Mercy O Lord!

I found myself in the unusual position of being in the seating area preferred by the teenagers at the Thursday night service. With apologies to Pastor Nick, I found myself fidgeting and losing concentration the same as the three teenage boys seated directly in front of me. I apologize to Pastor Nick because it is not his fault, as I often drift off in a daze during Pastor David's sermons too. (I've sat through so many moralizing "sermons", without scripture content, that I automatically tune out and start drifting away when the topic occasionally strays.) But I digress. ;-)

Anyway, these three young men, in a row with some other teens, drew the attention of a parent, and an usher. You see, they just haven't yet discovered how to play church correctly. I hope they never do. I spent easily a dozen years honing my skill at "playing church". But then again, I was required to sit with one or both of my parents until I learned. Once I escaped to the choir, I really had to learn how to play church, as all those adult eyes fixed on the Pastor could easily see me fidget.

My heart was breaking as I sat there; nominally listening to Pastor Nick call me back to God, while I was watching three young boys heading the same direction I had at their age. They abandoned the service at the altar call, but my heart went with them. Ah Lord God, Father; your will be done, but if it is in your plan reveal yourself in the hearts of those three young men. Spare them, what I went through! Spare them the lost decades of being a youth for you. Most of all spare them your wrath in the coming judgement! Help me shy away from my own issues of "playing church!" Have mercy on us, Lord Jesus!