ooooo you got burned!

My younger brother is one of the sweetest guys I know, but at youth group he can be — in fact he usually is — loud and obnoxious. Now, in a room full of crazy middle schoolers that should be expected, but one of the leaders, *Saul, has made it clear with his selective correction that he does not like my brother. I’m glad my brother understands it is Saul’s problem and not his.

But that doesn’t stop me from being angry about it. Saul corrects my brother about everything. It doesn’t matter if every other kid in the youth group is doing the same thing; he won’t get off my brother’s case! As annoyed as I am with this, I’ve never said anything to Saul about the way he treats my brother. That is, until last night.

I was walking up the ramp to go inside the teen portable. As soon as I reached the door, Saul jumped out and startled me. He thought this was hilarious, but I didn’t. Not because he startled me. . . I was okay with that. It was the fact that Saul did something that he would have gotten on my brother’s case about if he had done the same thing.

I made note of this, and realized how much Saul resembled my brother in his actions. He acts almost exactly the same way. The only difference: Paul is a grown man and doesn’t have an excuse to act as immature as a 7th grade boy.

Later, I was standing at the counter in the teen center talking to the woman behind it. Saul came up to the counter asking for more food. When she said, “Yes of course you can!” Saul exclaimed in a loud “Woooo!” which tweaked my last nerve, since this is EXACTLY what he gets angry at my brother for.

Because I was so annoyed, and because I love my brother so much and I wanted to get back at his oppressor, I led a short conversation with him that went something like this,

“You know who you remind me of, Saul?” I said in my sweetest voice.

“Somebody hot and good looking?!” He said in a ridiculous manner.

“Well I guess you could say that.” He looked at me extremely surprised and was obviously ready for a compliment. Now using my sweet voice with a hint of sarcasm (and the sweetest face in the world). I continued, “You remind me of an older version of my brother!”

Any hint of a smile that was on Saul’s face completely disappeared. In the background there was a “Ooooo” like “ooooo you got burned!” This added to the effect, and I could see that Saul was really ticked off, which was my goal.

In response, and obviously trying to make himself feel better he said, “I’m gonna take that as a compliment, even if it wasn’t.” As he was walking away, and because in order to “win” I needed the last word, I said sarcastically,

“You go ahead and do that.” Before he had a chance to say anything to that, I walked triumphantly to my friends. It was over.

I had won.

*not the youth leader’s real name

yet to master this skill

As I was driving down a street I, like I do in many situations, found myself making an observation.

There are many billboards and signs flashing in neon lights or bright colors, all saying the same thing: “Look at me!”  If there is something more significant than the rest, there’s a chance you’ll miss it.

This is much like our lives. So noisy and busy, it’s hard to decide what is important. There are many things vying for our attention. . . like the TV, music, events, school, jobs, relationships. . .

This reminds me of how we try to listen for God’s voice. Everything around us is very distracting. If this is true, what makes God’s voice so special in that we can automatically pick it up, despite of all these distractions?

I think you have to learn what to look, feel, and listen for. I have yet to master this skill, but I am determined to get there.

Beautiful

“Beautiful”: a word so old, with so much meaning. Its bias so strong that the word is painful to hear or speak. It’s as if nobody even deserves such a title.

“Beautiful”: resounding with such purity as it rolls off the tongue of the beholder…it departs like a delicate flying bird, and soars through the air with strength, only to land where it chooses.

“Beautiful”: I wince when I hear the word being spoken. Even when I know that few people still use this word. And the people who do use it really understand its meaning. They save the title for the most intricate and lovely.