Big Weekend

Usually, I have to miss the annual fund raiser tournament that is held each year for Jae, Taylore' and Alicia's memorial scholarship. In the last few years, all three families and close friends have organized and pulled off a ginormous fast-pitch softball tournament in Sherwood. It started 4 years ago with 24 (?) teams and this year we had almost 60.
I've always missed it because I also became involved in presentations within the Bereaved Parents of the USA National Gathering.
Even though I may have been in Chicago, St. Louis, and New York, my heart's always been in Sherwood at the ball tournament.

This year however,..the gathering was in Little Rock.
"Great!" I thought. "I'll be able to travel back and forth between the two events!"


I expected to be busy and in fact, I was crazy busy.
But I was also completely unprepared for a couple of things:

**Letting go of control.
I don't know hardly anything about tournaments.
Nothin at all.
Can't control things I don't know about, but that doesn't mean that my opinions aren't strong. It's tough to be passionate about something and yet be unable to significantly influence the outcome.
Control freak?
Me?
I would usually say no,..but I'm feeling more and more grumpy these days when I'm in the middle of things that are important to me. I've got to work on that with prayer.

**Going between the events and different groups of people was a huge emotional swing.
Some who read this blog may think:
"Of course Becky,..going from a ball tournament filled with families and children is a happy place and then you have to go to the doom and gloom event where 300 moms and dad's are discussing their own nightmare."
The truth is that they are both wonderful.
We've tried hard to make our tournament one which is competitive but gentle too. Trophy awards end up being full of hugs and even tears.
Our daughters played on the same fields that we now hand out trophies on in their memory.
I tell ya,....it's a mental challenge.

Yet,..I love being there because those friends are the ones I've made in the dark pit of grief and despair.
Bar none, the Bereaved Parents event is one of my most favorite groups of people in this whole entire world.
I can't imagine another large group of people so laid back and relaxed. Laughter happens constantly, spontaneously and our loss is shared as easily as if we are discussing the weather. There's no describing it.
People from all across America and all types of loss (multiple child loss, murder, special needs, chronic illness, car accidents, suicide and more) You just gotta be there to understand.
Depressing?
No frazzlin way.
With that group of friends I find myself surrounded by the wise, the heroes, the strong, the fearless, the tested and the laid back.
AND it rubs off on me.

Going from that group to the tournament where so many details mattered wore me slap out. (along with never going to bed Friday night)


So.
I said goodbye to all my BP friends Sunday morning and then helped award the last trophy that afternoon.
Walking out of the ball park I had what some would call a meltdown reflected on the rich blessings that I am surrounded with.
All because of Jae Lynn.
That girl always has shown me the ridiculous extremes of most emotions.
It's cool to know she still does.

I miss you so much Jae and wish I could see you.

Wish I knew how close you are to us.
I wish I could see Heaven.
I wish....

Just got back from our annual week of camping and then a weekend with Jack and Deb, my cousins in Texas.
As usual, I took a gob of pictures but can not get the memory card to work tonight.
(as Rosana Rosana Danna used to say "It's always sumpthin"!)

On the way to Texas, we shopped at Canton, Texas....the largest flea market in the South.
Have you been there? I shopped for 8 straight hours and did not get to even half of it.
Acres and acres and acres of stuff.

Oon the way home,..we all needed to "go" and do you know where Ralph stopped? At a divey gas station called "Peckerwood"
The owners of Peckerwood are proud that they cleaned their bathroom once in 1964.
Seriously,...honey?.......

10 days away from home at a CRAZY busy week of my year.

This Friday, I am honored once again to be the opening speaker for the National Gathering of Bereaved Parents. It's in Little Rock this year and I would love for any parent out there who has lost a child to come!
Do you hear me?
COME!
It's very very laid back..jeans/sneakers and you will make instant friends with a couple hundred people. Food, fellowship and talking about the kids we don't get to talk about much anymore.
Call me/email me or go to our web site OR just show up and register at the Holiday Inn/Airport this Friday morning at 7:30 !
(One of my break-out sessions will be about blogging!)

Another HUGE thing in my life is our annual softball tournament which is in Sherwood at the EXACT same time as the BP gathering. (sigh)
You can find more info about that here.

I'll post after it's all over and who knows,... maybe I'll add a picture or two!

I'm blessed.

