Thursday, August 11, 2005
The Late Show
Our teens (including #1 son) went to a neighboring congregation last night to support a youth rally they were holding. This church is mostly make up of African Americans. We have held several joint ventures together during the past year and have built a good relationship.
We knew our kids would be a little later than normal because their Wednesday night service didn’t start until 7:30 whereas vs. our 7pm start. A little later turned out to be 9:45 pm on a school night rather than the usual 8:15pm. Most of our parents were getting anxious, O.K., put out as the night drew on. Calls to cell phones went straight to voice mails because our kids (unlike a lot of us parents) were courteous enough to turn their cell phones off once the service started. I tried to put a “pretty face” on this picture to our parents by theorizing that the Fiske Blvd. folks were so excited to have our kids supporting their effort that they were enjoying the time of worship together and had forgotten about the time. As with most of my “conflict resolution” efforts most people were not buying into to my “happy face” concerning the lateness of our youth.
To make a long blog a shorter blog, when our kids returned home our Youth Minister told us that the speaker was 30 minutes late and he had a 3 scripture / 9 point sermon. Does this sound like Randy or “Best Buy Greg?” Anyway, here’s my point; as we were standing in the parking lot, parents and teens, I observed two distinctive groups. One group was most of the parents who were complaining (most nicely) about the lateness of the evening. The second group was our kids who were talking to one another about their time at our sister congregation and how they couldn’t wait to go back again! I wonder which group was closer to mind set that God wants us to have. What was the first part of the “Toy R Us” slogan, “I don’t want to “grow up.”
We knew our kids would be a little later than normal because their Wednesday night service didn’t start until 7:30 whereas vs. our 7pm start. A little later turned out to be 9:45 pm on a school night rather than the usual 8:15pm. Most of our parents were getting anxious, O.K., put out as the night drew on. Calls to cell phones went straight to voice mails because our kids (unlike a lot of us parents) were courteous enough to turn their cell phones off once the service started. I tried to put a “pretty face” on this picture to our parents by theorizing that the Fiske Blvd. folks were so excited to have our kids supporting their effort that they were enjoying the time of worship together and had forgotten about the time. As with most of my “conflict resolution” efforts most people were not buying into to my “happy face” concerning the lateness of our youth.
To make a long blog a shorter blog, when our kids returned home our Youth Minister told us that the speaker was 30 minutes late and he had a 3 scripture / 9 point sermon. Does this sound like Randy or “Best Buy Greg?” Anyway, here’s my point; as we were standing in the parking lot, parents and teens, I observed two distinctive groups. One group was most of the parents who were complaining (most nicely) about the lateness of the evening. The second group was our kids who were talking to one another about their time at our sister congregation and how they couldn’t wait to go back again! I wonder which group was closer to mind set that God wants us to have. What was the first part of the “Toy R Us” slogan, “I don’t want to “grow up.”
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Now you have a point meowmix and I find myself approaching that sleepy / night time zone as well.
I've been teaching some combination of 7th and 8th graders, Pre-Algebra and Algebra during my 25 years.
I vaguely remember that scene in the Peggy Sue Movie. What I remember with more clarity was a line from the play, “The Diary of Anne Frank.” I had organized a field trip for my “team” of 7th and 8th graders to see the play. In the play, there’s a scene right after the 2 families go into hiding in which the boy (can’t remember his character’s name) asks Mr. Frank to help him with his “algebra.” When the students who were sitting around me heard that line they asked almost in unison, “Mr. Walker, they had Algebra back then?” I said yes and they had problems with it back then as well!
Thank you for your kind words concerning my wife and I. I look forward to hearing more about you through Randy when he vacations down in our lovely (humid) state in a few weeks. Take care.
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I've been teaching some combination of 7th and 8th graders, Pre-Algebra and Algebra during my 25 years.
I vaguely remember that scene in the Peggy Sue Movie. What I remember with more clarity was a line from the play, “The Diary of Anne Frank.” I had organized a field trip for my “team” of 7th and 8th graders to see the play. In the play, there’s a scene right after the 2 families go into hiding in which the boy (can’t remember his character’s name) asks Mr. Frank to help him with his “algebra.” When the students who were sitting around me heard that line they asked almost in unison, “Mr. Walker, they had Algebra back then?” I said yes and they had problems with it back then as well!
Thank you for your kind words concerning my wife and I. I look forward to hearing more about you through Randy when he vacations down in our lovely (humid) state in a few weeks. Take care.
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