Two weeks ago I drove a church bus filled with middle schoolers.

We went to Garden City Chapel and Retreat for a week of worship, small group Bible study, fun, and togetherness.

It was a great group of kids.

But middle school energy can be over the top.

We were there only 5 minutes before the boys managed to break a window horsing around in the dormitory with a basketball.

It’s great for a senior adult to be around adolescents to be reminded of what we used to be like.

When you were in junior high school:

You had a highly-tuned body that ran on all cylinders but you didn’t know how to take care of it or what to do with it.

Now you know what to do with it, but it stays in the shop most of the time.

In junior high, you thought you could impress others by the way you walked through the cafeteria.

Now you only impress yourself if you can make it through the kitchen without walking like Fred Sanford.

A junior high boy feels like a man when he starts to look like he could shave his top lip.

A senior adult man feels like a wooly mammoth when he has to shave his eyebrows, nose, and ears along with his top lip, face, neck, chest, back, and legs.

Anyone who thinks there are only physiological differences between the sexes has not witnessed a group of middle schoolers at camp.

The boys will compete with each other to be the top bodily noise-producer while the girls will strive to appear older and more mature than they are.

But they all just want to find their place of safety and security in this very unsettled world.

They want to know how to connect with God and with each other.

I am thankful for those who take up the mantle to teach, guide, and direct middle schoolers in finding their way in this world with faith in God.

Next week: New Begin