Revenge, Comedy, and Good Books ... and Ugly Sweaters

Here's some catch-up on the last week. Last Wednesday night's lesson didn't go at all like I had planned. I had planned on preaching/speaking the same lesson I had given at the morning Bible study, but I began the teaching time by asking some of the students quote the memory verses and share what they had been learning in their lives. This turned into a great, incredibly interactive discussion which culminated in discussion about getting revenge. One student had gotten orange juice poured on his head at school by a girl and then he returned the favor and both of the students got sent to the principal's office. Another girl said that she had gotten slammed into her locker (or something like that) and so she got mad and punched the person (or something like that) to get back at them. Needless to say, this naturally lead into a beautiful time of discussing what it means to live as a children of God who obey scripture and not the fleshly desire to get even.
Friday night I went to an event at Woodside Bible called "Comedy for a Cause." It was a fund raising event for a childrens' home in the greater Detroit area. The event consisted of two stand up comedians, Nazareth and Daren Streblow each having about 45 minutes - 1 hour to just make people laugh. If you are a YouTuber, you can check out clips of their standup routines here and here. They were both very funny, and I am in talks with Daren about funny t-shirt ideas about Iowa because he wants to have a funny shirt about each state.
Random other news...Sunday was a "Dinner for Fifteen" (see the second part of this post for an explanation of what a "Dinner for Fifteen" is). I read Into the Wild over the weekend and I started Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World last night and hope to finish it tonight. I'm reading it quickly because I'm just borrowing it for the week. It's a great book and I'll buy my own copy of these days. I would recommend both books... Into the Wild is a "secular" non-fiction book, and Worldliness is a new "Christian" book edited by C.J. Mahaney. Also, tonight I'm going out for wings with my friend Rico.

P.S. If you haven't started your ugly Christmas sweater shopping yet, you should probably get started.