When You Lose an Entire Youth Group

We've all had those moments when a student goes missing, usually only for a few moments thank God, but anxiety inducing nonetheless. I remember one being in the bathroom just as our train in North Wales was about to leave an everyone else was on board, and the time we left one in a concert crowd as we trekked back to the bus at Alton Towers theme park. And yes, he was the only one without a cell phone out of 40+ people.....

But yes, I did once lose a whole group, of about a dozen or so if I remember. In pre-cellphone days. I'd brought a group from Bury, England over to my home patch in Dublin, Ireland for a few days, and this was towards the end of our time, they knew the locality well enough. We packed our lunches, agreed we would stop at a store to buy snacks/goodies on the way to the station to catch the train. Karen and I counted them out of the building to make sure we didn't lock anyone in. All good so far. We locked up and walked to the church gate. No sign of them. They knew the way to the station, so we figured they were around the next corner. It's only a 600 metre walk with 3 corners.

It turned out they had all gone into the first shop they saw to buy drinks and things. All of them. Not one waiting outside for us to let us know and then go in. I was mightily relieved, but also, lets say, a little mad. Thankfully, I no longer had to imagine that call, and we were able to enjoy the rest of the day.