Last Sunday was my birthday. As a surprise, the college ministry worship leader sang "Happy Birthday" to me in front of our students. He also asked me to ride around on a mop (which I declined) and to put a green flashing "birthday light" on my head (which I did).
The strangest moment, though, happened after the service as I was headed out to my car. A student in the foyer, whom I had never met, greeted me loudly by saying, "MATT! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" He then proceeded to embrace me closely, as if I were a dear relative or old friend. Note at this point that he had still not given me his name.
I managed to say, "Thank you." But then the really weird part...he encouraged me to bend at the waist so that he could give me my "birthday spanking." I declined, of course, but he still made a motion as if he were going to slap my posterior. I nervously chuckled and said an awkward goodbye.
Apparently, after I left, he looked at one of our college interns and said, "Did I really just tell the pastor to bend over for a spanking?" Reality sets in...remorse begins to take hold.
The real irony here: My talk that morning was called, "The Beginning of Wisdom: The Book of Proverbs." I encouraged using good sense in making decisions rather than making them impulsively.
The impulsiveness he demonstrated can create some of the most amusing, exciting, as well as troublesome moments in college ministry. Each year several students in our ministry "impulsively" decide to spend six weeks overseas sharing the Gospel.
But others buy cars with money they don't have, or make poor sexual decisions in the heat of the moment. Or, of course, offer to give a pastor birthday spankings.
I feel like one of our goals in college ministry is to provide to students a sense of balance and wisdom. To help create at least a small moment in their brains for evaluation, planning, and thought. That desire is part of what motivated me to teach from the book of Proverbs this Summer.
At any rate, thanks for the birthday wish, even if it was a bit unusual.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I can just picture you in the parking lot giving that awkward chuckle and thinking, "what in the world?!" Not sure what I would do if one of my students on campus ever offered to do the same...I'm just not going to think about that any more.
Post a Comment