Hope is rising.

Last night was dubbed our official kick-off meeting for the youth group at Hope Church. Before I go into details, my initial thoughts are it was wonderful!

In the midst of working most days and trying to get everything together to start school this coming Monday, my brother was trying to plan as best as he could for this thing. And he admitted to feeling a little stressed. And so we went into this thing with many details left not figured out until the last minute and very little time to work them out. But everything went amazingly well despite that. The only thing we didn't do very well, was try to make sure to remind the kids to be there. So about four ended up being there as opposed to the dozen that were there last week. But that was okay. I did find it funny though that what with the band, the other youth leaders, and a few other church members, the room was mostly filled with people over the age of 18. It looked more like a meeting for college students! I had to smile about that.

Oh, and speaking of the band, it was a true testament to the vast talent of everyone that we pulled everything off so swimmingly. We couldn't find much time to rehearse, but everyone jumped in there and picked up on things quickly. My brother picked great songs. There is quite a bit of bias in that statement, because two of them were downhere songs ("Great Are You" and "Hope Is Rising"). But I think even those who aren't fanatical like me enjoyed them. (Side note: This makes three times that my brother and I have sung "Great Are You" in the past three months. We must really like it or something.)

Our pastor came over to my brother and I as soon as things were finished and reminded us like the angel told Zechariah not to despise small beginnings. Not to worry. I quite treasure small beginnings. Games were played. Laughter ensued. Songs were sung. Truth was spoken. A good time was had by all. What more could anyone ask for?