First Day of Altitude '09

In Matthew 14:22-33 we read of Jesus exhaustive day that He had ministering to people all day. Everything from the news of His cousin dying to the telling of many of his parables to the feeding of the 5,000 (not including women and children). What a crazy day that must have been.

I feel like I could relate to that in some ways. Today was the start of our winter camp for Active. This year is our 2nd year doing it, and hope to keep on doing many more in the future. A lot of time and effort has to go into these retreats. I've been on both the students side of things as well as the leaders side of things, but never as a youth pastor. So my first big experience as a youth pastor. FUN!

The last few months of prep work has all come to this weekend. All of the many hours and the many minimal nights of sleep (literally for the last few days I haven't been able to get a good nights rest) all for the students. Sounds exciting, right?

As always we were late to get to the mountain as well as late to start our sessions. We only had the room rented for a certain time so we made the best of it.

On top of that I had to teach tonight. By the time worship began I didn't even have notes typed up or things put in place where I would like them to be. As a teacher I didn't like that feeling. I didn't feel prepared. But as God would have it, that is where He wanted me to be. To be at a state of weakness and vulnerability. Even just moments before going up I almost walked out of the room b/c of how I felt. But I prayed that "God's strength would be made perfect through my weakness". How true that was.

Teaching on minimal notes, minimal study time, and minimal sleep I went up and taught. I felt God's hand with me the entire time. Something so amazing. As we were studying how the disciples dealt with adversity I felt like I was teaching about myself that day. Crazy how God does that.

In the end of my teaching I felt a call to see if someone wanted to give their life to Christ. Sure enough, there was one kid who raised his hand and accepted Christ into his life. AMAZING!

All of the lost sleep, hours in front of my computer, minutes on my phone, and hours studying was all worth it. Praise God for His strength and our weakness. Please pray for him as he is in 7th grade. He will be in the middle school group and I will be able to help disciple him for a couple of years.