Untied Clodhoppers…

// June 9th, 2009 // EVERYDAY LIFE

Last week I got the rare opportunity to speak close to home.

A youth event put on by a youth ministry from Scottsdale was meeting in Imperial Beach, so it was quite luxurious getting to speak every evening and still sleep in my own bed.
I joined the group every day at lunchtime at various beaches around San Diego. If you know me, you know how I value relationships. I just don’t think that a speaker as any credibility if they come in town and they only time you see them is when they get on stage for their show. No offense to speakers who do that of course. I just don’t understand ministry any other way outside relationship. Most of the time when I’m out just hanging out and having conversation, God shows me specifically what He’s doing and the things that are on His heart to speak.

I think God is much more spontaneous than our shrink-wrapped churches would allow you to believe.
Sure, God was a planner – but His plan was only to enable relationship to form. Jesus often seemed off script. Like the time when He was part of a kind of parade and he walks out of line to find a sawed-off tax collector in a tree.

I love that about Him.
Weeks like this are fun for me. It’s a week of discovery. You learn about people, where they’re from, what sort of sense of humor is embraced in their neck of the woods. And by the end of the week you know people on a first-name basis. Nothing’s forced. You become friends with the people you speak to and share an experience.

Wednesday was one of those important bonding moments. The youth staff at this church always plays an annual beach football game against the students. Instantly I was transformed into an 18 year old guy with something to prove. Everything went fine, I shook off tackles, threw bodies to the sand and left not a shadow of a doubt of my Alpha dog masculinity.

However, there was this one point in the game when I noticed this huge kid – a kind of genetic freak – lining up parallel to me on each offensive down. At first I thought it was a coincidence until it happened like 4 times in a row. Eventually the collision would have to happen. At first it was an incredibly beautiful sight: I caught the ball on a short pass, shook off one tackle. Then two 170lb guys grabbed me but couldn’t manage to pull me down. In slow motion, the huge kid Parker made a huge dive at me that I adjusted my body about 30 degrees to miss, but unfortunately about 45% of his 250+ lbs still nailed me. At the same time that 3 guys had a hold of me, my body decided that it wasn’t 18 anymore – it was 34, and my foot rolled up like a cheap pepperoni on a Tony’s pizza.

I dismissed myself from the game while at the same time channeling my wife like who was chastising me for acting like a kid. That night at home, I could barely take my shoe off.

Fortunately I have an old pair of clodhopper Sketchers that are abnormally wide so they are my substitute for one of those moon boots.

Despite my casualty, I was able to finish the week. By that point I knew the majority of students by their first name. Some of them actually began their relationship with Jesus during our week together. My night ended with about 125 hugs in succession from students. It was sad to say goodbye, but I’m so grateful when people share their lives with me even for the short-term.

Next week is Milwaukee, Wisconsin and hopefully new relationships. I just hope that I don’t give a bad first impression with my clodhoppers.

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