Well I did not have to attend the first two nights of the festival. The third night I sent a message to my kids and they decided that we could go out to eat. I avoided the third night in this way. I could not avoid the fourth night because I worked a shift at the Rotary booth making fried Oreos.
Almost as soon as I arrived, I had an opportunity to have a short discussion with a youth minister from a Methodist church. I asked her what her biggest problem was. She answered honestly – parents. Parents abdicating their responsibility to train up their children in the way of the Lord. It is not the youth minister’s job to train up your kids.
After that conversations, it was a typical night of standing on your feet for 5+ hours (I arrived early for my 4 hour shift). At the end of the evening I was able to participate in another conversation about God. This one was a bit more lively and it really made my day. The conversation was with the wife and son of one of the other members of the Rotary club and it began with…Calvinism. The wife was adamantly against it. A true “free will” kind of woman. This means I was hit with the same arguments I always get. It also means I was labeled with views that I do not hold (understandably).
The son mostly listened at the beginning and then he was a great mediator of the conversation. No one pulled any knives out to stab the other party which is a victory right? Not very Christ-like if people leave with knife wounds. Then the son asked about Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. Then we talked about authors we read.
While I love talking about the five points, I prefer to do that with a Bible and open eyes and ears around a table. So we moved on and had a grand discussion on fathers, parents, and family integrated church which brought us to Voddie Baucham. We both read and follow what he writes and does. So it was a good discussion of the indoctrination of children with public school and parents abdicating their roles to lead and teach their children about God. I had been up since 4am, driven to Woodville and back, had several other calls, spent several hours standing and cooking Oreos, and yet I was just alive from the talk about God.
The kids and I got home about 11:30 and stayed up and talked till midnight some about God but mostly about silly stuff. The kids had worked the Rotary shift with me. They stay up front and distributed the food and collected the money. What a joy the day was.
The kids and I work again this afternoon so God may even provide another opportunity for conversation about Him – the most wonderful topic around.