so tonight i finally went to start down the road to being a youth group counselor. the current youth leader at my ‘home’ church, was a counselor back when i was going to youth group, so i had talked to her before just showing up. i was kind of nervous before i went. i changed shirts twice before going. i have no idea why i was worried about dressing to impress the kids, but i ended up going with the david crowder shirt over ryan adams because i figured someone would know DC. when i got there, i was faced with a room full of youth not knowing anyone but my old leader. most of the other ‘counselors’ were parents, which resulted in me having an awkward conversation with one of the fathers. it’s tough to come up with topics as the person is shredding his plastic cup. in his defense, tonight was also his first time trying to be a counselor. the guy working the sound booth is a guy who led in the dismissal of the last pastor at the church, which led to me going less and less often. i really liked our last pastor because he actually talked about Jesus and salvation and didn’t bow down to the church politics. unfortunately there are people at the church who would rather ‘yes’ people and will stoop low enough to get people transferred unwillingly. it took a lot for me not to say something like “so when’s the next coup d’etat going down?” i was also shifted from a committee that mattered to the one that worries about what kind of trees to put next to buildings because of that guy. to think he’s a normal part of the youth group now kind of makes me a bit ill. anyway, i talked with a few of the actual kids which was kind of cool. i remember being in their place, but without the nintendo DS. the meeting itself felt different….there was an actual bible lesson and worship time with a band. i don’t remember any of that happening very often when i was in youth group. i don’t remember much of how the old meetings went. i remember making advent wreaths and scavenger hunts and outrageous olympics, but none of the regular week to week meetings. one of the parents asked me how much the meetings had changed, and i really couldn’t say much other than tonight’s meeting was a big change and improvement. at the end of the meeting, my old leader introduced me so now i’m known just by my first name….kind of like madonna.

i was able to successfully avoid hearing about the clemson game until i got home to watch a recording of it. i was able to watch the entire game including the first OT and then the fox sports feed switched right before clemson was to inbound the ball with 1 second on the shot clock and 3.3 seconds to go in the first OT. THANKS YOU BUNCH OF JERKS for switching me to some kind of UFC match. i had to call my friend Bill to get a recap. what happened was what i thought would happen, after it was forced to go to OT. they just fell apart at the end of regulation with stupid plays. at least this time i was kind of preparing myself for a loss. i was not going to believe the miracle would happen until it actually did, so i was not near as upset as the last time. one day the streak will end, i know it!