Pascagoula MS

Mission trips seem to have a way of changing your outlook on life a little. As I mentioned in a previous post, I was planning on taking my youth group down to Pascagoula, MS which was hit by Hurricane Katrina. When I looked around and saw the devestation that these people had lived with it made me realize that I have it relatively easy. I also look at the Central Church of Christ which is bringing relief to all the people down there. Their volunteers work tirelessly. In my opinion the guy who is in the leadership position, David, has been endowed with special strength from God. He told me that last month he decided to start taking one day off a month. What, are you kidding me? I am worried about my 1 and a half days off every week and after 8 months of 12 to 14 hour days, he finally decided to take a day off?

I look at the huge effort that is made by all these groups coming into MS and New Orleans to bring relief to the suffering. Are people who don't know Christ not in a similar plight? They are facing eternal death! This is a disaster of catastrophic proportions and we sit in our living room and watch TV so that we can watch our favorite show, or (in my case) try to go fishing once a week, or golf, etc. Lord, forgive us for our selfish lifestyles in the U.S.

I started a journal the first night and kept it until the second night. AFter that, I was too pooped out to pick up a pen when I got back to where we were staying. I will put some of those entries in future posts.

Some stuff

I am about to take 6 of my teenagers on a mission trip to Pascagoula, MS. I know what you are thinking, isn't there a song about that place? If you are asking that question, yes, there is a song set in Pascagoula. It's the Mississippi squirrel song by Ray Stephens. A guy in my church asked me if we could bring home a whole boxfull of those squirrels (if you are not familiar with the song, the squirrel causes a revival in the small church).
Next week we will be traveling about 2000 miles. On our way back from Pascagoula, we will stop by Galveston, TX and visit the sights at Moody Gardens. Then travel back to Cordell. It will be a long trip and there will be a lot of time on the road, but I know God will bless it. If you are reading this before and during May 21-27, please pray for our trip. I'm sure I will get tons of pictures while we are there, so look for them in future posts.
I hope that you will also pray for my sister as she is not doing very well physically. She has gone to many doctors, but none of them have been able to help with her condition (they don't really know what it is).
I hope that you will pray for my parents also because they are moving back to Colorado to work at Mountain States Children's home. It is a challenging, and sometimes non-rewarding work, but they will be blessed for what they do.

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Well, I haven't posted on here for a while. Tons is going on. I am working on a mission trip, and Cordell Christian Camp. It is going to be an awesome summer. I love the summers in youth ministry but at the same time I somewhat dread them. They are so busy and take up so much time that there is just not hardly any personal time.

Something I have been thinking about a lot lately is the fact that it is so hard to get teenagers to be committed to Christ. There is such a line to walk in this area. I don't want to pressure them to become Christians, thereby causing them to prematurely committ their lives to Christ, but at the same time I want them to feel the burden that Christ has put on them to committ to him. I guess that all I can do is ask God to touch their hearts and ask him to give me wisdom as I lead these teenagers.