The Power!

The youth in our church are stinking amazing!  I am very proud to say that my own children are part of the classification of "youth" which are students of junior high or high school age.  At this moment the high school students are on a mission trip to shelters in Oakland and San Francisco.  I am very, very proud to say that our daughter Kristiana is on this high school trip.  Which means she is in high school.  Which also means that I feel very, very old.

But in thinking about our church's youth it reminded me of a funny story that involved them.  I would like to share that with you today.

Our youth pastor was being ordained in a town about three hours away from here and it was decided that our church family would send a delegation to watch him and celebrate this new chapter in his life.  It started out with a few families with vans who had told the high school kids we could car pool.  Then there would be borrowed fifteen passenger vans.  Then rented vans...then...then...then you get the picture.  Someone finally announced, as the little boy announced to the Emperor that he had on no clothes, we should charter a bus!

Oh good.  I loooooove riding on buses.  (I wasn't sure if I should use six or seven o's to demonstrate dripping sarcasm...let me know how I did)  I do like hanging out and chatting.  I like not making a three hour drive at night when we have just finished eating dinner.  I do like saving money on gas.  I do not like riding on buses.  I think it stems from a field trip through the mountains I took as a high school senior.  I have been known to exaggerate, my daughter says I do it a billion times a day, but this account is the unvarnished truth!   I was sitting toward the back of the bus on a trip through winding mountain roads and the ancient driver continually dropped his back tires off the pavement as he rounded the curves.  It was all I could do to not work my way to the front, smack the steering wheel from his hands, and save us all!  (I have to tell you, I feel like I was born to drive and by the time I was a senior I had already driven my family's camper across the country to go to the world's fair...I knew I could do it better)  Not being the person behind the wheel is a little uncomfortable for me.  It is my issue.  I am working on it.

The plan was to charter a bus that had a bathroom, plush seats, and TV's so we could travel in style.  And then we found out how much it would cost.  Borrow a yellow bus from the private school in town it is!  Check!  I luckily did not have to sit on the folding half seat in the emergency row so that was nice.   I got to talk with people from church that I rarely get a chance to just sit down and talk with, and that was even nicer.  What was interesting was that the bus sort of naturally filled in a certain order.  Families did not sit together.  Age groups sat together.  It was sort of like the old Jello 1-2-3!  Let me explain because I am always the only person who ever remembers it when I use that analogy.  It was a Jello mix that, once made, you would pour into glass cups and put in the refrigerator.  When it settled and gelled it had three distinct layers.  The bottom was the clear Jello, the top was a frothy foamy treat, and the middle was a mixture of the two.  Yummy! 

Back to the bus.  The back was full of all the youth and the ages got progressively higher as you moved toward the front.  My place was firmly in the middle.  It was nice.  I was afforded a row or two back toward the cool kids since I work with them on a regular basis but my gray hair kept me out of the back-back.  As we started the trip there were the usual announcements about where we would stop, how long it would take, please keep your hands, arms, and belongings inside the vehicle at all times until the ride has come to a full and complete stop...thank you for visiting Disneyland we hope you enjoy your stay.  But I digress...

Off we went.  And it was, thankfully, an uneventful trip.  Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves talking amongst their like-aged strata, for two and a half hours, when I looked back and noticed that the youth were getting a little antsy.  (I can't help it...the teacher in me has to keep an eye on the whole bus)  There were people out of their seats...against the rules but not terrible.  There was a lot of loud talking...again, technically forbidden but who am I to judge?  And then 'it' happened.  Apparently somebody had brought some sort of electronic game and all the youth wanted to see, so everybody got up.  When everybody got up that meant that the youngest of the young could no longer see.  I think my son Jake was the winner of the youngest passenger award (and consequently got to ride in the very prestigious back seat).  Well Jake couldn't see, and he is young, so he stood up on the seat to lean over the crowd to see what they were looking at. 

This was over the line.  I mean I couldn't have this large group of church people thinking that our kids were raised by wolves...I have to say there are times when you could hide a few wolf cubs in their rooms...but I digress.  I decided that standing on the seat of a borrowed bus was beyond my comfort zone.  I tried to catch his eye.  I semi-serioused (it's a word) my face.  I raised my hand with my finger pointing up at the top of the bus and then quickly dropped it down like I was indicating that I had just made a three-point basket...nothing but net!  Wham!  Every single junior high, high school, and youngish college student dropped into their seat and looked straight ahead like they had been caught sneaking toward the cookie jar after bedtime.  The people around me laughed and congratulated me and wondered how I was able to muster that sort of power into a single finger.  I told them I was just trying to get Jake off the seat but I guess I must have cranked up my teacher face a little too far.  Don't worry, I know, with great power comes great responsibility.

I just wish I could remember what I did so I could use it in my classroom!