February 17, 1999
DOWN HOME:
Disciple Now weekend is,
like, soooo real cool
___Pandemonium reigned at the Huxstable household. One--maybe two--children cried. Another fumed over a major disappointment, like a broken date for Friday night. Still another pleaded for cash and the car keys. And, if memory serves me well, yet another fretted over a catastropherelated to schoolwork, friends and/or clothes.
MARV KNOX
Editor
___Cliff, the father, turned to Claire, the mother, and uttered the immortal words: "Do you think they'll leave the house before we die?"
___Such was life on "The Cosby Show."
___And such is life in many American households.
___Like ours. When a tornado of teens (Got a better collective noun for ninth graders?) spent Friday night, Saturday and Sunday morning at our house.
___Ah, Disciple Now Weekend. It's the annual ritual in which faithful Baptist youth workers and their loyal minions turn Bibles, soft drinks, pizza, doughnuts, chips and sleeping bags into Meaningful Spiritual Experiences.
___It's a like-soooo event.
___"I just, like, want to thank everyone who, like, helped with D-Now this weekend," goes the typical Disciple Now Sunday night testimonial. "It was, like, soooo cool. We all, like, learned soooo much about the Bible and God and, like, stuff. We had soooo much fun, and, like, we just want to be soooo into Jesus."
___Actually, we had, like, soooo great of an experience this year. An equal number of likable ninth grade girls and guys, chaperoned by Amy, an amiable veteran of this genre of sleep-deprived spiritual growth, and Ted, who knows his Bible and also is big enough to slam-dunk any ninth grader who declines to pipe down appropriately.
___After a couple of years of experience, I've decided I have the spiritual gift of being a Host Home dad. I'm gifted with the ability to clean mud out of the carpet, dry large quantities of towels, carry out trash, sleep through Armageddon and keep out of the way.
___I know the kids studied their Bibles, because every time I walked through the den, Bibles lay all over the floor, like onionskin manna from heaven. And I know they paid attention, because they got as quiet as church mice when Amy promised she'd be praying for each of them--that they'd use what they learned and that it would make a difference in their lives.
___That was my favorite time of the weekend. Not because it was quiet, which was, like, soooo cool.
___But because I could see the looks on their faces and know that, through Amy, God was talking to each young person sprawled on my floor.
___That moment will live in my mind, and I'll be praying with Amy that it will mark their lives for decades to come.Frontpage / Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!