"Die! Die!" (Who said that?)

Tonight, the youth group went to the local fun park. (In this case, "local" means a 35 mile drive to Roseville. That's what it's like living the country.) While there, we played mini golf, laser tag, and went go-karting. Some observations, focused mainly on our laser tag game:

1. When we arrived and were getting ready to play laser tag, the squeaky-voiced, slightly acne-faced attendant asked if this was anyone's first time to play. Only one hand went up; the only person in the room over 16. Mine.

2. While we were playing, I learned that, despite all my discussions with the youth about being peacemakers, it sure was a lot of fun to see how many kids I could shoot while yelling, "die! die!" (No, actually, that couldn't have been me; it must have been someone else....)

3. No matter how many times I tell the youth, "no, I will not pay for you, what do you think I am, rich?" ... When two different youth came up separately and asked, "Pastor Danny, could I borrow two dollars?" who do you think gave in? Me.

4. Finally, it is with great pride that I say to you that, while I got hit 21 times, I was able to hit my "opponents" 30 times during the course of our game. But I couldn't beat Pearse, the 9th grader in our group who managed to hit me four times for every one time I hit him.

Ministry is full of surprises. That it happens in the midst of fierce laser tag battles is one of them.