SERVE and Surf

Hello there, faithful readers,

I just finished a week of SERVE. It was a great week of hundreds of high schoolers and their leaders getting involved in the community. However, due to a number of colliding factors, I almost went crazy. Symptoms of insanity began my first night sleeping on the concrete floor of a Sunday School classroom, suffocating from the smell of the high school guys and their unbelievable amounts of cologne. It only made matters worse when these guys started working out in the sun and their cologne clouds mated with their body odor to create a hellish lovechild of unprecedented stench. As if that weren't enough to make me go crazy, I also endured a twenty minute van ride each day listening to nothing but the latest Top 40 singles. If I hear "California Girls" one more time, I'm going to snap. Combine those factors with a severe lack of sleep and a serious lack of alone time and it's a wonder that I'm still functioning.

It's probably because God showed up this week. Big time. He was busy changing lives. Breaking the hearts of the proud and giving hope to the disadvantaged. I was a bit skeptical of SERVE at the beginning having never participated in it before. But now I'm a believer. I'm a SERVE fan.

As a way of unwinding from the madness of SERVE, I went surfing. Yep, one of the deacons and I decided to skip the first service on Sunday and catch some waves. I know, there are several things wrong with that picture, but I had a blast, so it's ok. Though to be honest, no one in their right mind would truthfully call what I did "surfing." My morning activities that day would be more aptly described as, "swallowing salt water like it's my job while being tossed like a rag doll by the pounding surf."

I usually take that description and edit out all the words except for the last one, in order to save time.

It's workin' out pretty well for me.

If you are so inclined, however, I would love it if you would continue to pray for me. Here are some areas that you can focus on:

-that God would continue to guide my actions

-that my work here would be an effective contribution to the kingdom of God

-that I would continue meeting with God daily

-that those impacted by SERVE would continue to sense and follow the work of the Holy Spirit

Thank you! You all are so wonderful! Thanks for all of your support!

-chris