Don’t count your kittens before they hatch

I have a cat again! Hopefully this time she’ll stay around. The little gray one, now called Mollie, was found hanging around the church again last night. So the kids, knowing that I thought she was gone, brought her to me to let me know that she was back. (I have cool kids in my youth group!) That was just a the beginning of a good night. We had a good game time followed by an object lesson and teaching time and a discussion. I thought it was the best Big Deal that we’ve had for sure this year and maybe a while before that. With all that in mind, what have we learned? Every youth group needs a good cat to bring them together. (No, sorry, that’s not true at all!)

Proverbs 9:7-8 says, “Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult; whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs abuse. Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man and he will love you”. This is a strange truth though sometimes hard to swallow. It almost seems backwards to think that the wise man would love you for being rebuked or corrected. But in the end, who will gain more from the correction, the wise or the foolish? Think about it this way: consider some of the kids in your classes from school. Who got into the most trouble? That’s easy. Think about the kids who got into the least amount of trouble. They are/were usually the top students in your class, with the best records, grades, and seemingly the best futures ahead of them. Do you ever remember a time when they were the ones who got into trouble? What happened? What did they do? I can almost assure you that they didn’t repeat the thing that got them into trouble! The guys/gals who are always giving administrators trouble are the ones who don’t learn from their mistakes and keep repeating the acts that bring about punishment. Then they go off in a tirade about how unfair and horrible the teacher/principal/authority figure is! Sounding familiar still? This whole wisdom/foolishness thing is a no-brainer when laid out in these terms. Seek wisdom and stay out of the principal’s office!

Sign up for the Windows of the World/Nat. Missionary Conv. Oct 1-3. Cost will be between $60-80.
The Hootenanny/Fall Lock-in is coming up soon! We’ll have a big couple days planned on Oct 10-11. Talk to your friends and plan to come! Check back for details.

Later…