Am I Grown Up or What?

After too much time away, I have returned to the blogosphere. So much has happened since we left off, so this post will be mostly catch-up. The mustard and mayonnaise will have to wait until next time.

This past weekend was a busier two days than my first whole week of work. Funny. My parents came up from Kerrville to help move me into an apartment. An apartment that, for shopping sight-unseen from Kerrville, looks amazing...or so my mother says. Every time we went in and out the door, she had to stop to fawn over my built-in bookshelves. She practically had to be gagged with a spoon when I told her I would be putting my movie collection there.

That Sunday saw me get installed at the church, which meant I got to go to church twice and give a children's message and do it all with my parents in tow. Am I grown up or what?

My children's message was on our identification in Christ versus our identification in the world. I made a joke and the parents laughed. I loove it when the parents laugh.

In true Lutheran fashion, after the late service, the congregation congregated in the fellowship hall for some good ol' potluck eatin'. It had everything you would expect:

• broccoli and cheese casseroles
• macaroni and cheese
• BBQ
• Iced tea (sweet and un-sweet)
• a punch-type drink that no one could tell the flavor of
• fried chicken
• and a delicious fruit/jell-o/whipped cream concoction that was not a dessert
• oh yeah, and desserts.

It was wonderful. We ate. We drank (tea). My parents were merry with the everyone in the church. So much so, that everyone wanted them to move to Longview. We'll see.

Toward the end of the meal, the president of the congregation came over to me with the basket full of the free-will offering for the meal. Or what I thought was the free will offering for the meal. He placed the basket, which was overflowing with crumpled green money, in front of me and said that it was a gift from the church to furnish my apartment. I'm not one to be speechless often, but here I had nothing to say. This was so outside of what I was expecting this church to do, and yet here they all were, willing to give me even more than they already had. Like I said, I thought the basket had been for a free will offering. I had put my own money in it! Gives a whole new understanding to the phrase, "spend money to make money," right?

My parents left that afternoon and I broke in my new apartment. I have this ritual: every time I move into a new place, I spend almost the whole first night decorating it while watching episodes of Friends. I know, I know.

During my second week of work, I went out to lunch twice. I love this job!

I had been introduced to another youth minister in the area and she has been nice enough to introduce me to her own friends. She could tell that I was desperate for some age-appropriate interaction.

But the most interesting thing about my second week of work happened right as I was leaving the office. Crap.

I was walking to my car, listening to the new Glee music on my awesome new iPhone, and a man came lumbering up to me. He had little to no teeth, his shirt was stained and greasy, and he was wearing shorts and house shoes. I could tell already he was going to be a memorable experience. He started in on a drawn out story how he just got told he was evicted from his apartment on the same day he lost his job and how his wife/girlfriend/baby mama is in their out-of-gas car, which was parked in the church parking lot. Oh yeah, and she was pregnant again.

He asked me if I could help and I stammered like an idiot. I was able to get out that our church secretary would know more about the church's policies on this kind of a thing than I would, so I take him inside to see Snickers. She was about to leave herself, so she was not about to be led on. I stand back while she whittles off the policy of the church in regards to extending help.

Apparently, we do it through the local community ministries organization, and to protect ourselves, we were unable to give him anything from the church. He protested, and I felt awful listening to his plight, but Snickers totally stood her ground.

The man left the church and Snickers and I followed him out. After Snickers had gotten in her car, almost as if he was waiting to get me alone, the man came scurrying over to me and fed me the story one last time and ended it by hitting me up personally for cash. I gave him all $7 I had in my wallet and got in my car.

Driving back home, I thought about this guy's story...I came to the unfortunate conclusion that I didn't believe him. I felt dirty for thinking it, but I honestly think he had been lying to me. I felt like he knew he was not getting anything out of Snickers and therefore was waiting to catch me alone. Thinking these things made me feel like the worst person in the world, but I couldn't help it.

That's when Snickers called me. She told me she was glad I had stayed with her to deal with that man and that she hoped I hadn't given him too much money. She told me that too many times people have come to the church only to take advantage of our services, which means we have to protect ourselves. She also said something quite wise: "You did what you did for the Lord, and that means it doesn't matter what he does with it. You'll be blessed for your part no matter what."

Wow. I've been in this job two weeks and already have had to deal with my first waay uncomfortable situation. It's stuff like that that make me realize just how much God is shaping me. This job in Longview is turning me on to new experiences that I had never even considered. I wonder what's next.

On a lighter note, I finally got TV service, so right now I'm gonna go record stuff on my DVR just for the hell of it.

-Danul