It's all in the cookies

Four years ago, my husband and I hosted a bible study for teens here on Sunday nights.  We were both involved in our youth group at the time, and these were older kids who were keen.  We ran the study for two years.  It was one of the best things we have ever done in our local church.  When you open up your home to teens and let them hang out, eat your foot and use your internet to look up stuff, they know they can trust you.  There were some Sunday nights when we had 20 kids here and some when there were only seven or eight.  I would always make food for them, and they would just be like locusts in the kitchen; there was seldom any leftovers.

They liked in particular cookies I make called Ginger Crinkles. They are soft molasses cookies, and the recipe is indeed good.  I made those a lot because they were well-liked and they were easy.  A boy from another church who came to our youth group particularly enjoyed them.  He was an interesting boy.  He was very emergent leaning, a lover of Rob Bell, and knowing I was a reader, he wanted me to read Blue Like Jazz, which I did.  I didn't like it, and I think he was disappointed I didn't.  The day he brought it to me, it was early afternoon.  I live within walking distance from the school and he arrived, unannounced, at my back door with his book.  I was homeschooling my youngest at the time, so I was home and available.  I asked him if he'd eaten anything, and he said no.  I made him two grilled cheese sandwiches and he ate them and visited with my son. He was nice to my son.  The kid was the child of relatively older parents.  At the age of 17, his father was 67 years old, almost the same age as my dad.  I think he liked being around our family because he was alone much of the time, and he liked both of my sons.  He liked those cookies, too.  Sometimes, he would send me an e-mail and ask me if I'd done any baking lately, hint hint.  He often came during his spare period to play basketball with my son.  He treated me like a big sister, asking me advice about girls and his faith and his future.   He would often ask to talk to me on instant messaging to ask me questions about life in general.  I got the feeling he had some struggles that he never spoke, but I tried to direct him to Scripture as much as I could.  I even bought him an ESV bible when I saw that all he had was The Message Remixed.   He was just a nice kid, and he promised me that when I got older, he would shovel my driveway for free.  I haven't seen him now for about two years because he moved away to work, but I am friends with him on Facebook.  It was an odd thing to have this emergent leaning boy in the home of this Calvinist-leaning family.  

A few months ago, my youngest son brought a friend home with him to spend the night.  We had never met the boy.  He wasn't from the church or the high school.  He goes to a different high school than my son.  They met through mutual friends.  He is a self-proclaimed atheist.  I wasn't sure what to expect, not having heard much about him, but he turned out to be a very nice boy.  He looked me in the eye when I spoke to him and he was well-mannered and respectful.  The day before he came to visit, I had made Ginger Crinkles.  I heard my son say to him, "Want to try one of these cookies?  They're really good."  He did, apparently. They ate the remainder.  Two days later, my son pointed out that his young friend had tweeted that I made "the best cookies in the world." Now, when a teen tweets something like that, it's a compliment.  

Recently, the boy started following me on Twitter.  I started following him, too.  Reading someone's Twitter is a little window into their soul at times, and this boy is smart, introspective, and interesting.  I don't know his family situation other than his mother is single.  Being a single mom isn't easy for anyone.

Yesterday, I made Ginger Crinkles for another friend my son brought home.  If I don't do anything right in the eyes of my youngest son, I know my cookie making abilities are on his list of approved things.  I told my son that I would set aside a packet of cookies for his other friend, knowing how he likes them.  This morning, his friend mentioned me in a tweet, excited that I have cookies set aside specifically for him.

It is no hardship for me to make cookies.  It takes a small amount of time.  I think it's really cool that these cookies have allowed me to minister to two young people.  Once, when my son came home from a friend's house and had not been fed during his stay there, and I expressed surprise, my son informed me, "Not all moms cook."  When we minister in the community, it may be in big ways, or it may be in little ways like this.  Neither of those boys was a part of my local congregation, but they crossed my path and the one thing I'm fairly comfortable doing, i.e. mothering, is something that can minister.  They're just cookies, (and they taste really good especially warm with a cup of lemon ginger tea, if you're interested) but they have ministered to two young men whom God put in my sphere of activity.

I said a prayer for that young man this morning after I saw that tweet.  I prayed for safety him, for his schooling, and that the God of the Universe would reveal to him that He is most definitely real.  That's a little thing, but I'm honoured to be able to do it.

Comments

[Marie]

What a great story! And could we have the recipe for Ginger Crinkles :)---Please?

[rebecca]

I second the recipe request.

[Kim Shay]

I guess I know what my post for tomorrow is going to be :)

[Hazel]

My husband and I love the students and twenties in our church...and beyond!
Surprising how much love cookies and cakes can communicate :)