Why do I do it?
Well, I have survived another Wednesday night. Now that I don't have to teach as much, it's a bit better but there's still one minor bump along the way: Game Night. Tonight it was Capture the Flag...relaxed style. Same basic concept: get both flags to your side of the field. The relaxed part was things like boundaries, where to put the flag, etc. The one steadfast rule was, if you tagged someone, you had to take them to the common jail, which meant that you were out of the game. So, while kids were running over the better part of a square mile, there were many screams of "That's not fair." and "Can they do that?" Yup. They could do that until it became dangerous (chasing each other on asphalt could mean monstrous road rash). Along with that, it took a while for them to learn about "acceptable attrition."
Tonight wasn't so bad because it produced two teachable moments.
First, we were able to talk about the need for rules. At first, everyone thought that no rules was cool. But, after a while, the unpredictability and the lack of appeal process lost it's luster. That's what God's rules are all about. He's not trying to cramp our style; he's trying to keep us safe. Besides, there is plenty of room to play inside his rules.
Second, we talked about true love. Everyone was so worried about themselves getting caught that they didn't see that if they got caught, their team could win easily. With flags so far apart and with having to take people to jail, there weren't enough people to go around. To simply allow yourself to be captured so that your team could take the flag would have ended most games inside of 10 seconds. But, it's not in our society or nature to allow that to happen. It's all about us...or so we think. Jesus said, "Greater love has no man than this: that he lay down his life for for his friends." And this isn't just laying down our life to the point of death. To lay our lives, our time, our wants, our desires down to help a friend is the greatest love. To ask our spouse if we can help in any way. To not just "get out of the way" but to get into the fray of ministry. Hopefully I can learn this lesson myself.
So, to answer my own question, why do I do it? I do it in the hopes that the next generation will learn the lessons above before I did. I do it so that the next generation will be more faithful than the current one. I do it because God has made me for it.
Tonight wasn't so bad because it produced two teachable moments.
First, we were able to talk about the need for rules. At first, everyone thought that no rules was cool. But, after a while, the unpredictability and the lack of appeal process lost it's luster. That's what God's rules are all about. He's not trying to cramp our style; he's trying to keep us safe. Besides, there is plenty of room to play inside his rules.
Second, we talked about true love. Everyone was so worried about themselves getting caught that they didn't see that if they got caught, their team could win easily. With flags so far apart and with having to take people to jail, there weren't enough people to go around. To simply allow yourself to be captured so that your team could take the flag would have ended most games inside of 10 seconds. But, it's not in our society or nature to allow that to happen. It's all about us...or so we think. Jesus said, "Greater love has no man than this: that he lay down his life for for his friends." And this isn't just laying down our life to the point of death. To lay our lives, our time, our wants, our desires down to help a friend is the greatest love. To ask our spouse if we can help in any way. To not just "get out of the way" but to get into the fray of ministry. Hopefully I can learn this lesson myself.
So, to answer my own question, why do I do it? I do it in the hopes that the next generation will learn the lessons above before I did. I do it so that the next generation will be more faithful than the current one. I do it because God has made me for it.
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