Mississippi

Well this week I spent a week with some awesome people in Mississippi. I went down there to serve those who had nothing due to hurricane katrina. My wife and I were 2 of the 4 leaders that went. There was a lot that went right and a lot that went wrong. I learned much more than I could have ever wanted to learn. First, I learned a lot about people that I didn't know. I learned that sometimes I have to hold my tongue and sometimes people can misunderstand when they don't care to learn all the information. I learned that leadership doesn't come easy to everyone and I must be patient. These are among some of the things I learned about people. Second, I learned that God's plan is freaking awesome. We climbed on tall roofs, constantly had to jet out into intense traffic, was chased by dogs, spent days in 95+ degree weather, and everyone constantly had nails through their shoes into their feet. Now in saying that no one was hurt more than a bandaid. Scary thing is that God waited until after all the students were gone to side swipe the van. A lady hit the van that I was driving with her car on the way to take it back. Nothing more than a very small dent. No one got a ticket, only one very pissed off lady. Thirdly, I learned that people will mess up and probably lie about it, but the truth will always come out. We had some students do stupid stuff, but hopefully a lesson was learned. If anything was learned is that Integrity is something that's very easily lost, and extremely hard to get back. Lastly I learned a little something about Control. Some people have the theory that In order to have control you must have everything under control. This is crap. Control isn't achieved with trying to control every part of someone's life. Control is acheived by respect. When it comes to students they want people to try to control them, they need honesty and help with choices. Sure they mess up from time to time, but isn't that how people truly learn right from wrong? God I know speaks to some people the way he does to me. He doesn't speak in a small voice, but a random Bat attack to the back of my head. This is how I've learned to deal with students in my 6+ years in youth ministry. I got a lot of time to talk to a lot of the students and I'll continue to pray for all of them each night. So when I got back I was asked if this trip was a success. We helped a lot of people and received a chance to serve. The real point was to see God in a new way and grow closer to Him. Did they learn this? I have no idea, but I know that I grew closer because I saw a spark in the next generation that I hope all of them have. This gives me hope that the next generation will not let God go away, but instead grow up to Love God and want to express that love to others. I will write more on this later. I would say that the mission trip was a success, at least to me. I just hope that all the students that read this will think about this and pray to God for change. God Rocks, Jtw