Reunion

I never cease to be amazed at local Alabama's reaction to high school football. Everyone comes out - whether they are in high school, have kids in high school or not. Baffles me utterly. Anyway, we went to one of these community gatherings last night for Ashford High's Homecoming game. Since neither Andy or I are particularly crazed over organized sports, we certainly weren't there for the game, which turned out to be a good thing, because we couldn't have watched it if we HAD wanted to! We sawJonathan Hughes, Jennifer Maddox, Jana Calhoun, Brittanie Harrison, Cody Jones, Dan McGriff, Dana Still, Blake Weed and several others from the stands.

Sometimes, when you are in the middle of ministry - the trenches, so to speak - it's kind of being in a fog. You can see your hands, and what's going on directly around you, but you can't really focus on anything too far from where you are standing. You know you are working hard, you know that you are loving hard, you know that you are catching flack from time to time, you know that every now and then a kid "gets it," but you never really know if what you do is having a longterm impact.

As for our ministry at Cowarts, I can't really say even one year out if anything really made a longterm difference or not, but I pray it did. By the reaction of kids we saw last night, at least I have no doubt that we did make an impact, based on their reaction upon seeing us. What a blessing to see young adults that you've known for years, that you have tried to pour yourself into, that you've loved through good and bad times and then see them notice you, then recognition dawn, followed by "Brother Andy!!" or "Ms. Rhonda!!" Oh, the joy. It's bittersweet though, because although I do want them to love me, I want so much more for them to fall in love with Jesus. And in most of these cases, that hasn't happened yet. You wonder if it is even possible to help assist and override the parental example and their raising. But then I look at myself, and think that if ever someone should not be doing what she is doing, then that would be me. My parents are moral, but fascinated with Christ, faithful in church, they are not. I've never walked in on my parents praying, individually or jointly. I've never seen my dad open his bible outside of church. I should be just as lackadaisical. In fact, I should be one step farther - I should be completely detached. I should have written off Christianity as irrelevant based on the fact that it wasn't capable of changing my parents marriage and saving me the grief of growing up in such a tense environment. I should have invested myself in men, finding comfort and solace in their arms, along with intellectualism, achievement and pleasure. Praise God that we do not have be a product of our raising! Praise God that He is capable and willing to pluck us from our circumstances and give us opportunity after opportunity to lead a different life than what our parents could have lead us to. I will evermore be awed by and intensely grateful for how He worked in my life to bring me into a closer walk with himself. My experience may not be as shocking as Paul's Damascus Road experience, or Jonah's experience with the whale, but I have no doubt that God's hand was just as real in guiding and protecting me from what could've been. Working out events for His good pleasure and setting me aside in the same manner that He has set aside all of us who are "called by His name."

But back to my reunion story. Our Cowarts kids have choices, but I have to trust that, yes, they can move beyond their upbringing. That the God who wooed me, is capable of working through their difficulties, their mistakes to make Himself known. That's my prayer. And of course, any way we can help - to continue to be part of the "means" to God's ends, then of course, we want to be available for that as well! :)