The wheels in the brain go round and round

I learned a lot yesterday. We took a group of our students and their friends to play broomball at a rink about 20 minutes from the church, and on the way I sat and listened. The students in the van talked about politics, families, travel plans, school, sports, vocations-- everything.

I really value my time in the car with students. Always have. This is the buffer zone, between the comfort of home where students have to be careful what they say because someone might here and the stretch of an event where they have to be just as careful because they don't know the other people there very well. Travel time is some of the most comfortable time of all in youth groups.

I sometimes wonder if small groups would work better together if I found a way to bring a bunch of cars into the youth room and put each group in one. Even in my church building, where we're all working to build an environment that lets people leave all their defenses behind, I don't hear as many questions that matter, from kids I know have them, as I do on a trip.