You Could be The One

  So last night I had youth group (CLEAR) and it was the day of moving up for the newbies!! (going-to-be-7th-graders) I can't say it's been all that easy for me. When I first joined CLEAR, it was A LOT different than how it is now. We had a different leader, different and a lot more people, different schedule. And honestly, I loved the way it was. At that time we didn't have the young adults group we have now in our church, so there were a few kids who had already graduated who were still coming to CLEAR. But we all got a long, and it was fun.
  But then our youth pastor felt God leading him somewhere else, and he and his wife moved further South. That's when the man is now currently our youth pastor (Mr. J) took over. It was weird at first, especially because I had really liked our previous youth pastor, and it was hard being brought into a new environment, getting used to one person, then being there for no more than a year and getting everything switched up again. But I love Mr. J and even though it took a little while, everything eventually got sorted out. But around that time our current pastor was having some issues, which I won't bring up for many reason. He ended up being removed from his position and left the church. Because of that, a lot of people left the church, including families with kids who had come to CLEAR. Some kids came anyway, even though they no longer came to our church, but many people left and it was hard (I also forgot to mention that a year or two before I moved into CLEAR, there had been another youth pastor, but he had been removed from the position and church for different reasons). But I think about half way though my second year, things started to smooth out. We knew who our regulars were, we were starting to get more organized, and we were starting to look more like a family.
  My year as a freshman was probably the best. That summer we went on a missions trip in Mannasas, Virginia, we had an absolutely AWESOME Christmas concert with some rocking music (I played piano and sang :), then that spring we had one of the best Dessert Theaters we ever had along with an Easter concert. Everything was really fun. Then this past summer we had a fun, local missions trip. We stayed at a local campground (A friend an I found an awesome water slide/waterfall in the creek. It was cool :), worked at a local care home, and went to Hershey Park! Sadly though, we had several seniors graduating, and they were some of the ones who had been there since before everything went crazy, and they were really awesome friends who just made everything better :]
  After they left, things went on okay for a while, but more recently, a lot of people have changed. A lot of good friends who had always been faithful about coming have seemed to become different. Not so many people come to youth group anymore. It's been hard. I remember when we'd have a good 20 people showing up. Now, sometimes we won't have more than half a dozen students, if that, show up.
  But last night we got some new kids - six of which who came, and another who will hopefully be able to come soon! And literally, I went up to the front of the church for something, turned around and saw, what seemed to me, like so many people!!! I was so excited! Not only were there a bunch of new kids there, but parents too! We didn't have enough food!! (which I took as a bittersweet thing..) And though it's a bit saddening that's it's going to be hard carrying on some of the... I don't know, "atmosphere" that some of the older students has, it's almost like we're starting over. It's sad and a bit scary, but I think it's a good thing. Change is always hard, but I believe this change is going to work for the better of everyone. I'm excited to see all these new kids and get to know them! Hopefully I'll get to know them quickly as softball might start messing with my ability to go to CLEAR. But I'm gonna try!
  One of those newbies who I've been referring to has a blog! Her button is to your left (if you don't know which way is your left, then get in your car and start driving. If several cars nearly hit you, that should be your left side, unless you're in another country. In which case I want to know why you drive on the wrong side of the road? Can't we just all agree to drive on the same side?).
Cheers ♥