Shiners

I have only had two black eyes in my life that I can remember. The first one happened when I was in Jr. High. My brother and I were wrestling around (my parents liked this form of entertainment). Who wouldn’t like to watch two bumbling idiots wrestle around? The rule was, when punches started flying, it would end. Well, a punch flew, my brother popped me in the face, and I got a black eye. But I got the last laugh. My brother fractured his hand on my head. So I guess I won! Then the second black eye came last week. We were at a boys retreat playing watermelon rugby. Need I say more? Well, I guess I should. My teammate thought it would be fun to fling someone around to tackle them. Fine and dandy, it is fun to see teenage boys be flung around like rag dolls. Well, the flinging stopped suddenly. I guess I should say I stopped it. His shoulder was flung into my face. This kid is like 7 feet tall and weighs like 120 pounds. (I am exaggerating a bit), His bony shoulder did a number on my face.
It is kind of weird walking around church and around town where people know you are a youth pastor and seeing that you have a black eye. They last a lot longer than I remembered and get uglier as time goes on. But you know what? A black eye is a small price to pay to have a fun game of watermelon rugby. We had a lot of good memories at this boys retreat. We learned that computer monitors, although they are made of really thick glass, are no match for a bullet. We also learned that you can start a fire with a .22 and an exploding target. We doused the wood with lighter fluid, stuck on the target, and shot it. Another thing we learned is that paintball guns don’t always work. The one time you want them to work is when you are ambushing unsuspecting teenagers. We learned that CO2 powered airsoft guns hurt a lot worse than the regular spring ones. We also found a good way to use up old panty hose: Put a cup of flour in them and start hitting people with it. Ultimately we learned how to be Warriors for Christ, to know our enemy and to defend ourselves from him. It made for a lot of good memories, and well, the black eye I can always blame on my wife.