Playing in the Rain…

I met Katie on a Tuesday in November at a really good coffee place that I can’t remember the name of in Houston. Apart from a few emails to set up the meeting we were complete strangers so I sat at a table outside hoping I would recognize her from a picture I had seen online. But once she joined me, we didn’t stay strangers long.

Katie, a Methodist Pastor in Houston, was about four months into the launch of a new young adult ministry called Epworth League and I wanted to know more. So at a very trendy coffee spot in Houston she told me more. And I listened to this stranger turned friend, asked questions, and took notes. Lots of notes. (You can read more about Houston’s Epworth League and how they have helped shaped The Foundry here.)

This stranger turned friend was now a co-conspirator in this Kingdom work and she was cheering us on.

I may not remember the name of the coffee place, but I’ll always remember that afternoon spent scribbling notes as I tried to soak up all the little details. It was that afternoon when Katie said to me (and I’m paraphrasing because, let’s be real, it has been two and a half years since then - including a pandemic - and my brain is no steel trap…) “take all of this or leave all of this and run with it” meaning… take this model, use it exactly as it is or tweak it and make it your own, or leave our model and make your own thing, but either way, go for it! This stranger turned friend was now a co-conspirator in this Kingdom work and she was cheering us on.

Our conversation from that day often comes to mind… sometimes it is because I’m reflecting on a detail of their model, sometimes because I just need to remember her saying “go for it!”, but today, as I reflect on our rainy lawn party, its for a whole new reason…

In the middle of my mess of notes, I wrote down “make time/space for play”. It was an almost off topic point, but Katie talked about the importance of creating room for play - we play as children, then as adults we seem to save our play for when there are children around, but we all need to play.

And Saturday, well...we played. To be more precise, we played in the rain.

The weather was iffy all week, but Saturday morning the forecast seemed to be on our side. We made the call: outside! Five minutes later, the forecast shifted. And every minute that ticked by seemed to bring higher chances of rain. The sprinkling turned to a drizzle and the rain wasn’t far behind.

“I think they’re just having fun playing in the rain.”

I started thinking through what we would do with all the leftover food, but slowly friends started to show up. We ate at tables tucked under trees, we talked huddled under the canopies, and we played - a few games set under shelter but most fully in the rain. Jenga, pineapple smash, cornhole, ladder golf, or chasing the balls with Connor. At one point, I was asked by one of the launch team members, “Should we tell them they don’t have to stay?” and I laughingly responded, “I think they know that… I think they’re just having fun playing in the rain.”

A few hours later the cornhole bean bags could be wrung out, the chalk drawings were washed away, the food was pretty much all eaten, everything - chairs, tables, dogs, and humans - was wet and even a little muddy, but we gathered and met new people and talked and played.

It was a good day for The Foundry.

Scroll Below for Photos of the Fun!