The Least Of These

In case you missed yesterday's post, today we continue our discussion on great injuries in youth group history.

#3 The Least Of These

For many years, Wednesday night's had a definitive rhythm. After youth group ended, the next 30 minutes of the evening consisted of me chasing students around. I was often shoeless and armed with the blunt but deadly pool noodle. On one such occasion, I was chasing down a student as I scampered through the youth room. I closed the distance between us, reaching absurd speeds. I'm pretty sure I clocked in at mach 3. Right before I delivered a devastating blow, my pinky toe came into contact with the leg of the chair. At those speeds, injury was inevitable. I fell to the ground, and immediately got that peculiar, yet familiar sense in my stomach; the one that only occurs when I break a bone or tear a ligament. With utmost certainly, I knew I had just broken my toe. While the pain was severe, there is little you can do when breaking your little toe. A hospital visit would be senseless as they would send me home and tell me to rest it. Friends and family members were unsympathetic and the reality is, no one cares if you break a toe. It is not a glamorous injury. No one gets babes after a gnarly toe injury.

So I learned a lesson that day. Broken toes in youth ministry account for nothing. Most people didn't even believe me that it was broken, and those that did believe me didn't care. Never again would I do something so foolish as to chase students around without shoes on.