Youth Workers Convention

I don't think Satan wanted me to go to Atlanta this weekend.
There were 5 of us scheduled to go to the Youth Specialties Youth Workers Convention and each one of us had serious issues which made us want to stay or be home.
Four of us made the trip in our tiny capsule Mazda and arrived at 4 frazzlin o'clock in the morning!
We pull up to the Omni hotel which appears to have no lobby or parking lot. We somehow wind up in a valet area and are immediately surrounded by tuxedoed valets who did a great job at hiding their disgust with our old dented-up car filled with bubble gum wrappers and a hundred M&M's (which got thrown during a fierce fight).

Now, I need to tell you right here, that somehow, during the 8-9 hours ride sitting in a back seat the size of a milk crate, something serious happened to my right knee.
It began to hurt around Memphis, was killing me at Birmingham and absolutely locked-up as we drove into Atlanta.

It simply would not work.

As Ralph, Levi and Jackie unloaded the car, I was sent by the bellman to the elevator towards the 4th floor for check-in.
Dragging my leg across the cavernous deserted lobby towards 3 fresh-looking desk clerks, they greeted me professionally and I handed them my credit card. One of them apologized and said "I'm sorry ma'am, you have a Marriot credit card and this is an Omni Hotel chain. We can not accept this credit card."

It's four a.m.
My right leg has a mind of it's own.
I'm too tired to think.
"What?"
He apologizes and repeats that the "Omni hotel does not accept credit cards which have other hotel names printed on them."

I had options here.

I could pull out another card

or

I could crawl over the desk and use his tie to choke the snot out of him.

I think he saw clearly that I was going for the second option because he laughed and yelled "I'm just kidding! Oh My Gosh! I'm joking! I'm so sorry ma'am,..I can see how tired you are and I should not have pranked you like that! Please forgive me!"

I should have known.

Welcome to the National Youth Workers Convention.

The weekend was wonderfully filled with refreshment and inspiration and I'm looking forward to sharing some it of here soon.

A Gathering Of The Bereaved Parents

Friends asked me today how I liked New York this past weekend.
My reply was that the

New York Crowne Plaza Hotel was excellent, but

I did not venture out of their doors

a single time until my return to the airport.

New York City is not on my bucket list.
************************************************************************
Here are a couple of reflections about the

2009 Gathering of the Bereaved Parents of the USA:

1. I count some of these people among my dearest friends on Earth. And I have only spent a few days with all of them over the past 1-3 years

2. Many true inspirational heroes are considered as such because they get out of bed every morning and put their feet on the floor.

3. Butterfly releases are cool.

4. New York City taxes are not. (raised my bill by almost 22%!)

5. Friendships which change after the loss of a child often occurs not because the friends have changed, but can be attributed more to the fact that the parent has changed. Some friendships can not deal with the changes and are lost. Some friends can more easily relate and are strengthened. I'm still mulling that one over, but I think I agree.

6. Some of the best writers in this world will go forever unnoticed and unpublished.

7. A common thread I heard voiced is this:

Not only has "the church" not provided comfort, it has often inflicted wounds.
Come to think of it,...I have heard that many times before from people with other types of pain such as divorce, mental illness, substance abuse, etc....
This thought, my friends, will be an entire blog post very soon.

8. As my airplane flew over the earth from here to there, I observed the tiny specks of cities, houses and cars underneath us. I was reminded of how insignificant I am. But more impressed with the might and power of God who has each hair on each head of the whole Earth numbered.

9. The concept of "re-framing the pain".
This means that you take the pain of your life (whatever it is) and transform it into something of value. Almost, according to one speaker, as if you are holding up a defiant fist in a refusal to be brought low by the bad things which have happened.

10. Other guests in the hotel would occasionally get onto an elevator and ride with those of us from the gathering. These poor people would often ask "where ya from? or "what brings you to New York?"
It was a real conversation stopper to tell them.
We, on the other hand, often got a kick out of their response.

11. Whenever I am asked to speak or present for this group (or any group for that matter!), I now qualify it with the condition that I can speak God's name however and whenever. The response has been amazing. Not only do they agree, but this year, there was an entire section of break-out sessions under the label of "Spiritual".

My friends there long to hear of hope.

12. No matter how badly I hurt from not having Jae Lynn's voice and presence in my home, I am filled with gratitude to God for blessing me with my family, my friends and my church who have walked this road with me and show love to me daily.

EverThird

Fine cuisine at the "Fish and Pig" restaurant.

Above- EverThird prays before they perform

Below- Steve playing bass in the 35 mph wind gusts!

If I was a real camerawoman, I would pace the battery life of my camera.
I have about 50 photos of the waterballon slingshot contest.

but only the three photos above of Everthird.

