There, but for the grace of God....

Last night, I was at the mall food court, getting a smoothie. When a smoothie store is busy (as this one was then), the smoothies get done in bunches, and then there is a lag, simply because they have a finite number of blenders. Ahead of me in line was a group of pre-teen and teenage girls. The next-to-last of their orders was completed, and I heard one of them say, "Let's go; we're gonna be late" and they all (with the exception of the last girl) took off, ignoring the pleas of the last girl to wait for her. She was obviously the youngest of the group, probably about 12, 4-foot-nothing, 75 pounds soaking wet.

As she waited (and waited and waited) for her smoothie, she became more and more agitated, eventually breaking down in tears, convinced that she would be left behind. I searched my mind for any way that a 38-year-old guy could offer a ride to a 12-year-old girl without the guy getting arrested or the girl freaking out, but couldn't come up with anything. So, I just prayed that her "friends" weren't as uncaring and stupid as they seemed, and that she'd be able to catch up with them.

I came home and said to my wife, a high school math teacher, that I didn't know how she did it, and related the story to her. Perhaps it was because I'd more likely be in that one girl's shoes than in the others', but I really don't think I was ever that idiotic as a teenager.

Today at church, I was singing on our worship team. I happened to look down at the 2nd row, where a bunch of our youth generally sit. They are a bit older than the group last night, but not much. The group was mostly girls, and every last one of them was totally wrapped up in worship -- not in the groovy music or the cute 19-year-old worship leader -- they were in the throne room.

Two groups. Night and day.

God's the only real difference.