Monday, July 29

what a strange day.

YG STORM
the pastor that i had been serving with told the kids today that he will be leaving the YG to serve more with one of the adult services. the announcement was a total bomb.

the teachers had known for some time now, he had told us several months earlier. it was a total shock then...it's in one of my past blogs somewhere, i think.

pastor started breaking down a bit, some kids broke down a bit, and...i broke down a bit. it's not so much that i will be missing him. i am currently serving with him in the youth group and in the evening service, so i will still continue to serve with him on the praise team for the evening service, and continue to learn from and be discipled by him.

but i'm thinking about him, and about the kids. you have to understand, this man really showed these kids that he cares. he listened, he showed interest, he went to events that mattered to them, he was someone to spill your troubles onto. he let them know that they are important, that what they go through is important. their little fights/jealousies/troubles seem so petty to adults, but to them, their struggles are very real and disturbing. it takes a lot of love and care to sympathize with them. and that is what this pastor did.

i can appreciate this a lot, b/c this was one thing that i couldn't find in myself for the longest time, and for most of college, even while serving. i might know what one is supposed to do biblically, but in retrospect, when i look back at how i lived my life, i see that i didn't really love ppl. i lived for myself. i lived to have FUN, in college. there's still a lot of that in me, i'm sure.

but while serving with this man, i think i'm learning. albeit at an ant's pace, b/c i am a very slow and stupid student. but i'm learning how to love.

even harder was to see what the pastor was going thru. the kids will recover, i think. i hope. it won't be easy, for sure, but they will. but for him, it was nearly tearing his heart. i mean, he really, really loves these kids. i think i teared for him, for what he was going through.

make no mistake, he believes this is what God wants him to do at this time. it's just, it's hard to understand why. he explained to the teachers, in detail. it makes sense. but when we were in the room, as he gave the announcement, all those reasons went out the door. it didn't make sense. all i could see were kids in shock or tearing up.

the sermon he gave this morn was perfect for such an announcement as this:

"logical failure, illogical faith". daniel 3

good summary in carol's blog.

ok, i'm too tired to write another looong blog entry. good night.

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yakob at 1:38 AM

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