This morning I woke up and went to coffee with one of my leaders, Steve he has led a group of boys for the last 2 years, and he also leads worship in one of the most authentic communities that I have ever been a part of and it is at our church, sweet huh? So we talked about how God is moving in our students this week so far in the midst of dust, sweat, smell, laughter and tears we see God showing up again and again. As we sat and drank coffee we thought about how great it is to be invested in our students and the change that we see in them every day. We shared our hearts for a while and took off in a rush to get back to the church around 7:30am. Thankfully we made it back in time for breakfast, eggs, bacon, pancakes, biscuits and gray, and the best coffee in the world, and even better than that we were met by tons of smiles and high fives from the coolest community that I know. Our kids rock and if you ever want to see Jesus in tangible ways hang out with a student from Fairview they get Jesus and radically follow Him.
I thank God for our kids, leaders, His favor and safety this morning as we enjoyed a redeye and a lingering conversation.
The Job site that I am on with our kids is a church that had about 60 people 2 years ago before Ike, they were and are a church that is deeply connected in the community. During Katrina the church was a hub for locals to come and pick up building supplies, food, and a warm hello. When Ike hit 2 years ago the community that the church was located in was okay in terms of flooding, but the amount of rain that came down broke through most roofs, a week after Ike hit the pastor came back to town and looked at the outside of the church and it looked fine but little did he know that the inside was destroyed along with all the supplies for those still recovering from Katrina. The church has been in disarray since, the congregation is now down to 15 and the church that doubled as the parsonage for the pastor who was diagnosed with cancer a few weeks after Ike is still unlivable. Like a good pastor he was more concerned about having a place of worship than he was with his own home. We have been putting a new flat roof, ripping down rotted drywall, framing, taping and spackling, and doing finish work around the sanctuary. The best part is helping the students work and learn new things. We have some really talented kids on our team.
I’m off to chapel now.
Grace and peace
I have tears in my eyes to read how much you love our kids. You know how important it is to me that you are in my children’s lives and “thank you” can never say enough. Thank you for your sacrifice to be there, as well as all the rest who left family and jobs and free time behind to invest it in my child’s life. It is an eternal investment. I am eternally grateful.