It's true. After a whole 48 hours in close quarters with 45 of my fellow classmates, I have come to this conclusion. They're weird. Or maybe it's just boys. The girls are normal. At least, that's how I see it. It's not a bad thing, I guess. The boys are funny and they need someone to laugh at them. That's where we girls come in. We laugh at their ridiculous jokes. I mean, someone had to think "Jesus loves the chosen children" was funny, right? Or a spontaneous "Row, row, row your boat" round. Come on, we all have to agree that's funny. Or maybe we all just lost our minds after 22 hours on a bus and 6 hours of meetings, all in less than 48 hours. That's quite possible.
But more importantly than this more or less unnecessary observation is this: A person's character, reputation, respect, and witness can be destroyed in 48 hours. I'm serious. I lost some respect this weekend for some people. Not everyone and not all my respect, but enough. It's amazing what a couple of unsavory jokes can do. I guess Paul knew what he was talking about when he said that we teachers would be judged more strictly. I still like these people, I will still laugh with them in the future, and I will still call them my friends. But, when I think that the future of the church lies in these boys, it makes me want to pray more and makes me realize just how much we need to trust God for the future. Is that too harsh to say? I hope not.
On the other hand, my respect for some people grew by leaps and bounds. Their dignity in refusing to join in the crass joking speaks well for them. The passion that these men have for their savior is encouraging. Lives are going to be changed because they trust God to be their strength. God can, and will work through the first set of boys, because he uses unlikely people, but nothing replaces hearts totally dedicated to Him.
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