My garage

Every so often, when I come home at night, I will meet up with a critter in the garage. There have been snakes (my least favorite), birds, possums and other scurrying things. One night I inadvertently locked a trio of raccoons in the garage, leaving the mama raccoon outside the garage. That was exciting. Tonight I closed the overhead garage door and was heading out the other side when I noticed something flying around. I stood for a moment wondering if I was just seeing a really big mosquito eater or if it really was a bat...it was a bat. I stood there for a moment watching the bat fly around and around trying to find it's way out. I finally ventured back into the garage and opened the overhead door and the bat took off.

I felt a little bit like that bat yesterday, trapped in a place that I really didn't want to be, with a way out close by but I couldn't get to the door. The way out was blocked by circumstances, finances and more. I was trapped in the garage, a place that is fine to hang out in once in a while (and is a perfectly great place to have a party if you clean it up a bit) but not a place that is great to live in for a long haul without a major make-over. I've been "living" in the garage for a few years and I really, really want out. Only for me, that garage is middle school ministry. It's time to get out. There are steps being taken to make that happen, but in the meantime I'm thinking there needs to be a lot of prayers said.

For a moment today, I wondered if my garage was actually youth ministry in general. Tonight confirmed that it's not. Hanging out with College Students, chillin' with High School youth, it all felt right. Yep, the garage really is middle school for me. I'm praying that someone opens the door and lets me out soon.