Near and Far Faith

Alright, it was amazing and here's the quick blitz of the week: Sunday late worship. Monday, due to door hanger mishap, house remodel AM, door hangers PM (door hanger mishap #2). Tuesday, rip CARD distribution due to door hanger mishap #2 AM, party in the park sans sound equipment due to lack of communication on the city of Chesapeake's part (mad props to Tally for keeping his cool). Wednesday July 4th, drive to Reston Community Church's neighborhood for door hanger distribution and lunch, spend afternoon split between a quarantined Air and Space Smithsonian and a pricey Holiday Inn restaurant (I know "pricey restaurant" and "Holiday Inn" don't seem to fit) due what the Nation's Capital called "severe weather". Severe enough to evacuate the mall, but not severe enough to cancel 23 minutes of fireworks. Thursday, back to house remodel to sweat off a few pounds while getting dirty. Jon weeks improved the property value by like 10 Gs with his landscaping. You rock Jon! (see picture). Friday, Busch Gardens - get stuck in major traffic with 4 vans who's AC doesn't not work while stationary and 1 that is leaking transmission fluid like crazy (what's a mission trip without a hot car ride. Seriously. Has there ever been one?). Saturday, rework Party in the Park 2 for new location due to City's miscommunication and find a weird "Christian restaurant" on th VA Beach. Sunday, Focal Point's service and 8-hour ride home (it took 6 to get down there).

It's was a wild week full of changes. At some point I looked at my wife, who was accompanying me for the first time on a mission trip, and said with all my heart "I live for this". I'd do it again right now. It has nothing to do with students. Honestly, I believe it would've been worse with a group of adults. These students took everything that we could throw at them without ANY fuss and made a difference in a community. No, it wasn't the fun factor of the students, or Becca's 16th birthday, or meeting John Smith for the first time, or giving away 2 ipods and a Wii. It was seeing God move and move and move, despite circumstances. It was a very internal trip. By that I mean that the majority of the work was done inside all of us that went. It's easy to trust God trough our plans, but when God takes our plans away and forces us to rely on him minute by minute, the world changes.