Snow Blast 2009!

This past weekend, we went to Michigan to go skiing/snowboarding at Timber Ridge. It was an awesome time hanging out with each other. Some new friendships were made and some were strengthened. I love trips like these because it causes people who wouldn’t normally hang out with each other to spend time together. That is how a group gets stronger and closer: taking you out of your comfort zone and putting you in a situation where you have nothing else to do but spend time with one another. Walls get broken down and people become vulnerable with each other and stronger connections are made.

On the way home (probably not 20 minutes on the road), the power steering went out. We exited the interstate in Kalamazoo to check it out and stopped as the brakes went out. Gabe did an awesome job handling the chaotic situation. People were called and Greg and Zonda left in another bus on their way to Michigan at about 6 p.m. or so to pick us up… A cop came by to help facilitate the situation and some guy from a church a block away approached the bus. He said that his church has a bus that could pick us up and take us to their youth center until our bus got here. We arrived, had a nice place to chill and unwind… and then their evening service got out and word got around about a stranded youth group in their youth center. We were met with smiles, games, and PIZZA (again… but we were hungry enough!). The wonderful people of Berean Baptist were so welcoming and accommodating. They understood what it meant to serve and the mission of the church as a body of believers living to support one another. They prayed for us, Gabe spoke words of gratitude, they drove us further a few more minutes to meet up with Greg and Zonda who took us the rest of the way home! We got in about 12:45 a.m.

A further working of God: We had to leave the bus at Berean, as it was broken down. We found out yesterday that a guy in our church who manages a garbage collecting business in Indiana has ONE client in Michigan… in Kalamazoo… He’s going to have a guy check on the bus and probably get it fixed.

God is much bigger than any issue we will encounter… this trip home was a simple reminder of just that. Honestly, I was frustrated at first, very tired, and just wanted to see my wife… but God had other plans… He created a memory that these youth will never forget, a memory that these kids shared together, bringing them closer to those they might not have ever met otherwise.

It was a good trip.

Phil

p.s. there is another blog that the bridge youth staff started to keep parents of the youth informed on the latest happenings in the youth ministry. That blog is bridgeyouth.wordpress.com. This is one that all of us on the youth staff have access to updating and can be another reference for you to keep track of this ministry you are investing in.