Wide Awake

Okay, it's 11:15 p.m. I know that's not late. Not at all. The only thing is that I have to be at Starbucks at 5, which means the alarm clock is going off at 4 in the morning. I'm not too happy about that.

This weekend I had the grand opportunity to help out with Royal Servants as the students flew into Chicago for a week of training before heading overseas. I absolutely loved it. Joy and I made a couple of trips to Midway, found sleeping bags for some guys whose luggage didn't make it when they did, did a really early airport run, and just helped out around the church wherever we could.

Joy had to leave yesterday morning earlier than I did, so when the six buses all pulled out of the parking lot, I was the only one left. I stood there cheering everyone on as they began their journey towards training camp on a hayfield in the middle of nowhere.

As I walked back to my car, I'll be honest, I started to cry. Just a little bit, nothing too dramatic. You see, I've come to believe quite strongly that youth ministry is what I'm called to be a part of and is something in which I find tremendous joy and reward.

As the students left with feelings of anxiousness, excitement, and fear for what will be coming their way this summer, I couldn't help but imagine what they will feel in six or so weeks. Sure, not to every single student, but to a great majority, their lives will be changed in some way because of this summer. That's something I want to be a part of. I want to be there when they ask that one really great question or for really the first time decide they want God and accept that He wants them. I want to be there when their heart breaks for people around the world. I want to be there when they come to see America in a new light because of the country overseas they are experiencing. I want to be a part of the relationships that are going to be built, the tears and laughter that will doubtlessly occur. I want to be there when at the end of the summer the team has become a family and they wash each other's feet and partake in communion together.

So I'm wide awake. I see so many faces of students I met this weekend. Some I talked with and some I didn't. I find myself praying for each one, asking God to become real to each of them in amazingly new ways, for them to learn what it means to live a life of faith based on grace, to learn what it means to love well.

Those are my thoughts this evening. Four o'clock comes early, so I'm gonna try again to fall asleep. I just find myself wanting to go. Desperately wanting to go. Hopefully next year at this time I'll be getting up early again. Not for Starbucks, though. I'll wander out of my tent, walk under the big top, get some coffee from the make-shift office, and head out to the field to wake up the students. Goodnight.