Kid's Club

I went to a local ministry run through my Church called "Kid's Club." They meet from about 4:45 - 6:00 every Thursday afternoon, plus they periodically do other things like the movie night they announced today. Ages ranged from grade school to middle school, although the middle schoolers were very much the minority. It's in one of the ethnic minority neighborhoods in Santa Barbara which really gave it a Harambee sort of feel.

The first thing we did was divide the kids up for a game of human knot. A few of the older kids whined about it, but still joined in. Some of the younger kids weren't very good at keeping their hand holds. It also adds an interesting dynamic to the game when the sizes of bodies are varied. Big kids trying to maneuver around little kids adds challenge.

After the games we went back inside. There was quite a bit of mud nearby, and one of the boys slipped and fell in it. He felt pretty embarrassed about it, even though not many people seemed to notice, and he didn't get too much on him.

We all crowded into a living room that was barely big enough, and sang kid songs (i.e. ones with motions). After that there was a message given by a local junior high teacher. He talked about temptation using the story of Jesus being tempted by Satan in the desert, as well as multiple examples from some of his students (kept anonymous of course). He talked about God's word as a sword to fight off temptation, then used a sword (labeled "Word of God") to pop balloons (labeled Gossip, Cheating, Stealing, etc.)

About that time, one of the junior high kids (sitting in the back of course) did something that really pissed the speaker off. He yelled at the kid, told him to get out, and not to come back. The kid looked a little bit stunned, but got up and started to leave. One of the other leaders jumped in and said she would take the punishment for him. Ah, the beauty of it! It caught all of us off guard, and served as a really great example of Jesus' sacrifice.

After the message it was time for pizza. I noticed that one of the kids was sitting off at the side by himself, not eating pizza. He was the same guy that slipped in the Mudd earlier. I went over and talked to him. He was still feeling really embarrassed about slipping in the mud. I told him a story that I was "lucky" enough to have about when I was at work and got ink on my shirt almost first thing in the morning (It was only last week). I related how that made me act (awkwardly trying to cover it up whenever I wasn't at my desk) to how he was avoiding people. I made the point that people probably noticed the cover up more than the blemish. I asked him to go hang out with the other kids, and in a little while he did. It was so wonderful having that moment of connection with him. That alone made my whole time there worthwhile.

I had a great time! It was so nice to get out there investing in kids again. I'll definitely be going back again next Thursday.

I'm also waiting to get some information from the Santa Barbara Rescue Mission and what opportunities they have for me to serve there. It's good to know I won't be going idle while I'm in Santa Barbara.