Parents are going to be the death of me yet...

Okay, so I'm not going to lie and tell you that everything is perfect today. Honestly I'm having a bad day, and I'm pretty sure that Megan is probably at the house crying too. It is just amazing that there are some people no matter how hard you try you- can't do anything right. I've decided that if there is going to be anything that every runs me out of youth ministry it is going to be parents. So here is what is going on...We decided we were going to do a spontaneous youth trip this weekend to see The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (www.narnia.com). I had a sign up sheet Wednesday night so I could order tickets. The deal was if you signed up, I pre-ordered a ticket for you, if you didn't you had to take your chances and meet us at the theater. Shouldn't be an issue. Well this morning, I'm at a piano recital at the mall watching one of my junior high teens and my phone rings and it is a dad accusing me of purposely leaving his daughter out of the event and doing things without her. She wasn't there Wednesday because she was sick and missed the announcement. I'm sorry they didn't know, I told the teens to spread the word because I wouldn't be able to call everyone and tell them to meet, but because I knew there would be issues if I didn't let her know about it I tried to call. I looked directly at my youth database and called the number that I have in my teen directory. I didn't get an answer so I just let it be. I talked with a couple of the other teen girls and told them to make sure she knew about it so she could meet us there if she wanted. Well I don't know what happened, but she found out second hand and of course she isn't coming. So what does dad do, he calls and yells at me accusing me of purposely leaving her out and then questioning my integrity by accusing me of not calling since my number didn't pop up on their caller id. Is it my fault that I put the wrong number in the system? I do my best to interpret teen handwriting when I enter a number from a card, but occasionally I get it wrong, so I guess I must have screwed up there, but please don't question my integrity. Of course this is the family that decided to have a little pow wow about me last Sunday night with some other parents trying to stir up trouble and then made me look like an idiot in front of our guest speaker during our TPF (teen parent fellowship) last Sunday night by questioning the things I do indirectly and "asking" him how he does things (implying the way I SHOULD do things). Oh by the way did I mention that they have had several other "issues" with my ministry since I've been here too (dress code, a Bible Study covenant I had the teens sign). I just can't do anything right for them. You know what though, I am done trying. I cannot cater to one family. There are 25 kids in this group and each of them need me as much as the other ones do. It is not about me or about them, but about God and so I press on keeping doing the best that I can do. I'm going to hang in there, I'm going to press on, I know the Lord has us here for a reason, and I am going to keep loving this family even though they hate me. If you are a newbie reading this or are maybe going through something similar, hang in there, don't give up! Sorry for the vent today, it just makes me feel better and I guess shows you that youth pastors have bad days too.

Until the next time-
-Matt