When Things Don't Go as Planned

One of the hardest parts of working in my context is having to "expect the unexpected." (In other words, coming up with a new plan when things don't go the way you planned them.) As someone who likes to know what is happening and when, it is extremely frustrating when I make a schedule and then everything is turned upside down and what was planned doesn't end the way I think it should.

Case and point: last weekend the diocesan Youth Steering Committee met for an overnight retreat, mostly to get to know our team and begin planning our fall diocesan youth event. I had things mapped out: dinner, games, singing around a campfire, a Saturday morning hike to Ghost Town--and it was all going to be fun! We never really followed the schedule though... because, well, we moved into a different direction.

On Friday night our group began playing the board game "Betrayal at the House on the Hill." (Ironic because we were spending the night at Waycross' retreat house on Hickory Hill...) The way I would explain this game is that it is a cross between Clue and Dungeons and Dragons (if that's even possible.) It's not the kind of game that I would normally play, but everyone could play it, so we did.

I had never played this game before, but being the youth minister that I am, I agreed to try it out. What was going to be a couple of hours of board games turned into what consumed our time for most of the night-- and into the next morning. (Luckily, a thunderstorm hit in the morning, so we couldn't do our hike and could finish our game instead...)

Even though playing this game for the time we did wasn't on the "schedule," it was actually a good bonding experience for the group. We laughed, shared stories, and made memories over vampires chasing people around this haunted house (even my character became a vampire...) Even though we spent way more time than I had anticipated playing this game, the time we spent was worth it. Plus, it gave us something to do while the thunderstorm passed through!

I know that not every event I coordinate will go 100% "according to plan." God's reminder to me this weekend was that, even when ministry plans don't work out the way we want them to, the ministry still happens! God is still there and is revealed through every activity and relationship. I needed that reminder this weekend.