A funny thing happened on the way to Budapest

I’m pretty sure that I could write a book on my misadventures of being a former youth pastor. But then, anyone who has been a youth pastor could do the same.
One time we were headed to Budapest, Hungary on a plane. One of the teens decided he had to use the loo. (You know, the W.C.--the water closet, the restroom…the TOILET.) He had to use it in the way that requires a bit more time. Being a teenage boy, he decided to announce to our whole group what he was doing, and that he always wanted to go to the bathroom miles above the earth.

Announcing it was a big mistake.

The group immediately began scheming as to what they would do to him while he was in there. Coming up with nothing, they decided to simply beat on the door while he did his business.

I was trying to sleep, but an angry French man felt disturbed about all of the commotion and started swearing at me. He swore at me because, he said, all Americans were freaking pig dogs. Except he didn’t say freaking.

I went to see what all the commotion was about at the loo, but when my group saw me coming they scattered like ants. I went a little closer and saw that the bathroom door was off its hinges—completely. It was just…there. And the boy (who shall remain nameless, but you know who you are Dan) was still inside, finishing up.

He came out, laughed a bit, and there I was holding the airplane toilet door, in my hands. Angry French guy was livid. He looked at me as if I was the cause of a new French revolution. In the sky. Stewardesses were headed up both aisles in my direction. I was expecting, at any moment, to hear “the captain speaking”...to me.

Anyone who’s ever led teen groups knows it always ends this way—You holding the bag, while your group laughs at you from a safe distance.

But I would do it all over again.

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