Another Wednesday Night...

Another Wednesday night has come and gone. Yet, I hope and pray that the message of this past evening has not gone from the students minds quite so quickly.

It began as a typical Wednesday night Gangway. The students gathered together to throw balls around, chat it up with each other, goof around, play some games and just be Jr. highers. It's really a great time! Even though it gets crazy sometimes, it's our little community. I love all the students who show up because each one brings something special to our ministry. God truly does have a sense of humor :)

After settling down ,we played a game of "Categories." I wrote some categories (ie. sports, food, animal, etc.) on 2 white boards and then pitted the guys against the girls, each with their own white board. Then I called out a letter and each team had to come up with an answer for each category that started with that particular letter. It was fantastic to see how creative they all got! Each team held their own for 4 intense rounds. However, in the end the boys prevailed over the girls in sudden death.

After this, we all scrambled to our particular meeting places for the bible lesson.

I do need to interrupt here to thank and praise Amelia R. for bringing cupcakes. They might have been the best cupcakes I have ever eaten. You go girl!

As we have been going through the Proverbs, looking at practical instructions for life, we have come to Proverbs 5. In this chapter we are confronted with instruction regarding "the forbidden woman." So, the boys and I talked about girls. We drew from last weeks lesson about "keeping your heart with all vigilance" (Prov. 4:23a) and how we can apply this to their relationship with girls (whatever that looks like as determined by their parents). We noted that we need to keep our hearts after the ways of God and not after the ways of this world because the 2 are not compatible. So, we looked at what Proverbs 5 said about the forbidden woman. We discussed how she is sly, deceitful and tempting; but also lost, without life herself and leading to death. Thus, we talked about how not everything that looks or seems good and desirable necessarily is. This is why we need to keep our hearts, in order to be discerning and to make wise decisions. We concluded with the idea that, as young men, they need to be striving for God; keeping their hearts in check, disciplined in God's ways so that they may be able to make wise choices as life comes at them. This is especially true with regards to young ladies.

As we talked about this mature subject I was very proud to see all my boys paying attention and not giggling and smirking at any comments or points made. They all handled the study well and for that I praise and thank God!

I hope that as parents you will continue to ask your child(ren) about their time at Gangway; what they did, what they learned, who they met, etc. We want to work in tandem with you to provide the best training and guidance for the students as they move through this crazy life. So, may the Lord use us all to the benefit of His children and the building of His church!

For His Kingdom...