Middle school.

Middle school. A crazy, awkward, unforgettable-no-matter-how-hard-we-try time for most of us. One we'd never want to go back and relive ever again. Right? Maybe for most of us...

But for some of us, the crazy, awkward unforgettableness somehow continues on into our adult lives. At least vicariously. I'm talking about youth ministry. Where else can you enjoy this time in all its glory, and have a stinkin' blast while doing it? At least, I love it.

Tonight we had a middle school event at church: "Waldo." People hid all over town at coffee shops, McDonald's, parks, bookstores, all wearing or wielding something specific. Light sabers. Indiana Jones. Martin Luther. Darth Vader. All these and more made appearances for our 2-hour drive all over town with carloads of crazy 11 to 13-year-olds, who descended in noisy swarms on unsuspecting establishments to find these hidden "Waldos."

My car load was different than usual. Normally a bunch of my small group girls practically attack in their jockeying for a seat in my car; tonight I got 3 7th and 8th grade boys. They were different. They were noisy. They were awesome.

These boys screamed Beatles and Black Eyed Peas and "Where's Waldo???" out my car windows as we drove the local streets--the same windows they fell into as they were reloading the car, exclaiming "I've always wanted to do that!" I guess door handles take too much time. They mistook Martin Luther for Christopher Columbus, sprinted across giant parking lots, made friends with random people at McDonald's and Starbucks, selected Coldplay and OneRepublic and Bach from my iPod...pretty much totally made my night.

One of my favorite moments came when I was doing "donuts" in one parking lot, waiting for "Team Epic" to tell me where to go next. Complaining they were getting carsick, they finally told me where to go and we straightened out for our next destination--after I threw in one more roundabout for good measure. One boy teased me: "Aren't church people supposed to be nice and help other people, not make them carsick?" I joked back, "Sure, but you're forgetting something: middle school staff church people are also supposed to be crazy!" Another boy, suddenly got serious, musing to himself from the back seat, "Hmmm...maybe that's what I should do!" Youth pastor of the future? Only time will tell.

Oh yeah, and we won.