Dang it.
*********************************************************************************

In our lives, we tend to want to see immediate results and answers to our prayers. Personally, I am not always good at the long-term praying thing. I pray for a while and then either forget, lose my passion or give up on my request.
And when I DO pray, I tend to have a good idea about how God should respond.
Oh I say that I want Him to surprise me, but do I really expect it?

The most memorable prayer that I have ever prayed was at the side of Jae's casket in the funeral home. It was early on Friday I think, and I drove to the funeral home and told the director that I wanted to be uninterrupted with her.
DeWayne personally closed the door behind me and sat in a chair on the other side to prevent anyone from entering.

Most of those last mother-daughter moments will never be shared, but I often speak publicly about my prayer there by her side. To be honest, I've written this very paragraph 50 times trying to describe those moments, but just can't find the words to convey the moment. Let me just say, that I cried out for God to bring good out of the bitter circumstances we now faced. I also begged to see the good now, here on Earth, and not have to wait until "all things are revealed" in eternity.

I am grateful that God has answered my prayer many times over.
Countless times in fact.
I will remain confused and disagreeable about God's plan for a short life for Jae, but at least He loves me enough to constantly attach good things to her name.
My mother's heart is grateful.

In my wildest dreams, I couldn't have imagined this weekend.
Here's a short summary of a long story:
It began with a heartfelt lesson in March 2004 in a tiny back room of our small church.
I created the lesson for Jae, Casey, Ralph and myself, but I taught it to about 8 teenagers, 2 of which were mine.
Less than 24 hours later one of them, Jae Lynn, is in Heaven.
Without realizing it, the theology of that lesson prepared me for the worst days of my life.
It kept me sane through the coming months.
It sustains me still.
3 years later, I wrote the experience into a post on this blog.
Months after that, I happened to click onto Youth Specialties blog on the very day where they asked for memorable moments of youth ministry.
Feeling sure they were looking for food-fight moments, I sent them my post anyway.
My friends at YS considered the moment relevant indeed.
They created it into a "video story".
It was used at three national conferences to encourage thousands of youth pastors and leaders across the nation.
One of those youth pastors, Shannon Lovelady from Georgia, looks for me and finds me in Nashville. He tells me he wants to bring his band (EverThird) to perform a free personal concert for my small group of teens.
Now it's Monday and I just spent the weekend with the members of EverThird ( Shannon, Mike, Andrew, Nick and Wesley) interact with the members from our church and especially our small youth group.
They gave a concert and played their hearts out to probably the coldest tiniest crowd they have ever played for. But I know it's because they really play for the Most High God and not anyone else.
When they pulled out of our parking lot, they left behind a small group of Southern Baptist teens, parents and church members who are worn out, encouraged and inspired to want more from God.
Then the band sends a text message to me saying they are grateful for what our church did for them!

Jae Lynn,.....honey.
I wish you were here to see all of this.
I'm so grateful that I still get to speak your name and I feel incredibly blessed when I see how God puts Himself into all your influences.
I look so forward to seeing Him face to face like you do, but until then I will rest in the knowledge that He has remembered my cry.
I love you more than ever and will be there in the morning.

No More Boring Conferences!

Conference.

The very word sounds boring.

"I went to a conference" (yawn)

"Let's go to a conference soon" (ZZzzzzzz)

Sometimes we can just know when a conference is going to be waste.

I can often tell by the name of the conference, whether it is something I want to go to.

Maybe the speaker looks dull or maybe even the topic sounds like a snoozer.

There are certain groups/organizations who are intent on keeping their conferences dull. Maybe that's not on their planning agenda,..but it happens anyway. Time after time after time.

The next year, they get the same old planning committee together to talk about why no one attended.

Then they plan another dull one.

Don't go.

Just don't go.

Go instead with the teenagers in your church to their conferences.

They are ALWAYS needing volunteers and "frins,...let me tell ya sompthin",...I promise,..you will not fall asleep at a youth conference!

Below are some photos I took at the recent LiveLove Conference in Memphis. It is hosted by StudentLife. I tried for days to upload the video I recorded but I don't have the "tech-y" gene. It's only given to a few people over 40 and I am not one.

Part of why I love going to these gatherings with the teenagers is that I am reminded that there are still so many young people who are willing to serve the Most High God. I assure you,..that when they are in charge of creating church culture,...their generation of the church will not resemble ours. How exciting!

Sometimes those teens are a real mess. They don't act right all the time. They are spiritually immature and often seem to love the culture more than they love God.

