Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Sovereign Humor of God (to be continued)

Jesus is my Lord and He told jokes. I am convinced that it must be true. There is no way that children loved Him, grown men reclined on his chest, and women adored Him, if He were not a fun loving guy. I'm not trying to say that He didn't tell the truth, oh He did. "You brood of vipors" "You white-washed tombs!" But in all of that, in His down time. He was funny. Jesus was God in the flesh and I assume that God the father also has a sense of humor. I've written about it before. But think of funny people that you know. They have qualities that the Lord gave them. We are in the image of God. God must be funny. Did you see what He told Job. "Where were you when I created this world, the oceans, etc..." He has quite a sense of humor and wit.

So I was starting to drag my feet for Ridgecrest this year. I've been so many years and absolutely love it. But for some reason, just like the middle school retreat and high school retreat, I think Satan makes me drag so I won't go. I still go. So off I went to the retreat. I left early and wanted to get there early so I could meet people and prepare myself for the weekend. I really wanted the Lord to heal my heart and to teach me things like He used to. I was confirmed into the ministry at that place. I remember seeing a boy stand up, about 8 years old and give his life to Christ while Adrian was preaching. The retreat was for college students. This small boy knew and understood. He stood up immediately when Adrian gave the invitation. I saw him and just started pouring my heart out to him in a letter, crying my way through the whole thing. I didn't know this lil guy but through him, the Lord sealed that for the rest of my life, I would be called to Him and to see people stand up like that. That was years ago and I still remember it like it was yesterday. Ridgecrest as always just been special to me. I expected something big to happen.

So I don't write everything on my blog. There are some things that I'd rather keep to myself and deal with alone, just me and the Lord. Well the Lord knows my heart and knew exactly what type of weekend I needed. Courtney asked me to teach the huddle leaders about evangelism. It was fun. It was so great to meet lots of new people and hear about their hearts and passions. Afterwards, we were assigned to groups. You just pick up a flag from amongst the pile on the floor. I went to get one, but they were all gone except one. Well two actually. Someone tossed one to me. It was #11. Quite funny what that number would hold.

We went on to the assembly and eventually went back to meet with our huddles for the first time. Well I was about to pee on myself, so I stopped by the bathroom. I was late getting to the huddle. I walk in the room and suddenly realized that one of us was not like the others. You ask yourself, what's different here? Well it was my testosterone. I was the only male in the room! A room of all girls? C'mon God, you can't be picking on me like this. This is hilarious. So we all giggled and talked about this fact and eventually named ourselves "Team E with lil T". That means, TEAM ESTROGEN. In case you wondered.

Now I must confess, it was a great group! I must also confess that by Saturday morning, I was sharing with them engagement stories from friends etc. I won't go into further detail for the sake of my man-hoodiness. We had fun.

They let me play "BABY GOT BOOK" on Saturday, I was so happy! Saturday was also time for buzz groups. I was surprised at how many people actually cared about evangelism. During both sessions, it was a packed room. The Lord is so good and I'm glad He calls people like He does. There are so few workers! They were a great group and it was a very fruitful time. I tell you what does it for me. For people to speak afterwards to me about their lost family members and to see that they actually care for them and want to know how to reach them. I really believe that God honors that. To see people passionately care about talking about Him. Those times are memories that are etched in me. Do you care about making Him known? If you are like me, you struggle daily with fear and shame, fight it and go.

Bathroom talk. I had no idea, for most of my life, what girls talk about when they visit the bathroom together. Some call friends on their cell phone, some send text messages, and some even well, here is another part of the story. So a great friend of mine, whom I would never mention, told me something special. To make this story make sense, I must set the scene for you. Anytime I speak, I usually comment on one of two things. One, I always have to pee. I don't know why God made me like that, but I have to pee so bad as soon as I step up to talk. Sometimes, example Lexington HS, I have had to leave, go pee, then come back to finish the talk. Well the other thing I mention is the fact that the Bible I own is HUGE. It's got 4 translations in it and I love it. It's parallel and you can skim across it like a champ. So people usually comment on it, almost everywhere I go.

Back to the story. So my friend tells me:

two girls in the bathroom stalls doing their business at ridgecrest
Girl 1:"but man..i mean did you see his bible? it was so big"
Girl 2 in other stall:"yeah thats like the biggest one i have ever seen."

How can I even finish typing after all this. I'm dying here. This is the funniest thing I've heard in a long time and how much of a blessing would I have missed out on if my friend had not told me. I about lost my insides laughing. This is funnier than women breast feeding in public.

So all these years, I have wondered about what you girls talk about in the bathroom. Now I know, and I'm not sure that I want to know anymore. I think there is a reason that boyz are not allowed in there.

So many great things happened throughout the weekend and you know the crazy thing about being a Christian and dealing with all the heartaches and drama in this world. He is the only one I will ever thank for breaking my heart. Psalm 51:17. The Sacrifices of the Lord are a broken and contrite heart! He's good in all things. Even in the safeness of Huddle house, a funny bathroom conversation, Lee Cunningham got to meet my twin "eve" and see jurassic park, my boyz who give candy so girls will like them, and in people that He allows to know Him despite their sinfulness.

1 comment:

erin said...

best trip ever! at least thats what jason kept saying cause he got to ride with me and kim. and thanks for not mentioning who told you about that bathroom talk, that could have been embarrassing, i mean im sure no one will figure out to click on that link. oh good times at ridgecrest. God is so good.