There is so much that has happened over the past several months since my last blog post. Sometimes I just haven't felt like posting anything and other times I have so much to say that I just can't get it out of my head or God tells me that it just isn't the right time to lay it all out there. Well this is one of those times where He is telling me to not lay it all there but to just tell where I am at for the moment.
Jaret and I recently went to the SYMC (Simply Youth Ministry Conference) in Chicago along with about 3,000 other youth pastors/workers. It was a phenomenal experience!! Just to be in one spot with so many Christians who are not only passionate about God but about our youth as well was amazing. There were great speakers like Louie Giglio, Doug Fields, and Greg Steir. Wonderful entertainment like Tim Timmons, Gungor, Shand & Shane, and the OC Supertones. Certainly can't forget Eric Samuel Timm who paints such amazing, touching, thought provoking art work.
I went to SYMC this year with very fresh and open wounds on my heart. Very much in transition in our lives at the moment, wondering where God was steering us and what path we should be traveling. We met some very wonderful people who have (whether they know it or not) helped us begin to heal. I hope to be able to stay in contact with them. What God did for us at the conference was, well lets just say I don't know when the last time I really felt God move the way I did that weekend! He reaffirmed to me that Jaret and I are meant for ministry. Our wonderful experience wasn't without satan's attacks on us but the plus side here is we were amidst 3,000 other Christians who were readily available to pray for us & with us when we felt so vulnerable.
As with any Christian gathering where God is SO prevalent once you leave Satan starts his decent on many and the self-doubt begins to surface once again. I know for me it was coming back to our town and facing everything we have going on in our lives at the moment. I know, I know everyone has trials in their lives they are facing. One thing I know is that in all of this God has never left my side and through much of it all he has been carrying me on his shoulders so I can keep my head above water.
When I begin to feel really overwhelmed I begin to pray and then my mind floods floods with all the teens we have helped, through God, come to know Christ. The crazy lock-in's with 50-60 kids doing a city wide scavenger hunt and bigger/better game, playing lock-out at night and having to warn the neighbors so we wouldn't have the police called on us again, the Homeless Night where we walked from the church across town to do a service project and back again just before it started storming. Everyone had made cardboard houses to sleep in that night, our own little shanty town that was demolished by the storm which led to an impromptu lock-in with a slip-n-slide in the fellowship hall! The late nights after youth group talking to teens about life and their futures till sometimes midnight. The 2 a.m. texts when their worlds are falling apart. The impromptu cook outs after church when my house was no where near presentable to have people over. All the football games spent standing down by the field so we could watch our dancers, cheerleaders, band members perform. Then loading up in the church van and heading over to Buffalo Wild Wings w/ close to 30 teens and their friends for 50 cent wings after wards. The first retreat to Turkey Run, packing up all the food, equipment, and 27 teens, then finally getting there and unloading, getting cabin assignments, cooking & clean up assignments, starting our evening meal only to finish just before the first storm hit. Playing frisbee in the pouring rain with everyone. Watching everyone pull together to help one team out to get things done, supporting each other, praying w/ each other and knowing God. Although our canoeing trip was canceled due to all the rain everyone had a great time. The parents calling us to "help" with their teen and opening up our home to kids whose parents needed a break from all the stress of raising a teen. These are the moments that have made all of it worth it and that has helped us to know that God has really put us in the correct life profession. It isn't a job or a career its a way of life that God has called us to and even in the in between times we will Shepherd and live for Him!
