So here we are, another year spent and the 7th graders are moving up (or taking over, whichever way you want to look at it! :) ) For those non-Cowarts friends of mine, our group is mid-size, usually running around twenty/twenty-five. We had thirty-four Wednesday night! Yeah! Considering we started with about ten, that's great! I am so pleased. But last night we had a get-together with the 7th graders coming up and boy - they terrify me. It has been a LONG time since I was that age and I confess that I do not remember ever being that loud. Oh, my. But it is fun all the same. I just hope that they will mesh and blend into our group and not create two separate cliques: the older and the younger. I want to prevent that at all costs. I consider the "family" atmosphere something unique about our group. I have loved that about them for a long time. But I don't want our growth, and the growing up of some of our kids to alter that oneness. This is something I am praying about long term.
Something else that has been on my mind lately has been a reminder of a lesson I first grasped when I read "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire" by Jim Cymbala from the Brooklyn Tabernacle in NY - NOTHING I can do can draw people to God. The Holy Spirit does all drawing the drawing work, so prayer is the key. I need to remember that I can do nothing apart from the vine - I am just a branch. Andy is just a branch. Even if you throw a bunch of money at your youth ministry and attract a huge number, the real lasting change will come from God and him drawing these kids to himself. That is the kicker. That is what I need to be reminded of when I get a little jealous of the resources that other churches offer, or down about our lack of funds. I want God to do His work in this arena. I need to spend much more time dedicating myself to prayer - and even fasting - about this issue. Not only that, I need to be impressing on my students that their prayers make a difference in their friends' lives in the same way.
Andy's grandparents are coming this weekend. Yeah! But my house isn't clean still, oh well. Only so much time in the day, and most of my time is spoken for.
McDonald's went up on their prices today. My $3.43 breakfast meal is now $3.54. Cost of living rises, but Rhonda gets no cost of living raise.....::sigh::
Andy and I had a wonderful lunch together today. Tried a new little homegrown place called "Mildred's Restaurant & Tea Room." Great! Andy is really unique among guys in that he LIKES these little girly atmospheric joints! He enjoys going somewhere that is nice and has nice food even if it is a little pricier than average. I love that about him. We did the coolest things when we were dating as teenagers. Our friends would go to Burger King and a movie and we were going to the Alhambra Dinner Theater and eating at the Sea Turtle Inn. It was great. But we miss a lot of that living in Dothan. It's an hour and a half to any city of good size - Tallahassee, Montgomery or Panama City. Three hours to any big city - Atlanta, Birmingham, or Jax. Guess it makes it all the more special when we get to do it.
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