Friday July 30th our faith community held an open party event in Abbotsford’s Red Arrow Park. I am very proud of the hard work and organization my son and daughter in law put into this effort enlisting community support wherever they could find it. It was a true success. Over 50 kids attended (some we had never before met). The level of adult support was awesome. It was fun for all and followed by an outdoor screen movie.
It was hard to mentally prepare for the task ahead after a difficult stressful work week. I rushed home with unfinished urgent business so I could get perspective in the duty list. Sound and screen setup were well underway so I ran errands to make sure technical things all worked. During one of my excursions I scrounged up a needed patch cord and by the time I returned it had begun to rain. The team had to move speakers into the doorways (under roof) for protection but one of them did not like the trip as the input was now failing. A bass level buzz was present that could not be tuned away. It was tolerable, but disappointing. Just like the rain. I had been praying for good weather and for open hearts during this event. The kids were having a great time, but I was still bummed.
Adults and kids alike played volleyball, “ultimate frisbee”, basketball, football toss, croquet, and of course indoor “guitar hero” and outdoor music. Less active adults like me served at food and drink stands or like me supervised between errands. I got to catch up a bit with a couple of old friends. Couldn’t quite enjoy my self though as a couple of our youth group kids just seemed to be their to break rules.
They did not do anything illegal or even overtly bad. Just always pushing set boundaries and showing disrespect for those present in authority. The details don’t matter but my heart aches for them, as they appear mad at God and anyone obedient to His word. They have been taught about God, but clearly don’t realize His love for them. They did not appear to have open hearts, for which I had specifically prayed thru the day. It began to rain more steadily. Was God listening?
At dusk we were about to decide move the movie indoors, when word came that the rain was nearly over, so in faith we rallied our equipment and fired things up. The speaker still buzzed annoyingly but the rain soon stopped. The movie shown was “To Save a Life” and was excellent. It touched our hearts. My son followed up nicely with a thank you to supporters and sponsoring youth group invitations. A drawing for a door prize wrapped things up nicely and a young seventh grader won the draw – a new IPOD nano. He was thrilled as was everyone else. We packed everything up. Got home about 1:00 AM.
Sunday morning we got to church a bit late, but just in time for sound adjustment during worship practice. It was childrens Sunday and unknown to me we would celebrate everything God has done this past year through our Youth and Children’s Ministies. My son Jesse again honored those who were part of the our first “Party in the Park” community outreach. He asked anyone willing to share something they experienced on Friday night. Someone spoke about how God had used him during the movie to listen to the story of a young man reaching out in pain. A mother next testified that a young boy from the community stopped by long enough to meet and share with a few people and feel welcome he could not stay late enough for the movie, but he enjoyed what time he had. A freind expressed to me separately that another girl had shared openly during movie time with those around her, family issues she was dealing with. I believe we do not yet know the extent to which hearts were opened Friday night. It wasn’t God who was not listening. I am once again amazed.
