A little Stressful

We had Scripture Seminars on this morning, and I went to bed last night with less than enough volunteers coming, no game to play and no speaker. Scripture Seminars always stress me and these weren't particularly turning out well. Lots of people hadn't been able to make it and Stephen, who was meant to be speaking, was sick. Basically we had no seminars to run and we had 4 periods stuck with 100 students at a time and nothing to do with them.

I woke up this morning and showered while trying to work out at what point we cancel seminars.

The thing about seminars is that they never seem to look like we can run them. But I have this belief in me that even if the seminars don't look like they're possible to run, God'll come through and we'll run them. I don't think I've had a seminar which I've ever felt like they can run. But this one is the first time I've still been wondering if we can pull out on the morning of the actual seminars.

I decided on a game and drove to the school making up a talk in my head. As I drove a got a call from one of the volunteers saying they too were sick to come in. I arrived at school feeling rather ambivalent. Only a few leaders had turned up, some were running late. I couldn't run the game I had planned because there were no doughnuts at the shops. It may not sound like a big deal but with everything going wrong it was feeling like it could be the last straw. I had no speaker, no game, and very little ability to run small groups.

I started discussing with the other leaders at what stage we pull the plug. As we were talking the Acting Principal walked in and asked if we wanted the back doors unlocked to let some air into the room. I said "Yes" and chickened out of pulling out. I figured once you've had the doors unlocked there's no turning back.

Courtney rang one of her friends and got him out of bed to come join us, the rest of the leaders turned up and things felt a bit manageable. Chez thought of a game and Helen volunteered to MC the day. Once I was committed to doing it things felt a bit better. We prayed and waited for our first year to turn up.

The year sevens came in, and were as rowdy as ever, except the guy who usually shouts out "I love Satan!" was shouting "I love Jesus!" which I guess is a bit of an improvement (or a lot of an improvement depending on where you think his sincerity levels were at).

Helen welcomed everyone and we had the game which was fun. The students had to speak for a minute on a subject of our choosing without saying "um" or "ahh". They didn't really manage to do it.

Then it was my turn to speak. I've heard about a lot of preachers who have gotten into similar situations to me today. They have to give a talk or sermon at very late notice. And almost every time they say that they preached one of their best preaches then. It's funny. So I figured if I did have to talk God would come through. I preached and it did alright. I think it was probably the best scripture talk I've ever done. I got good feedback from the students and that never happens. And they seemed to come with me a lot more than usual.

My talk was about what God is like. Does he exist? And if he does, what's he like? I used the Prodigal Son because that was the last thing I preached on thankfully. And it all came out good.

Our small groups were big, but most leaders said they were productive. In the end the seminars turned into some of the best seminars we've done. "Good on God" I say. He does things like that.