Weekend round-up

I try not to be too preachy in my blogging but I guess sometimes being a passionate blogger means you jump on a cause and push it and in this case, I'll jump on a shoebox.

There is a terrific effort called, Operation Christmas Child. My church participates in it each year and we got our first announcement about it yesterday.

If you are reading this post, hope your church and any service organizations you are a part of plan to participate in this effort or others like it.

Sometimes, people might ask, are such things worth it? People overseas have so many needs that this seems too little. But given the choice of doing what we can versus doing nothing at all, I think it is a no-brainer. And maybe someday, we will find ourselves doing more. In the end, the emotional struggle we face when we open our eyes to see the needs of the world is the realization there is so much of it and then the temptation to despair leading to inaction. This train of thought must be resisted.

I hope these kinds of efforts here and overseas will gather support.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

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Did an all-nighter with the junior high youth group at my church from 8pm Friday to 8pm Saturday. In college, I did maybe two for school projects, so it was going to be a new experience for me!

It was mostly fun and games but hopefully, bonding takes place between kids, between staff and between staff and kids. Hopefully, the high energy event is an investment into the future that will pay interest, yield dividends and eternal gains.

The "message" was at midnight at the movie house when we took the kids to see "Radio." The film is based on a true story of a compassionate coach of a small town high school football team and the unlikely man he befriends. The Christian message of loving one another can't be more clear. I have to say most if not all the kids and the all the hopelessly idealistic staff were misting up if not outright fighting back tears. Great performances, 3 stars out of 4, and bring a hankie or two.