All my life I’ve been searching for something. Something never comes, never leads to nothing.

This lyric/title is from a Foo Fighters song. I absolutely love this band and can't belive I've never quoted them before. This song is All My Life, but they have whole albums (and most recently a double album) full of great stuff. Check them out on their website by clicking the title.

I was in a meditative mood and so I was trying to get kids to open up about what they were really feeling. I would read a bit of Scripture and then ask what the kids were thinking after each passage. This one kid kept talking about this mouse he had been trying to catch. At first I thought he was being a smart alec, but then I realized he was 'getting it'. The evening went something like this:

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Seven confirmands sit in a semi-circle around candles and before their youth leader, J.D.. He reads Scripture and then prompts them to share what they are feeling, what they are thinking, hoping, wishing. One kid steers the conversation away it appears, but he is perhaps the one this moment was born for...

Psalm 121
I lift up my eyes to the hills--
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip--
he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD watches over you--
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The LORD will keep you from all harm--
he will watch over your life;
the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

Silence

J.D.: What did that passage cause you to think about? (Immediately, an often quiet and less participatory kid begins to speak)
Kid: I kept thinking about this mouse I've been trying to trap in my garage.
(The group begins to laugh)
J.D.: OK...(thinking this kid is making fun)
Kid: No, I'll see him sometimes and I'll stand over him and try to figure out the best way to catch him, but by the time I have a plan he scurries away.
(All the kids laugh at this, a couple try to answer more appropriately)

John 14:1-4
"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going."

Silence

J.D.: Okay, this is Jesus talking, his first words are 'do not let your hearts be troubled'. What's on your mind.
Kid: I keep thinking about that dang mouse.
(Many loud laughs)
I've left out cheese for it. I've even found the entrance to where his nest is and waited on him...
J.D.: Does this have anything to do with what Jesus says?
Kid: I don't know. It's a mouse I'm trying to catch him, but he keeps running away from me.
J.D.: Try to focus...anyone else?
(None)

MT 18:12-14
"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.

Silence

J.D.: Alright, here Jesus is talking about how God pursues his lost sheep--
Kid: That's it!
(He is excited)
I am the mouse.
Another Kid: What?
Kid: God's always calling me, looking for me, waiting for me...and he keeps putting things out there for me, but everytime he comes close I run away. I'm like that mouse when it comes to God. I spend most of my time hiding from him.

Silence

Kid: I just kept seeing this mouse and remembering how hard it was to catch it.
J.D.: What do you want the mouse for?
Kid: I think he's cool. I was gonna feed him and stuff, see if I could take care of him.

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May we know today that regardless of how many times we've hidden, run away, stolen bricks of cheese without asking, God is still pursuing us; hoping to lift us up and feed us, yearning to take care of us.

And there are no wasted thoughts. Only wasteful ones.