Whirlwind. That’s what these last 10 days have been. A
whirlwind of travel, activities, exhaustion, packing, unpacking, repacking,
prayer, fellowship, worship, and most importantly, the building of
relationships that will exist 10 million years from now…amazeballs!
If you read my last post you’ll know Cassie and I attended a
national Methodist Youth Conference in Florida last week with 21 kids and 7
other adults. We came home Sunday around 3pm, unpacked and loaded up again to
leave early Monday morning. There were 81 kids with their sleeping bags and
suitcases gathered in our church parking lot. EIGHTY ONE! Incredible.
Some other notes from my 10 days away:
If every person who used the public ladies restroom would SIT DOWN, there would never be pee on the seat. So all you squatters out there, it’s your kinda people making the problem in the first place.
Humans shouldn’t fly. It’s unnatural. Your brain practically pops out of your ears when you’re up there!
Don’t cut bangs the day before you travel for over a week.
I’m funny, but you either get me, or you don’t. Bless the hearts that don’t.
I can survive on a lot less sleep than I had given myself credit for. Sometimes sleep deprivation delirium presents itself as drunkenness…but it isn’t.
I’m not really the camping type. Ironic that our shirts read, “Happy Camper”, on that first day.
You can see Jesus in black men with bright blue mohawks riding a skateboard. DO NOT MISS IT.
What I once dismissed as someone’s petty ploy to make money off of young people has now become one of my favorite inventions of all time. The selfie stick has my attention y’all.
You can learn to ride a bike at 17 years old.
Ordination does not equal perfection, divine patience or get-out-of-bad-mood-free card. Especially not when tested in the Texas heat with a bunch of tweens, teens and other adults.
Ole Jus likes to talk EVEN less on the phone than he does in real life.
Before I left he joked, “I need to hire a wife while you’re gone.” It’s something I’ll consider next time for sure. I checked in at 9:30 one night and he and Ramzee were just then sitting down to eat dinner. Never mind the fact that she should be asleep at 9:30. He called me 5 states away last Saturday afternoon and said, “What time is that birthday party over?” Never mind the detailed list I prepared outlining all of the events taking place while I was gone. I came home to find dirty dishes had been put away in the cabinets. Never mind that is disgusting!!! The toilets? I can’t even go there. Never mind.
There’s no way to assess or know how much work the Holy Spirit
did this week in all the hearts who were willing to board the airplane, bus, or
church van. I do know that I saw
change. The prayer I mentioned last week included this, “For this is a happy
day. We will never be the same.”, and we aren’t. We aren’t perfect, we’re
working on it, and we’re closer than we were before.
Personally, I am forever changed by extravagant worship with
4,500 youth. I am forever changed by the relationship I grew with 2 very
special young men in our group. I am forever changed by the appreciation I received
from the parents of our youth. I am forever changed by laughing…a lot of
laughing. I am forever changed by 10 days straight with my BFF. I am forever
changed by snapchat and selfies. I am forever changed by sleeping on a bottom
bunk that barely allowed enough room to roll over, a shower that would more
closely resemble some sort of wilderness scene, the camp cafeteria food and
every little drop of sweat I shed in this summer heat.
I am forever changed by people who swing in and out of my
life once every summer for four and a half days, and forever changed by the
people I added to that list this year.
That’s you John! It’s you too, Lisa, Dick, Jacob & Jason,
Sean, Allison, Christy, Seth, Bailey, Tracy, Marla, Russell, Melissa, Kelli,
Maggie, Colleen, Brian, Roger and all of the ones that I can’t remember this
second because my heart is simply too full.
One of my favorite scriptures is Habakkuk 1:5. Weird, I know.
The Lord replied: “Look, and be amazed! You will be astounded at what I am about to do! For I am going to do something in your own lifetime that you will have to see to believe.
This scripture tells me that His works are literally un-believable. I could never imagine what He had in store for us prior to the last 10 days, yet they will continue and we will be perpetually amazed and surprised by his plans throughout our lifetimes.
I am forever changed by the man who died to open up the
gates of eternity for me and for all of us…FROM THIS SIDE OF THIRTY.
Labels: Friendship, Life, Spiritual Growth
