueberries and raspberries had to be washed.  Two big bowls of fruit would be waiting for the students, something they don't usually have at Saga and so it's always much appreciated by our guests.  Then I took a break, did some reading for my class, and started back at it at 2pm.  I thought that would be plenty of time.  Who knew I would start cooking bacon at 2pm and not finish until just before 5 when our guests arrived.

On top of that there was the pancake batter, the chilaquiles, the scrambled eggs, and the sausage.  Oh yes, and the salad.  Students ended up coming.  Eric pitched in. The boy who read the Scripture earlier that day, the Reader, cracked a couple of dozen eggs for me.  It was a team effort and everyone contributed.  It was a really nice atmosphere.  I was grateful for the hands and also for the conversation as we did this work to serve others.

As the students began to arrive, we knew this was going to be a good night with lots of students!  It was crazy.  They just kept coming in.  As our pancake maker pulled the food out of the oven, we gathered around the island to hold hands and pray.  There were mostly familiar faces, but also a couple of new ones to me, and a few more Eric had never met who I had met at the office.  It is always so beautiful to see so many of God's children circled together, eager to be together, hungry for food and a word from God.  Tonight they would not be disappointed.

After enjoying our dinner, which miraculously managed to feed everyone, Eric led the charge in cleaning as our Reader prepared to give the lesson for the evening.  And he did a great job.  There was no doubt, he allowed the Holy Spirit to lead him as he shared a story of his own pridefulness, a belief in his ability to change the heart of someone struggling with a stronghold of discontent and doubt about his faith.  Our Scripture Reader admitted to the 42 students in the room, his mom, and Eric and me that he realized his own arrogance in thinking he could help this friend.  And when that didn't happen, he was disappointed in both himself and his friend.

He shared this story of his own fault and the students were captivated.  They heard about his struggle and knew that they had one that was similar.  Of course, the details were different, but we all struggle with pride and the belief that we can do things on our own, without the assistance of our Heavenly Father.  We all try to scoot God off the throne and install ourselves there.  What a great image our Reader gave us.

After a time of quiet reflection when the students wrestled with some questions the Reader had presented to them, the regular hustle and bustle of them leaving ensued.  Food was packed up and given away.  Lots of hugs followed.  And then it was quiet.  And Eric, the Reader, and I gathered.  We affirmed him for the work he had done. Both in himself and in preparing for this lesson.

Ultimately, we ended up on the couches in our living room.  The fire keeping us warm.  Just talking.  Three people, generations apart in age, just hanging.  And we talked about how different this looked.  How the "world" just doesn't get what we do.  How Eric and I spend all of our time with college students.  Or how the Reader does much of the same, when the people he spends his workdays with are visiting bars or other "singles" activities in the evenings. We look different.  We talked about how that's how we should look.  Eric and I have known that for a while.  The Reader is just beginning to figure it out.  And he is still very much judged for that by the people in his 8-5 world.  He's not quite sure if he's comfortable with that.  It was so easy when he was a student at Wheaton.  It's just not so clear now that the way he is spending his time is the "right" way.

But it was a good evening.  We had a good time together.  We laughed.  We talked about lots of things.  We grew closer.  We buoyed each other up.  We acted just like we are...different.  Different because we love Jesus, and we seek to live lives that reflect that.