It all started so innocently. Devon and I were sitting in the grass with a group of 7th and 8th graders at the start of a week long mission camp for junior high students. All the youth group leaders and adults were in a meeting with the camp director and the camp staff was left in charge. I can't remember what our particular conversation started as, I only remember running my hand across the blades of grass beside me and looking at Devon. "What if gravity just let go?" I asked him. "Would we float away?"
And in that moment, our friendship that had quickly grown through a weekend of training prior to camp, was cemented in his response, "We would have to grab hold of something, like the grass, or the flagpole, oh my gosh, this could really happen!" And he stood up to further illustrate his urgency. "We need to do something about it."
The following details get a little fuzzy, but in our scheming we decide that a) gravity can be turned off at any minute, b)the Russians have the ability to turn it off and c) we must institute gravity drills immediately.
In a field of 60 junior high students, we quickly rounded everyone up, told them calmly our new reality, taught them how to do a gravity drill (three quick whistle blows, drop to the ground and cling to the grass until you hear the all clear), and then asked them to act naturally until their leaders came back from the meeting.
And as the leaders piled out of the small chapel to mingle among the students, a few were a bit surprised to watch 60-70 people drop to the ground in unison at the sound of a whistle. The ones that had been in youth ministry long enough, simply laid themselves out, mimicking the kids around them....
The gravity crisis might have ended there, if it wasn't so much fun to devise public service announcements for mealtimes, news briefings at the beginning of chapel, and reminders to continue to be on alert for suspicious activity and to follow all drills in compliance with regulations. The threat level intensified as the week went on, all the way up to hot lava red and we went from the ability to turn off gravity to sophisticated gravity lessening missiles....
The last morning of camp, as we gathered the campers to pray and have a last devotion, I proudly stood before them and said, "After all night negotiations, Russia has agreed to disarm its gravity lessening missiles. The gravity crisis is over!!!!" And wouldn't you know, but that entire camp of some 80 individuals all began chanting, "USA. USA."
Yep, I hadn't thought about the gravity crisis in a while, until Devon sent me this last night:
And it made me smile.