Sticks & Chisels 4.4

This weekend, a couple van loads of WestWay students went to Cheyenne for a weekend focused on the Word - the emphasis was great and fits perfectly into the recent and upcoming flow of our student ministry. More and more lately, we're sensing God's challenge to dig deeply into the Bible and learn to recognize His voice there.

Weekend trips like that are almost always fruitful in developing relationships and intently focusing on spiritual development. But one aspect of these trips that always leaves me tired is this crazy thing that happens when you get to your housing assignment, throw down the sleeping bags, & turn off the lights on a room full of young guys: I'm still suffering the effects of a weekend of sleep deprivation!


This weekend I watched one Red Bull imbibing kid do everything possible to annoy another one, who returned the favor, another kid watch intently, while a fourth kid played with the dogs, another laughed at the whole thing (when he wasn't crying about the death of his cell phone battery), and a sixth (the youngest of the bunch) actually slept through the whole thing. Flickers of wrestling broke out, rolled up sleeping bags and small pieces of candy became projectiles, and an aging youth minister had to wrestle the ringleader of the mayhem into submission. Literally - I reversed a hold and got the kid to tap out! (To be fair though, he killed me last time we wrestled.)

This all happened (fairly quietly, I hope) in a living room way past bedtime. Which has me thinking about sleep. I watched several of these guys intently texting way past late. The kid who's battery was dying was frantic about the loss of his phone and several were obsessively compelled to check messages as soon as their eyelids fluttered open in the morning. And that part of the night was normal for them - they lose sleep to their phones, computers, and xboxes nearly every night.

Then this morning, I came across this:


Better grades. Better attendance. Fewer car accidents. Just because they've slept another hour or so...

I love the technology available today as much as the next guy. But don't let it run your life guys. Turn stuff off and go to bed.