the Lord is gracious and slow to anger
i decided to take the group back about 2,000 years in time to a postmodern last supper kind of thing, so i had them each bring a pillow and blanket, then i decked out my office with candles and tea lights all over, plus the blankets and pillows scattered across the floor like a patchwork quilt. after our game time, the kids all removed their shoes at the bottom of the stairs and i sent them up one at a time to a small station outside my office where there was a communion tray. under the tray lid there were pieces of paper, each containing a verse. a sign in front of the tray said, "take, eat...," and after each student took a slip of paper they went into the office and sat down quietly. i brought up the rear, and once inside i explained to them the custom of how people would get together and hang out back then with the reclining around and being relaxed. they really got into it i believe, and they all seemed to absorb the why of the night and not just the coolness of it all. we all spent time over our own verse, and after a while i opened up the floor and we all shared what it meant to us. there was some deep stuff going on, people soul-searching and God-seeking.
i hope it made an impact.
tonight i had to do something i hated: get angry.
i manage to be a nice guy about 99% of the time, and even when i'm mean i'm nice, if you get my drift. but that 1% of the time i just get so fed up with bickering or complaining or bossiness or manipulation, and i just snap. it's not out of control anger, i'm a pretty disciplined person, but i just let it out and i hate that i have to do it to get across to people sometimes. i didn't have a single problem after i got done though. i think it's that anger that God has sometimes where He puts up with israel and just takes the idolatry and takes the sinful living and takes the apathy, and then He won't take anymore and just unleashes the wrath which is not pretty. at all.
but He's still a loving God, and i'm still a loving nice-guy.
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