WWJD

Most people who have been around christianity in the past 10 years knows what WWJD stands for. What Would Jesus Do? I think that the spiritual views of most of the teenagers I work with could be summed up by a slight variation of this. WTFWJD?! I found this variation on one of my teen's facebook profiles and I laughed really hard. If you don't know what WTF stands for, just skip this post and read something more interesting.
I love this about the teens I work with. They are highly confused, frustrated, demanding, and wonderfully sincere in their pursuit of God. It keeps me on my toes because I never can tell what question may come up next, but I do know that a cheesy answer will get me no where. These teens will not be satisfied by religion either, they are searching for a mystical, powerful, universal, huge, personal answer to the questions their hearts ask.
Their response to the Jesus fish, an unexplained cliche?

Phone Drama, Part 2

Ring, Ring. RIng, Ring.

Darn it.

I have to pick it up. Here I go. Oh thank you Jesus, it was just Rogers Video.

My Supervisor Danny is away for a month. My co-worker is going away for two weeks, leaving guess who responsible if there are any critical incidences such as explosions, suicides, angry parents, police, dancing flowers...yadda yadda. This would all be ok, except that it means that I have to answer my phone when it rings. Every time. For a month.
Worst August Ever.
If you read “Phone Drama, Part One” you will gain some understanding of my hatred/phobia of answering the phone. And that’s not my weirdest phobia. (Coming soon, Cotton Ball Drama, the trilogy)

Ring, Ring. Ring, Ring.

Pray for me people.

Meet the creepy guy across the street

This is what my co-worker Danny posted a week ago:
A young friend of mine sent me a text late on a Friday night. In it she asked me a question about how God could be good while all her friends are going through so much bad.

I was more curious as to why the question was being asked then the question itself. This young lady has never opened up a foot to faith before and I wondered what pushed her to this point.

She and I talked in person for a bit one night after dinner at my place while everyone else was playing video games. after hearing her explanations of things. I asked if she actually believed in God now but she wasn't sure. I asked if I could try to summarize things for her and asked her to correct anything that didn't describe her thoughts accurately.

I painted a picture of the house accross the street as God's house. Something about that house gave her the creeps and so she generally tried to ignore it and to go on her way. From time to time though she would inadvertently gaze toward the house only to see someone peering through the blinds at her. Now on this Friday night she had noticed God step out on his front porch and while she was still scared she noticed he wasn't as creepy as she thought.

She has watched as her friends have gone over and talked to this guy they call Jesus and she has noticed a change in them. So after a long debate in her mind she went over and said hello and when she went to leave again she found he had followed her home.

As I finished up this conversation i was greeted in laughter at the absurd description and a nodding of the head with the words "exactly".

Phone drama, Part 1

I hate picking up the phone. No, I loath picking up the phone. When I hear that ringing noise and see the caller ID flash an unknown number my whole being cringes. This could be something as stupid as Rogers Video saying I have not returned a DVD, or it could be a teen who is in trouble, or it could be someone wanting to know something that I don’t have the answer for. Someone wants to talk to me.

It’s the not knowing that gets me.

When the caller ID shows a number I recognize it’s almost worse. Why are they calling? It could be something as harmless as wanting to borrow my Star Wars DVD collection, or something could be wrong and they need my help, or they may have a question I don’t have the answer to. When their name flashes on my BlackBerry screen I instantly wonder if I did anything recently to make them angry. I wonder what they might want from me, and I wonder if whatever they are calling for will require me to stop what I’m doing now and do something else. I hope it’s not that bad news I’ve been expecting.

My defensive skills tell me to let it go to voicemail or to throw the phone across the room. My heart tells me that someone might be reaching out for help, and I need to reach back. I pick up the phone. It’s as recorded voice saying I need to return my copy of “Precious”. My heart rate goes back to normal.

Ring, Ring. Ring, Ring.... to be continued.