broken heart manifesto: entry 01

my friend thomas has posted the brokenheartmanifesto and i think it's really, really great.

in light of my decision to not just try to follow his efforts but instead joining in as a signatory, here's my first offering:

tonight was the last night of my 2 youth groups' "summer park nights" at the field of the local elementary school. a good turnout for us this summer (7 kids + me = a decent game of kickball); one freshman boy was having his birthday party tonight, so he invited his friends to come to the park first. brilliant!

while we threw around a football waiting for others to arrive, a group of skateboarders showed up at the other end of the park. there were at least 5 or 6 guys, all high school age. i noticed they had a few frisbees and a football (we have played ultimate a few times this summer), so i suggested we should maybe see if they wanted to join in.

everyone kind of stuttered and stammered. i was a bit surprised how fearful they seemed. nobody thought it was a good idea to approach this crowd. i let it lie, and we started our game.

i asked the group 2 more times while we played. the other kids had descended the hill to the opposite side of the long playing field and were casually tossing a football and their frisbees. still, my crew did not want to invite them over. one girl said, "i know it would be the very christian thing to do." but even with that realization the answer was still, "no." a few of my kids had overheard someone saying something about stolen cigarettes, and they also seemed to think it was a crowd that i could walk up to and ask for some weed.

part of me wishes i had made the decision as the youth group leader to be an example and walk over and invite the other group to join us. another part of me wants to respect where my kids are at and find some way to make this a teachable moment without causing them too much anxiety.

so much for "no one else will love for me."

suggestions?

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broken heart manifesto, bhmt04