Youth Blog

We headed off down 231 with the wind at our backs and smiles on our faces as we anticipated the ear shattering volume of 5 amazing christian bands this past Sunday.  Our destination?  Bloomington Illinois.  The Rock and Worship Roadshow Tour brings together amazing talent for a $10 ticket-we couldn't miss out.  We stopped a few times along the way for drinks and sugar-because Coby can never have enough sugar right?  We made it to the coliseum without a problem, circled it, decided we didn't want to wait in the cold until the doors opened and headed to a McDonalds a mile down the road to wait it out and to watch Brandon see how many chicken nuggets he could eat-always great entertainment.  As we finished up we went to start one of the cars and nope-it wasn't going anywhere.  We prayed, it didn't start.  We prayed again, it didn't start.  Then we started calling friends.  Our knights in shining armor, Chuc

I'm not quite sure why I ever have doubts about how and why God does things the way He does.  I'm constantly reminded that His ways aren't my ways, they're BETTER!  We took the whole youth group up to Timber Wolf Lake YL camp last weekend for our yearly winter retreat-but this year we planned to do things a little different.  Normally we go skiing, play tons of crazy games, and talk about a certain topic in the evenings that the kids might be struggling with.  The highlight in the past has been the last night where we lay hands on the kids and pray for them-super tear-jerker.  This year God has been continually telling me that we need to look past the end of our noses-to the hurting, the oppressed, the lonely, the orphans.  So last weekend we embarked on our first ever Justice Retreat.  Timber Wolf is considerably closer than Covenant Point where we went last year, but with the CRAZY amount of snow dumped on Michigan it still took us forever to get

So I don't know how I feel about Halloween really, I've never liked scary stuff, and River will never be able to go trick-or-treating dressed like a goblin-but the pumpkin carving, totally dig it.  We took the JH and SH kids to Happy Hollow for a pumpkin carving contest and marshmallow roast to celebrate the fall season and eat yummy snacks.  Isn't God awesome the way He created seasons??  It's so amazing to see the leaves all pretty and orange and get to drink apple cidar-love it.  The kids loved it too-although JHers and knives, no matter how small did stress me out a bit-it was Ryan that ended up with the lone wound though:)  We talked about how we're like pumpkins-all pretty and strong on the outside, and full of nasty junk on the inside.  We talked about specific sin issues that each kid deals with.  They mostly centered around not being nice to siblings and not controlling their mouths, but a few added anger, and unwillingness to give up thin

Ryan and I had the awesome opportunity to take the senior high to the Swift's family camp near Shades Park for the weekend!!  Last year I planned and programmed every minute of our time there-once we arrived though it all went out the window.  I didn't repeat that same mistake this year.  I've noticed more and more that students don't need alot of stuff thrown at them-filling them with as much info about Jesus and the Bible that you can fit into a weekend.  What they seem to need the most is rest.  Physical rest from school, sports, band practice, lego-league, the list could go on forever!!!!  But also spiritual rest.  We were out in the middle of nowhere among beautiful trees and Sugar Creek with cell phones that barely got a signal.  We were able to just breath deep in our Lord's handiwork.  We ate together, hiked, played football, worshipped our awesome God, and discussed those things that hold us back from being crazy in love with Jes

On Sunday we talked about the story of David and Goliath and then in the evening I had a modesty night with all the SH girls.  I got the eye rolls that "I've heard this before" but encouraged them that even when we think we know something, there's always more to learn.  We talked about the Jewish symbolism behind the story of David, we talked about being modest in our hearts and attitudes and that would flow into clothing choices.  There's always something to see of God and to understand at a deeper level-even when we think we know it all.  As the students went home on Sunday I asked them to keep an eye out for God this week.  He shows up everywhere if you look for Him!  I was driving to church on Tuesday and noticed just from my house to 52 that I saw over 20 species of trees that were beautiful blowing in the breeze.  Then I saw him again when 2 students who rarely join us came to lunch-and smiled while they were with us.  HUGE!  Then I

This weekend was super exciting because 2 youth and 4 adults got BAPTIZED!!!!!  It was so amazing-we went out to Fort Ouiatenon, it was a more than beautiful day, each person shared a part of their testimony and why they were getting baptized, and then we took them down to the river to actually get dunked!!  We worshiped together, cried together, and praised the Lord for the obedience and authenticity of those that participated-it was seriously awesome.  There's just something about completing the circle when you've invited Christ to live in your heart and then you declare publicly how you feel about what He has done for you!!!!  We also got the chance to participate in trash pick-up at the Subaru Family Fun Day-we weren't quite aware of what we were getting into, but everyone who came was a great sport about it.  Let's just say 5500 people, applesauce, macaroni and cheese, chicken, pork chops, and barbeque sauce don't make for the yummiest trash cans.