The first trip I went on was through an organization called World Changers, and we headed down to Salt Lake City. By we I mean my wife, 9 youth, and 3 other adults. And I would just like to premise this story with the fact that Daja and I had really only been able to get to know the youth during Sunday school, and on Sunday nights during youth group. So in reality, we saw them twice a week, but only one day out of the week. Another premise I should give you is, with Daja finishing up school, and working so often on the weekends, she really hadn't gotten nearly the chance to get to know these kids. So all that being said I'll start this 2+ week story!
We took off from Kennewick on Friday, July 4th, 2008 and headed toward Salt Lake City. This is not a short drive so we decided to stop in Twin Falls, Idaho to stay the night, eat some food, watch fireworks, etc. This proved to be a good decision as the youth were already pretty restless from driving only 5-6 hours. Who knew youngin's wouldn't be able to handle the long van ride?! Anyhow, we completed our trip to SLC the next day. I don't know if any of you have ever been to SLC, but I'll tell you what...it's a hole! I mean, if it's not something that's owned by the Mormons it's trashy! More on that later.
So we pulled into Mormonville, USA and got situated in Granite (Park) middle school and went to our first welcome/worship service that Saturday evening. This next part I'm going to kind of "get through" so I can move on to more important things. Sunday we were all assigned to different groups (which meant splitting our group up...some of us being in a group with absolutely no one else we knew), and we went to our "host" churches for Sunday school and service. After church, we came back and spent the rest of Sunday trying to figure out what exactly we were doing, and where we were going, Monday morning for the "great send-off" at 7am, which, to our group felt suspiciously like 6am (from switching time zones)!
Monday-Friday's schedule was pretty much the same every day:
Wake-up, shower, get ready: 6am
Leave for work-site: 7am
Lunch at work-site: 12pm
Get back: 4-6pm
Dinner: 6pm
Worship: 7:30pm
Church Devotions: 9pm
Lights out: 11pm (which usually was earlier since we were exhausted!)
The food was great, and the work was tough. The work consisted mainly of construction type work, and it was usually to assist/help someone in need. Most of the people we helped had homes that were falling apart, and they were unable to really do anything about it (they were usually disabled, poor, and/or elderly). There were 18 construction groups and several of them stripped and replaced entire roofs. Others did concrete work; some made handicapped accessible ramps for homes; still others stripped and painted window sills, doors, siding, eaves; and pretty much all of us ended up cleaning up yards and doing some other general cosmetics (straightening gutters, staining decks, etc). All of this work was free of charge to the people who lived in the homes, and the expression of thanks and gratitude was overwhelming. We were down there to be a witness for the Lord to those in need in a highly LDS churched area.
All of us were tired, the whole week, and without cell phones, tv, internet, or any other thing that could be considered a distraction, and I'll tell you what......that's exactly where God wanted us to be! We were stripped of our usual creature comforts, and all the other "stuff" that takes up our time, and we were exhausted on top of that, so that all we could do is look to God to be our strength. God moved in the hearts of those who went, and He moved in the hearts of those we witnessed to. There were 8 decisions for Christ on just the work sites, and several more decisions for Christ in the youth that came to the event and realized they didn't know Him. God made an impact, through us, on the community of Salt Lake City too.
One thing that I took away from SLC was that there is an outcry against "church" in general. It seems that the people of SLC have been so "beat up" by the LDS church that most people who live there want nothing to do with ANY church (just because of the bad taste the LDS have made). It was good, though, to see people in the city warm up to us and for them to realize that there is a God who loves them, and that the "church" (LDS) they've been hit over the head with is in error. They were able to see that God is a living and loving God, and that He doesn't make church the ultimate thing in life; He makes Himself the ultimate thing in life (and thereafter)! Ok, I'll stop on that rant because I'll get going and not stop for a very long time. Maybe I'll chat about that at some other time.
So, we departed from World Changers at about 6:20am (Kennewick time) on Saturday July 12th, and we got back to Kennewick aroun 5:20pm. It was a pretty good drive, or at least uneventful anyhow. That was Saturday, and Sunday was a few hours away. Sunday morning was, of course, church and I was here for that (since I'm the Youth & Worship Minister), and we heard a great message from Garry Benfield. Sunday at 6pm was Youth Group, where the World Changers shared what God had taught them over the previous 8 days. Monday July 14th we packed up the van and trailer again and headed to camp Touchet (just outside of Dayton) around noon for Youth Camp!
Youth Camp was great! We had the luxury of some great food, great games, great worship, and most of all great teaching from the Word of God. Pastor Mark Howard, of Sunset View Baptist Chruch, brought the Word to us with the theme of "Boundaries." This was very applicable to the youth, and also very applicable to us adults. The thing that stuck with me most, thought, was when Mark taught on Deuteronomy 10:12 that reads:
And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in ALL his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with ALL your heart and with ALL your soul..."
This sounds a lot like another verse in the bible, and though I've never doubted that this is what God wants, it just hit me like a ton of bricks what it means. When God says He wants ALL of us, what He means is that He wants to be first in every area, and in every aspect, of your life! It doesn't mean that we start doing something and then seek God's advice or will on it, and it doesn't mean that we fit God in here and there where we feel like it. What it means is that we are to fit our lives to His will; His good, pleasing, and perfect will! Again, I have known this for years, but it just never convicted me like it did this past week. I realized how much I "do" and how much I "serve" thinking that I'm doing what God would want me to do, but I rarely ever seek Him to see IF that's what He wants me to do! We Christians can get caught up in serving and doing good for people, and completely forget to ask if that particular thing is even what God wants us to do in the first place! Sheesh! Talk about an eye opener! My prayer since then has been that I will start to put God first in everything I do, not just when I feel like I need help. God wants to be our everything. He wants us to rely solely on Him for everything. I'll end with words to a truly heart piercing song. It's as follows:
Verse 1
God in my livingThere in my breathing
God in my waking
God in my sleeping
God in my resting
There in my working
God in my thinking
God in my speaking
Verse 2
God in my hopingThere in my dreaming
God in my watching
God in my waiting
God in my laughing
There in my weeping
God in my hurting
God in my healing
Chorus
Be my ev'rything
Be my ev'rything
Be my ev'rything
Be my ev'rything
(BRIDGE)
Christ in me
Christ in me
Christ in me the Hope of Glory
You are ev'rything
Christ in me
Christ in me
Christ in me the Hope of Glory
Be my ev'rything
(ENDING)
You are ev'rything
You are ev'rything
You are ev'rything
You are ev'rything
Jesus ev'rything
Jesus ev'rything
Jesus ev'rything
Jesus ev'rything
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