Good Chaos

Yesterday at my house was quite...shall I say...good chaos. Is there such a thing as good chaos? I believe so. Let me share...

A few months back, God started weighing heavily on the heart of my husband and me. We knew that God was prompting us to go to a different church. We could hear Him quite clearly because we spent 5 years out west in the mission field so we are fairly familiar with God's call to move. No matter, change is hard and we had been in our church (at that time) 2 years. We had made friends and so had our children, so, as usual, we knew this wouldn't be easy. Nevertheless, we were obedient and made the change and have not regretted 1 single second of it! (Our teens are very happy also!)

Our new church is only 2 miles from our home (compared to the 12 or so of our last church) so it's much easier to be involved with the people that go there. We have been greeted with open arms and so much love that it's overwhelming at times.

The teens here, many being baby Christians, have taken Beth and Zack in and made them part of the family so quickly it's made my head spin. Any given evening will find one or several teens at our house doing anything from homework to hanging out and it is really great!! Let me share yesterday.....

God has directed Beth, our 17 year old, to lead a drama team at church. She is passionate about this ministry. She has always loved performing and directing others as well and she is very talented in this area. Her youth pastor paired her up with an intern of his and together they are making great strides with this team.

Yesterday afternoon, Derrick came over so he and Beth could plan out some future dramas and skits, plan for some fund raisers and get all of their ducks in a row, so to speak. After the "business" was taken care of, the fun began. Zack, Derrick, along with Beth at times, could be found playing video games watching movies, listening to incredibly loud music...you get the picture. Chaos..but it was good.

As it got closer to time for my husband to get home, even with company, the rule applies.....when Dad gets home from work, it must be calm and quiet for at least 30 minutes. The calm quiet was successful, and we sat down to supper. We were cleaning off the table when another teen from church showed up to do some homework and hang out.

By now it's around 7 pm, and I've got one teen texting a boyfriend and listening to music, one teen on the phone with a girlfriend and playing video games (multi-tasking??) two others going between the refrigerator, the computer, video games and music. It was exhausting and great!!! About 9 pm (everyone has to be gone by 10) these 4 teens decide to do the Cha Cha Slide. I'd never heard of it so I was in for the performance of a lifetime! The music was loud but the smiles and laughter were unending. The energy coming off these teens was contagious and even had my tired husband smiling and laughing. For 30 minutes or more the floor space connecting my living room and dining room became a dance floor and it was great!!

By 9:30 the 2 visiting teens were going home and my 2 were settling down. Philip and I were exhausted, but so thankful that teens who really hardly know us, feel so comfortable and so welcomed that they love being in our home. It's very humbling to us.

Good chaos? Yes, there is such a thing and my prayer is that each one of you will get to enjoy that over and over. All you have to do is be willing to love those teenagers for who they are. Show them that the Christian life doesn't have to be all rigid and solomn faced. I don't believe that we will all be flatlining in Heaven, why should we be here??

Blessings.....