How'about that?
They are just like us adults.

Abby and Dillon.

There were computers in the hallways of Bellvue Baptist Church.

Imagine that.

IHOP at night.

(note the difference between the two adults in the front of the picture and the teens)

A homeless man followed Levi in.

The manager kicked the guy out and then tried to order Levi out as well.

(Poor Levi. He was lookin all homeless, I guess)

The bus ride home got long.

Francis Chan, BB Guns and Balloons

My new, most favorite preacher/teacher in the world is Frances Chan. I was able to spend several hours under his teaching this weekend and he told a story which moved me.

He spoke about a "fantastic illustration" at his church during one of his sermons. He then paused and said,.."well,..maybe it wasn't a good one. In fact, it was a really bad illustration and I would never do it again. I got into a lot of trouble for doing it. But it made the point really well!"

Frances taped a balloon onto one of the curtains on the side of the front stage of the church auditorium. He then brought out a BB gun and asked all of his church members to raise their hands if they thought he could pop the balloon from the other side of the stage.
He said about 75% of the congregation raised their hands.

He then asked if they really thought he was that skillful with the BB gun, would they be willing to come onto the stage and hold the balloon at their side while he aimed the gun and shot the balloon.
About 100 people raised their hands.

He then went one step further. He asked those that raised their hands if they would volunteer to come onto the stage, stand sideways with the balloon in their teeth while he aimed the gun and shot the balloon.
3 people raised their hands.

He invited one of the 3 onto the stage and had him sign a legal waiver that he would not sue if anything bad happened. Francis then placed the balloon between the volunteers teeth and wondered when the guy would back out.
Francis said that he had no intention of shooting the BB gun, but was prepared to take the illustration to the last possible moment before letting the brave guy remove the balloon and go back to his seat.

But as he drew out the moment,..he looked down the barrel of the BB gun and thought to himself. "I think I can do this."

The crowd was silent.
They were obviously nervous.

He decided to shoot.

The balloon popped and much to his surprise, his congregation was not impressed. Instead of applause and cheers, there were gasps and audible anger.
They were completely unimpressed with his skill, but were horrified at the risk he took.
He said that after the service, every leader and lawyer in his congregation rushed the stage to fuss at him. His lesson could have put the church in legal jeopardy.

Francis agreed.
His impulsive ending to the illustration could have gone terribly wrong.

The point of it all however, was this:
Lots of people in the room thought Francis could pop the balloon, but few were willing to trust him enough to hold it in their teeth.

Christians all over the world say that they love Jesus, would follow Him anywhere and trust Him with everything.
But I wonder,...how willing am I to go the distance with ALL that God has for me to do?

I raise my hand in church and say "Yes!",..but if God said "Right now Becky. Do it. Forsake it all and follow me"...would I?

Nashville

Have a bunch of pictures, but can I upload or download anything?
NO!
Packafrat!
(that's Jeffers slang for bad words)
Even Abby is unable to get the pictures off of my camera. They'll just have to come onto here later.

Anyway,..here's some thoughts from the wonderfully exhausting Youth Specialities Youth Workers Convention that I was involved in this past weekend:

It was much bigger than I had imagined. There were approximately 5000 attendees (give or take a few).
I am now a David Crowder band fan.
I am now a Lincoln Brewster fan.
But I really a Shane and Shane fan. One of the Shane's is an incredible guitarist. The other Shane performed the entire concert in a carhart cap, tee-shirt and his hands in his jean pockets.

I know that most of you haven't seen the video that Ian (Youth Specialties Producer) created about Jae and the timing of a particular lesson I taught to the youth of Bayou Meto. Ian is supposed to post our video on YouTube as soon as he could get a few moments. I'll try to get it onto here.

I was thrilled that Tic (one of the YS leaders) asked Ian in their morning meeting if I was going to be present for the scheduled Sunday night showing of our video. When he was told I was leaving early, he instructed the production team to switch things around so that it would be shown Saturday night. Tic wanted me present as it played. (Thanks Tic)
It ended up being one of the first things of the evening program and get this,..he then called me to the stage! Ya know what? I wasn't really nervous at all! Tic asked a few questions about my work with the youth, he invited me back to next year's confernce (their expense!), and then he gave us a $200 gift certificate from their resource store!

When I got back to my seat, I asked Levi if I made any sense while up on the stage,..he just smiled and patted my shoulder.
(I'm afraid to consider what he meant by that).

