Youth Alpha

I will never forget the first time I ate one.

I held the ice-cool package, covered in its fine foil wrapper, in my hot, shaking hand.

I had heard about this frozen dairy delight from a friend. He had raved about it so much that I thought I should give it a try, if only to shut him up.

So there I stood, silently frozen like the lolly, unsure whether to tear at the packet or pull it gently open. To be honest, I think I was holding back, probably because it had been so built-up to me that I was sure disappointment was the only possible outcome.

But no.

Disappointment was the last emotion I felt that day.

The wrapper opened easily and the glorious scent leapt from the packet like a small deer vaulting a hedge and bounding across open country.

As I crunched through the crisp outer coating the sweet blend of chocolate and vanilla exploded in my senses. And I was forever changed. Let me tell you: I was telling EVERYONE about that ice cream, encouraging them to try it for themselves. I have no doubt that I single-handedly doubled national sales figures that summer.

Now let’s get real. That was just an ice cream. But when it comes to giving away our faith in Jesus the principle remains the same: we simply overflow with the excitement of what we have discovered for ourselves encouraging our friends to, in David’s words in Psalm 34, “taste and see that the Lord is good.”

I love Jesus, I love ice cream and I love the Alpha course (not necessarily in that order, and definitely not all to the same degree). Now, when you buy a magnum, you want the ice-cream, not the wrapper. But you still need the wrapper. That’s what Youth Alpha is: it’s a wrapper....it’s just packaging: because Alpha is all about Jesus.

And no, I’m not saying Jesus is an ice-cream.....