Oops... I did it again.

When I was going through the moving process recently, I tried to make a point for myself that I was going to be different in my new habitat. I conjured up ways to healthily change my state of mind, and most prominently to change my attitude. It was going well in my little thought sessions on the road, but it got increasingly hard after we had actually arrived. 

So tonight, my family and I went to a lovely party that was being thrown for a young woman who is going away to college this week. I am incredibly awkward in social situations and extremely introverted, so I was cautious and scared of the whole thing. I figured if I just trailed behind my mom the whole time and kept my mouth shut, I would pass what seemed like a test with flying colors. It was going fine for a while, but then the college girl's younger brother came up to me and asked if I wanted a drink.

I don't know why this was so irritating to me at the time, but I was incredibly rude to the poor guy. He walked up and asked if he could take me to get a drink, and I said "No." very snarkily and never even looked up at him. Just going back and reading that sentence makes me feel nauseous. My mom, who saw the whole thing go down, later described his face to me by saying, "It was like you kicked a puppy! His face just fell." 

A detail I forgot to mention about that, it was the second time he asked me.

So then my mom and I were standing around talking with a very sweet lady and she asked me about something, (I don't remember what because I was being stupid), and I just started complaining about all the mosquitoes and how I was going to end up scratching my skin raw. I was being a big baby about little bugs I have been dealing with my whole life.

My stupid mouth and my attitude were cursed for the rest of the party. We had spent most of the day at the lake with church people, and a man asked me how it went. I started on a tangent about how bad the burrs were and how one stuck into my foot and I had to pull it out and then it got stuck in my finger and I was bleeding..... 

Ohhhh I knew at that point that I was in for it. And I was right. I was lectured all the way home. But what I know is that I deserved every word of it. I ruined yet another perfectly good opportunity to make friends, of which I currently have few. I can't just keep saying "oops" and making excuses for my attitude. I need to mature and force myself to step up in awkward situations. 

I have definitely learned this lesson.

The Town Where Nothing Ever Changes

Growing up in a ministry family, I have moved around a lot. More specifically, I have lived among the beautiful coastal areas of Oregon, the dry, hot flatland of Texas, the breathtaking lakes and autumns of Michigan. Anyone who has relocated multiple times sees that there is beauty everywhere. There is also difficulty everywhere.

You may know this town: no one new ever moves in. No one ever moves out. Everything that is is as it has been for years, and it will always be that way. Inconsistency is a joke. There are cliques that have always been cliques and always will be. Families that work in a certain industry will continue to work in that same industry. For generations. Forever.

Nothing ever changes. 

So naturally, to someone who moves into a town like this (once everyone gets past the shock that some family from OUT OF STATE moved in), the stories about how everyone in these same families went to these same schools since the creation of the earth get really old. 

Part of a youth minister's job is to bring healthy change to the young people of the church. When there's no change going in, there's no change going out. Chew on that for a minute.

The town I have described is a good place filled with good people, in fact, home to some of the strongest Christians I have ever known. But we are not called to be good. We are called to have a burning passion for Jesus. We are called to bring change. 

Change is what plants churches. Change is what teaches us to honor our parents, and to be thankful for our blessings. Without change, there would be nothing. 

Take it from someone who knows, and don't be afraid to accept the necessary change that life brings.

And if you ever visit, don't be afraid to step out and take a chance in The Town Where Nothing Ever Changes.