Several people found me after the video. In fact, a couple of them approached me during the remainder of the session. Most had experienced loss,..a few were mom's like me,..some had heard of Jae and her death.
Another exciting thing happened when two couples approached me in the hotel lobby to comment on the video. They introduced themselves and I discovered that they were the lead singer and the agent of the band Everthird. Somehow,....my story was very personal to the lead singer, Shannon and his beautiful wife. They all had been moved by the story and felt compelled to find me and offer a free concert to our youth group at our church! WOO HOO! I can't wait to tell our kids! Almost every single teen in our group is a musician of some kind.
God is so good to me.

and then,......

On Sunday afternoon, as I stood in line to get a Quiznos sandwich, I happen to let The Skit Guys cut in front of me. Of course, they made it a hilarious big deal by screaming to the 75 people behind me that "they just couldn't cut in front of all those people!" (right before they jumped in). Long story,..but they needed to eat and I knew they had only a few minutes before they were to lead one of the break-out sessions on drama.
They were wonderful and as we waited on our order and spoke of my daughters as well as their own. Eddie pulled me aside and quietly asked me:
"Becky,..you have three daughters. If you could give me one piece of advice about raising my little girls,..what would it be?"

My answer?

Tell ya later. This post is too long! :)

November Inventory

Some things that are on my mind
are packing for the Youth Specialties conference.
My mother-in-law,...she's not feeling well.
Abby's grades.

Something that has made me laugh recently
was my co-workers at lunch. We were discussing something and we all began building on one stupid thing after another. Julie is usually so quiet, so when she is overcome with laughter, I can enjoy the memory for a week. Daniel's laugh is loud, Glen's is fun, Levi laughs like a mischievous little boy and Deonna's infectious laugh will make even the biggest grump smile.

The scripture that I'm currently studying is
Luke 3.
I'm supposed to be way deeper into the book by now, but just haven't made it. The Christmas story just never gets old, does it?

A song that recently captured my attention is
"Because" (you have to snap your finger with this)
Just because you think you're so pretty
Just because you think you're so hot.
Just because you think you've sompthin
that nobody else has got.
Though you made me spend all my money
you laughed and called me ole' Santa Clause
Well I'm tellin you honey I'm though with you!
Because! Just because!

(I sometimes have no idea why I sing these songs. My patients however,...quickly go down memory lane with them)

Something which scared me recently
was sending my in-laws into the VA Hospital. Mr. Russell needed to get set-up into that system. I let them out at the door and I wondered if I would ever see them again. It was comparable to letting them out at the entrance of the state fair. I circled the parking lot (I mean,..the city) for 45 minutes looking for a place to park the truck so I could go in with them. However,...there was no place to put a truck. People told me,.."there is a little shuttle to pick you up if you have to park a long way off!" But shuttles aren't helpful if you can't park the vehicle!
No median, no curb, no spot, no nothin.
I had to keep driving.

The thing that is stressing me is
getting the 3Cheerleaders end-of-the-year letter finalized, addressed and mailed.
I'm also wanting a comprehensive web-site. I can't believe we've gone this long without one.

I'm confused by
why I can not keep a vacuum cleaner working. I just don't understand. All my floors are hardwood. I only have one itty bitty rug and somehow I have to buy a new vacuum cleaner every year.
It's a mystery.

I'm pumped about
going to Nashville this weekend for the Youth Specialties Youth Worker Convention. I have wanted to go to a Youth Worker's convention for 25 years. (It's too bad that I'll be the oldest one there!) I'll be seeing The skit guys, the David Crowder band will be there, Tony Compolo, and others. Can't wait.
(The schedule goes until midnight for Pete's sake.)

I'm bummed
that I won't be there to see the short (really short!) video that they have created about Jae and me. It will be on the screen on Sunday night, but unfortunately,..I have to leave Sunday afternoon. I've seen the final version and it's great at discussing the wonderfully amazing Grace of God. I'll try to post it on here someday soon.

I'm praying
that Levi (who is going with me) will be inspired to lead our teenagers for the next 25 years.
You pray for that too,...'cause Becky's getting kinda old tired.

I Am....

I am humbled.
I've had an exciting week.
I've not spoken much about it here, 'cause I was afraid it would all fall through.
Youth Specialties is an organization has been instrumental in the formation of my spiritual worldview. No lie. I have been profoundly and deeply influenced by the late Mike Yaconelli and his staff at YS.
A few weeks ago, they sent out a request on their blog (I have them linked to mine) for all youth ministers to send in their "most memorable youth ministry moments".
It was an easy request for me.
I sent them my post from this blog dated 6/14/08.
Well lo and behold! They chose to profile that moment at their three national youth worker conventions this fall.
Their Media Specialist, Ian Robertson, flew in from California Wednesday and spent the day with me, interviewing and shooting some video.
Ian is an incredibly talented young man who just yesterday had his first short film screened at the "San Diego Film Festival".

