The First Week

Ok, so it was more like the first week and a half. We had a half week starting the 6th-9th, and then a full week this past week. Today I'm sitting in the office of one of the youth ministers I worked with this week. I think the best part of this experience is the fact that I can continue to build relationships with people after they have gone through camp. Aaron and I worked with the group from FUMC Winter Park this week. On their day off on Wednesday, we were invited to spend the day at the lake with them. Today I went to their church and ate barbecue chicken. I love that I feel like I'm really investing in peoples' lives. I feel like I'm connecting with people in a way I never have before. I don't deserve this opportunity. I can't believe God is choosing to use me in this way.

Worship has also been amazing. I have to talk about a few specific experiences. Please note first, however, that I don't take credit for any of it. On Thursday night, I needed one more song for worship, so I randomly chose the song "Holy is the Lord" by Chris Tomlin. It was only after I chose it that I realized that the message was about entering the Body of Christ in fellowship with other believers, and a line in the song says "together we sing." As we closed with that song, I looked up near the end and noticed that everyone in the room as standing next to each other, arm in arm. As we sang the final chorus, Aaron and I jumped off stage and joined them. It was an amazing experience. Also, on the same night, we did Overdrive worship later in the evening after their church group time. About 25 of the 60 or so kids came. I felt some students needed prayer, so I was led to open an opportunity to the students to pray with the staff. Several students found other staff members to pray and talk with, and they all ended up in a conversation about God. I eventually had worn my voice and fingers out, so I started up a CD and joined in. The whole week came together as the most amazing time of my life. I think I sang Marvelous Light at least... 7 times. They loved that song almost as much as I do. There is nothing better than these lines:

My dead heart now is beating
My deepest stains now clean
Your breath fills up my lungs
Now I'm FREE.

I still get chill bumps every time.

The Worries

So far I'm having a blast. Right now we're staying at St. John's, a Lutheran Church in Winter Park, FL, just north of Orlando. I'll be sleeping on an air mattress for the next 8 weeks. The food will be good, but simple. There will be little to no privacy. The work will be hard. Everything I want for myself is going to be thrown out the window.

Sounds pretty cool!

Honestly, I need to be made uncomfortable. Comfortable is pretty boring. I think I've been prepared up to this point to be successful in a situation where all my personal luxuries are no longer mine to claim. I'm going to make a concerted effort not to complain about anything in an effort to truly enjoy the amazing things that will happen this summer. I'm already having a blast.

I've started to get worried about my abilities to do both these jobs. I've been especially worried about leading worship, for some reason. Some of the other guys have been talking about how great the past worship leaders have been, and I'm worried about letting them down. I think I need to realize that I need to just be ME and rely on God to use me the way he made me. That's not really that easy for me, because I honestly don't really believe in myself all the time. I think if I stop trying to be GOOD, and just be ME, I'll surpass my own perception of myself. But either way, here's a list of things I've found out I'm bad at so far, just for some fun (and to keep me humble)!

1. Dry wall
2. NOT being awkward
2. Counting
3. Marco Polo
4. Chicken fighting
5. Telling stories
6. Trying to get Aaron to be literate (funny story actually... you can ask me about it if you'd like!