Some of it is dumb. But there are ribbons and awards I won, mementos from trips and days in Bible quiz. Little cards and name tags from events I attended. Some of it's more meaningful like mementos from vacations or things friends gave me. At first that box had all of the cards and letters I'd received, but by the time I was twelve I needed a different box for those. So I have a second box full of messages from friends through the years. It was fun looking through that one. With the youth pastor on my mind, I got to thinking about youth group days.
It's been twenty years since I was in the thick of high school. My life was pretty simple, but I didn't have a lot of friends and I didn't ever feel like I really fit in. But on Sunday when I was reunited with some of the kids I went to youth group with, who I've only seen a couple of times since we all graduated, it was something special. We ALL were kids who felt like we didn't fit in, but we all found a place in that group. Several of us had the same story. We were disillusioned and ready to give up on church, but visiting that group changed it. We felt lonely and overlooked but someone in that group noticed and acknowledged it. We've all moved on into family life and grown up, but we stood around the tables looking at pictures of our high school selves (and admired how good our hair looks now compared to then), and I think for those few hours, we all were back in the walls of that youth room, thinking about all of the zany adventures we had together, missing the people who weren't there, wondering how everyone turned out, appreciating Pastor Mark together.
It was like a class reunion, except without the pressure of having to feel successful and look good. We could just be, and that felt really good.
Since then I've been thinking about things I'd nearly forgotten. Cold bus rides at the break of dawn for a community service project. Sneaking out of my dorm with Meredith to go see Emily. Staying up all night on a retreat when all of the leaders decided to stay in the other cabin. Talking all night with Jess on her bunk bed and playing cards until the literal break of dawn, at which time the guys decided to storm our cabin with the PA system playing Mission Impossible. Sitting on the bus in Mexico with two other friends and making up ridiculous stories about spider spies and tomatoes taking over the world. Standing on stage and singing with good friends. My best friend Rachel and I building playdoh worlds together. Sitting crammed together in a stairwell that echoed and singing a Capella harmonies to God. Canoeing together and campfires where we washed each others' feet. Trips down to the prison to lead worship in the chapel services. So many, many memories.
Being together reminded me. It's good to be in a place where there aren't any regrets, where the mistakes of the past are buried, and what's left are really good memories. There isn't a great way to describe it except that
it's a kind of love that we were bound together by. We loved each other and our leaders, but more than that we loved God and were doing what we could to serve him together.
It was a chance to thank each other for things and to say words that we couldn't say as insecure teenagers. A lot of friends were missing, and some of them have passed away. But I think they were on all of our minds. And even without them there, our relationships are cemented. One of my favorite songs explains it best:
Would you take me back to when we were kids
who weren't scared of getting older
cuz no one knows you like they know you and no one probably ever will
you can grow up
make new ones
but the truth is there's nothing like old friends.
And you can't make old friends.
-- Ben Rector "Old Friends" (Watch the video; it's awesome)
It's been twenty years since I was in the thick of high school. My life was pretty simple, but I didn't have a lot of friends and I didn't ever feel like I really fit in. But on Sunday when I was reunited with some of the kids I went to youth group with, who I've only seen a couple of times since we all graduated, it was something special. We ALL were kids who felt like we didn't fit in, but we all found a place in that group. Several of us had the same story. We were disillusioned and ready to give up on church, but visiting that group changed it. We felt lonely and overlooked but someone in that group noticed and acknowledged it. We've all moved on into family life and grown up, but we stood around the tables looking at pictures of our high school selves (and admired how good our hair looks now compared to then), and I think for those few hours, we all were back in the walls of that youth room, thinking about all of the zany adventures we had together, missing the people who weren't there, wondering how everyone turned out, appreciating Pastor Mark together.
It was like a class reunion, except without the pressure of having to feel successful and look good. We could just be, and that felt really good.
Since then I've been thinking about things I'd nearly forgotten. Cold bus rides at the break of dawn for a community service project. Sneaking out of my dorm with Meredith to go see Emily. Staying up all night on a retreat when all of the leaders decided to stay in the other cabin. Talking all night with Jess on her bunk bed and playing cards until the literal break of dawn, at which time the guys decided to storm our cabin with the PA system playing Mission Impossible. Sitting on the bus in Mexico with two other friends and making up ridiculous stories about spider spies and tomatoes taking over the world. Standing on stage and singing with good friends. My best friend Rachel and I building playdoh worlds together. Sitting crammed together in a stairwell that echoed and singing a Capella harmonies to God. Canoeing together and campfires where we washed each others' feet. Trips down to the prison to lead worship in the chapel services. So many, many memories.
 |
| I wore a vintage youth group shirt from our Mexico Trip. D's is from another trip he was on in 8th grade. |
it's a kind of love that we were bound together by. We loved each other and our leaders, but more than that we loved God and were doing what we could to serve him together.
It was a chance to thank each other for things and to say words that we couldn't say as insecure teenagers. A lot of friends were missing, and some of them have passed away. But I think they were on all of our minds. And even without them there, our relationships are cemented. One of my favorite songs explains it best:
Would you take me back to when we were kids
who weren't scared of getting older
cuz no one knows you like they know you and no one probably ever will
you can grow up
make new ones
but the truth is there's nothing like old friends.
And you can't make old friends.
-- Ben Rector "Old Friends" (Watch the video; it's awesome)
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