Ever Present Help in Time of Trouble, Part 2

As spouses of pastors, we see the worst and best of the Church. This story is about how one of our church youth offered extravagant generosity. I shared several months ago about the funeral service at our church for a young girl, who had bravely fought cancer and how our church came together to be the Body of Christ for her family and loved ones and the hundreds of her classmates who attended. Several of you asked what has happened since.

Last weekend, a teenager, who is one of our youth, stepped forward to lead and coordinate a benefit for the hospital that cared for her friend who had died. The young woman had quite a line-up of talent for the music. She asked a couple of boys to MC, who were very funny. During intermission, she created some games for the audience-- based on "A Minute to Win It." All the participants were good sports despite doing ridiculous things, like balancing and stacking chap sticks using only chop sticks. (You just had to be there for the full effect.) Naturally, there was food. And she had friends who helped clean it all up afterward. It was great to have our Christian Life Center full of youth, some of whom had never been to our church, or perhaps any church, before. Everybody had fun. It was truly a good time for lots of reasons. And the crowd was very diverse, something that doesn't often happen.

I'm not sure how much money she raised, but her goal was $2000. And I suspect she either made it or came close.

I like to think that the seeds for this event were sown not just from the funeral but also from our vibrant youth program that has taken years to build. But it also could not have happened if the adults of the church had not been willing to chaperon and support the event by buying tickets and attending themselves.

As I looked faces in the audience, I couldn't help but think that God must be smiling as well. It was, after all, the Body of Christ experiencing the joy of our salvation.

Grace, Kathy