Our Big Small Group

It was just “one of those afternoons”.
I had to get a big Youth Vision mail out finished so I was busy in the study.
Christine had to make a meal to take to home group and we had a big money week, so she didn’t want to go all out on buying stuff. She looked in the cupboard decided on a nice cheap pastor dish, all she had to buy was a jar of sauce.
I came out at six to discover last nights DVD still here. So I grabbed it and started for the car, Christine asked if I could also get paper plates for the night…oh and also don’t forget to put the folding chairs in the car…I was getting frustrated. I was hungry, you know when you are hungry every thing makes you get angry?
So I said I would throw everything into my ute, buy the plates return the DVD (now 10 minutes overdue) and see them all there at the group. Well that did not go down well. “You can come past, and get us”. Means swapping cars because I had just loaded the ute for me. Now Christine says, nah lets all just go now, not a bad idea I guess, but I didn’t like it at the time, not because there was anything wrong with it, it was just that I was now in a bad mood and when you are in a bad mood it’s your job not to like anything.
Christine comes outside with the big bowl full of spagettii and sauce etc, and as she leans in to place it in the car it slips from her grasp and the whole dinner spills all through the back of the car and all over the driveway as well as through my brief bag with computer and all in it!!

I decide to go to the video shop by my self.

Upon return the mess was all but cleaned up. Moods were still dark.

We left for home group.

One of the things I am begining to like about the group is that these people are friends. Sound odd to say, but until this group, all the other groups I have been in have had a friend or two in it, but mostly it was about trying to get to know the people in your group and make friends.
I felt entirely comfortable to come along and be in a stink amongst these guys. In fact I sat with one person and shared some of the tensions and the response was, “Oh it’s so good to hear that other people have a life like mine sometimes…” Isn’t that what ‘doing life together’ is all about. Well the night didn’t go as I expected, to be honest, they never do. I have in my mind – order, one person sharing their journey and everyone sitting around listening empathically, people opening their bibles and sharing an encouragment etc etc.
What we have is chaos, in a kind of semi organised fashion, we have screeming kids, crying babies, bleeding noses, ‘coffee is served’ shouted over intimate conversations, – chaos.
Is this bad?
No I don’t think so.
In the middle of all this last night I had a great chat with one of the guys.
Others joined us. We opened the circle, kids ran through the middle.
Matt told some stories of relationships being built alreading in just the first week of his new job at the school.
Phil shared stuff about his dreams to travel.
Graeme, told us of some concerns that we could be in prayer for.
Others openly shared amidst the chaos.

It was there in the noise and chaos that we began to pray, at one point Roger disappeared to calm some noise down on the trampoline behind us.
Kids came into our circle and joined our prayerful mood before wandering off to play again…only to return, observe, learn…encounter one more time and run off again.

Yeah the night was different to what I expected, but I get the feeling God is doing something. Relationships are losening, people are enjoying getting to know one another, loving one another a little more.

Thanks guys, I enjoyed hanging with ya last night.

How do you get the smell of tomato sauce out of a car?