If it weren't for Young Life my life would be a lot less exciting, especially on Monday nights. I wouldn't gather with a crew of leaders that keeps growing week by week. Tonight there were twelve leaders who all ate, laughed, prayed, tried out the games and talked before kids even arrived. I'm so thankful for these people.
Brookie was the first HS girl to arrive and she snuck up on me. She couldn't be at Campaigners last week so I was double pumped to see her. We traded rocks for some really gross candy past it's expiration date. We were trying to chew the gummy crabby pattys as the rest of our friends walked in.
I love this group of freshmen girls that consistently shows up week after week. Kaelyn, Brooke, Morgan, Julia and Erin are funny and energetic and kind and they want to keep growing. I was their leader at Michindoh last summer and I'm so glad they're going to Sharp Top in just a few months.
Before long there was a whole crew of friends-- leaders and kids, seniors all the way to freshmen, brand new kids and ones who never miss a week. It's a hodge podge of kids every week and we love it.
There's something so cool right now about the different types of kids coming to Club. I think every church/youth group/club gets a reputation of what kind of people belong. Right now in HSE Young Life we really do have more than just one kind of kid. When I look around the gym I see guys and girls that might have never met or hung out if it weren't for this place. I see kids who are pursuing Christ and ones who are just checking it out. I love that we don't fit into one mold.
Blake, Sherissa and Devin got to eat the swinging Peeps up front.
We had several heats of Peter Cotton Tail Races in which everyone used a straw to blow a cotton ball all the way across the gym.
Team Jacob/Will/Brooke faced off against Team Grace/Nat/Michael for the Egg Drop Contest.
Jacob and Grace cracked eggs on their friend's head and then dropped the yolk into the cup of the person down below. Jacob's team won and Brookie got almost all of the yolk in the cup (instead of on her face).
We calmed things down a bit for the second half of the night and Ryan led us in Jesus Paid It All as we sang, "O Praise the One who paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead."
Our new leader friend Steve is a slam poet and hip hop artist, a musicianary. Tonight with Spoken Word he told us about Palm Sunday in a whole new way. Then Ryan gave the Club Talk about Easter--the crucifixion, the tomb and Christ's resurrection. Even if you've celebrated Easter for years, there were still new parts of the story to hear and learn about.
We ended the night in small groups, Jackie and I with the freshmen girls. We talked about where we find hope and what stood out to us about this Easter story. There's something so cool about having friendships that are consistently woven with conversations of faith. Our foundation is about something so much greater than ourselves.
All the girls gathered for a picture before we headed home tonight. These people are fantastic. I love that leaders know and love our kids. I hope that these girls know they are always welcome here and accepted for who they are.
I'm so glad that Sherissa keeps coming back-- she's fantastic and I'll miss her when she graduates. Tonight I met Madison for the first time and discovered she's a Tecumseh kid. I freaked out when she said she knew me from camp and we started figuring out all our connections. Madison was a camper for five years and knows my friends Maggie, Allison, Gianna and Jill. She'll be a tripper this summer. It's such a small world.
On Club nights like tonight we get the best of both worlds. We get to be crazy and silly and goofy and we get to go deep in our conversations with one another. Tonight so many leaders and kids got to come together for an hour and a half where we put everything else on hold. Because of Young Life I get to live life with girls like Brooke and Julia and I can't think of any better way I could spend my time.
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