It’s freaky that my first spirituality class (Gap High) was on 666. Today was about getting to know the students and for them to get to know the leaders; Guy (full time chaplain) Tash (Youth leader at Ashgrove Baptist) and me - The Rev; Chris (Presbyterian Minister).

We played some nasty ball games. Hand grenade and mines, where one team had to run between the other team that threw balls at you (sometime oochies). Get hit and you sit down and become a mine, touch people running through and they are caught. The worst was this IQ ball game (I was in trouble). Guy would throw the ball at you and if he said “head you had to catch it” or if he said “catch” you had to head butt the ball. By the end I felt I needed a lie down and some therapy.

After that we broke up into not so small groups (8 or 9 students). My group discussed favourite movies and then we started a running list about what we or other people thought God was like. Some of the responses were: Just, really nice, a shoulder to cry on, someone to rely on in tough times, god is dog in reverse, ?, big.

We discussed what we would change if we had the power to change anything. Some said they would change was: poverty, their feet, their home, peoples maturity. Then we considered whether it would be fair to change people against their will. We decided that it wouldn’t be fair.

Getting to know the students will be a challenge and I hope they will in some way get to explore their spirituality in a thoughtful and helpful way.