I am unworthy.
There are thousands of youth workers out there who are better educated and more exciting than me. I feel like these men and women will watch the segment on me at the national conventions and yell,.."Impostor! She's not a real youth leader!"
It seems like I have spent most of my adult life in youth ministry wishing for a bigger budget, a better program and a more exciting staff member than me.
I seriously am no big deal.
Seriously.

I am relieved.
Youth Specialties has a motto which says:"You love kids. We love you." I have actually felt that love down through the years, even though I had never met any of the staff. After spending the day with Ian, I could tell he loved me and what I do.
I would have been way disappointed if he had been all business-like and intimidating, but he was wonderful.
Just like I imagined all the YS staff would be.


I am thankful.
God continues to let me talk about Jae Lynn. He allows me to introduce her to the world. I sure 'nuff would have chosen a different way to involve her in ministry, but I am trying to be content with her story as it is now.
She always was one to do things different.
I miss her.
(That's a colossal understatement.)

I am amazed.
At the grace which God bestows on me. Why does He love it when I love Him? I'll never understand.

I am afraid.
That I will stop seeing God work.
I am in the middle of about five different ways where He is working in big and obvious ways. I've been praying for Him to do BIG things and I know "He's way too big for me to mess Him up" (Beth Moore's words), but if anyone could get in His way, I'm sure it would be me.
I just don't want Him to stop the fun.
It's been exhilarating to watch Him work in some of the private and public areas of my life.

In spite of the fact that I frequently camp there, I can't stand the idea of living in mediocrity.

Angels and Giants

This weekend I have walked with giants.

It looked like any other "convention" which are commonly held in hotels everywhere around the U.S., but I assure you, there was nothing common about this gathering.

I am way too tired to talk much about the weekend,..just got home a hour or so ago, but I'm telling you readers out there, that I am plumb chock full of inspiration! There's no telling what you will read on this blog for the next few weeks, but most of it will have been inspired by the other moms and dads I was with at the 2008 National Bereaved Parents Gathering in St. Louis.

Nobody ever wants to be a member of our gathering.
Most of us never knew it existed until we had a child die.
We lived through the nightmare and have been forced not just to survive,... but to re-enter life.

This weekend was an excellent reminder that we are not supposed to just exist in our pain,..we are to thrive in it.

Hundreds of us, strangers,...friends,....artists,....speakers,...writers,....silent,.... homemakers,...professionals,....non-professionals,...all shapes and sizes,..and all personality types (Lions, Beavers, Otters, and Golden Retrievers!).
All of our differences simply fall away as we share our common pain. Tears flow freely, and the embraces are tight.
Both are healing.

But do we just share pain?
Good grief, of course not!
Who in their right mind would attend a gathering like that?!

We meet to arm ourselves with encouragement and skills.
We come home from a meeting like ours reminded that our lives are to be lived with passion and honor.
We are a group that believes Heaven and it's occupants are very very near.

So,..when I catch up on a few hours of sleep,...I will share a few things that are on my little mind.
Until then,....I will be dreaming and thinking of Angels and Giants.

Abby In Glorietta

Abby is leaving early in the morning for church camp.

Glorietta, New Mexico.

As you can tell,..her preparations have begun.

Don't all of us begin packing for a long trip by dragging out everything we own, throwing it on the bed near a suitcase way too small, and then making a ceiling mobile out of "monster" energy drink cans?

I have prayed for it to be the best trip of her entire young life. I have always told the girls that "God doesn't necessarily talk to us louder or more when we are at church camp,..but we are better listeners when we are there."

I remember vividly sitting in our youth room in the early 1970's and broaching the subject of our church youth group going to Glorietta, New Mexico. We might as well have asked to go to the other side of the world.

Getaways should not be just for kids and teenagers. I think that adults need to go somewhere every year to Church camp. A whole week of worship, powerful speakers, fresh friendships, new location and time to listen to God.

Can you imagine how spiritually tanked up our families and churches would be?

Would God speak louder to us if we went somewhere new or would we just be better listeners?

Does it matter?

Either way,...it would be life changing.

Just like it used to be.

Pray for our young brothers and sisters who will be on the road tomorrow.

May they never be the same.