Homeward Bound

Saturday, June 23, 2007

The theme for today was The Road Home.

A relatively quiet first day of the ride back ended with an overnight in Kentucky where the group was met by “a town without power”. After a fervent search for our ever-ready busdriver, the group set out in search of food that required no power. Alas, the Sonic Burger next door was also without power. After a walk of two blocks, however, God provided the power to arouse Bowling Green, Kentucky and the local Waffle House enough to get the crew fed.

Although, I was in absentia, a small bird informed me all were grateful for a real bed beneath their bodies and no wet clothing and towels above their bodies this most magnificent of evenings.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

The theme for today was Hello Tosa.

The day began with a church service in the Mike Naumann's hotel room. It was short, sweet, but very nice. It was led by Mickie O'Brien. Hours later, the entire crew arrived safely home to Mt Zion at approximately 5:30 p.m. CST to a warm welcome.

Many good warm hugs were shared as folks packed the well-used tools and newly renovated and remarkable young adults into 10-15 family vehicles for a much-deserved journey to a warm, soft bed, hot, home-cooked food and a sharing of magnificent stories with family awaiting them.

Let the debriefing begin …

2400 miles logged $Ooodles
600 person hours of work in the heat Free of charge
Your Youth Stock Support $Thousands
Renovating the lives of our Church Youth Priceless

What it takes to get the job done requires Youth Stock Holders (& air mattresses?!?)

For everything else there’s The Spirit

Friday, June 22, 2007

The theme for today was Live.

Colossians 3:16-17

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Many returned to the Groves High School with high-fives and smiles a mile wide. Most all jobs were completed and some crews visited as many as three sites to help the work get completed.

Our crew finished up and then invited Christine out for a sparkling water toast in plastic champagne glasses. We presented her with signed cards and two plants to add to her yard full of plants. But her last gift was our God Sighting for the day. Nicole, an 18 year old from Ohio, had assembled both a collage picture frame and photo album of the week’s transformation of her home: painting, worksite Bible devotions, communal lunches, playing with her grandchildren. Christine, our resident, broke down crying. With an hour left to us, we assembled a lawnmower in her shed and cut Christine’s grass before taking in Blizzard Shakes at Dairy Queen. The final showers were feeling quite good as the evening program drew near.

Many residents were invited and attended the evening program. I had to take an early departure from the group, but my crew informed me Christine was driven by her daughter and attended the program. Other crews’ residents did as well for what was described as a moving testament to the renovation of structure and soul throughout the week.

Plants to leave our resident, Christine $21
Cards for Christine and family $7
Krispy Kreme donut run $6
DQ Blizzard run for 2 work crews
and a job well done $36

A picture collage spotted in tears Priceless

Saying goodbye requires cards, flowers (& Blizzard shakes?!?)

For everything else, there’s the Spirit

Thursday, June 21, 2007

The theme for today was Peace.

Colossians 3:15

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”

Perhaps serendipitously, our Church bulletin from the EL Church of the Ascension last Sunday had a back page describing peace as it is plays out in the Gospel of Luke:

“Peace. The word appears and reappears in Luke’s Gospel. What is striking is that, again and again, is that is shows up in moments that seem FAR from peaceful. In Luke’s story of Jesus, the word seems to mean far more than simply calm, quiet or happiness. Rather, it encapsulates joy tinged with awe, wonder, uncertainty, even fear. And so it is a bold and dangerous move to “share the peace” with one another in the midst of worship. It is an awesome matter to be sent forth with the words ‘Go in Peace’”

Mike Naumann’s crew finished their site work today. We were behind, but were jettisoned to a”nearly finished” position by another visit from Crew 10 who sent the double crew about its business of nearly finishing the exterior painting on Franklin Street.

As our crew shared devotions over lunch, the eerie theme of the double edged nature of peace came through in a few instances. There was a sound of Christian rock coming over the speakers from a nearby car radio as police sirens blared in the background. The mixing of the two sounds seemed to be telling its own story.

Later in the evening, the theme of peace was brought home by the evening program where four Stations of the Cross were set up for work campers to visit stations of inner peace, peace in relationship with one another, peace from stress, and the sweet peace of Jesus. While I thought I most wanted to visit the station of inner peace that I have been seeking, it was my visit to the “peace from stress” station that I most remembered. At this station, you were asked to take a nail you picked up at the cross and scratch it on cinder blocks as you recall your stressful situations in an effort to relieve you of them by way of the cross. There were 6 cinder blocks at the station. As I sat nearby, I heard the sound resonating of all 6 blocks being scratched only to have everyone cease scratching at the same moment, leaving only the sound of acoustic guitar playing in my ears. It was a most peaceful realization that when the stress was given up to the nails of the cross, the calm after the storm could be felt and appreciated in a new way.
Everyone then took their nails with some small adornment from each visited station and nailed them to a cross in the middle of the auditorium. Mike Naumann’s observations struck me most. He said he saw how the cross swayed under the weight of people’s pushing their nails into it, from side to side. I couldn’t help but think about the 400 people in the room and scale it up to the number of people on the Earth – for whom 10 million more crosses would need to be filled with nails to bear the weight of all humankind’s need for peace. It was very moving.

There was also a powerful video clip of a fictional story about a future plague killing millions worldwide, the cure to which could be provided only by all the blood of a single, only child of a young couple. They were asked to make the decision which they left to their child. It was gut-wrenching for me, as a parent of two young children, to watch. The child chooses to “go to God” and give up his blood for everybody. The striking moment to some was after the child’s funeral everyone who was saved appears to “go on about business as usual”, fast-paced and seemingly with little memory or appreciation for the great sacrifice made on their behalf, so they could have life. The father simply looks around and says, “I thought it would be different now.”

Ring a bell?

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

The theme for today was Love.

Colossians 3:14

“And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

“End’s in Sight”-ings were reported by most crews with a number figuring they’d finish up their assigned work by Thursday. Today was rainy and overcast. Interior painting went on, exterioir painting suffered the streaking of intermittent showers.

God Sighting: Our resident, Christine’s granddaughters joined us and painted the house skirts along side of us.

It was, however, a planned ½ day. Our afternoon was spent at nearby Tybee Island national Seashore with a requisite jaunt in the 76 degree Atlantic Ocean waters. Some took a walk on the ocean front boardwalk , witnessing local fishermen land a three foot, black tip shark while C.J. Rowe sported a boogie board purchased dock-side. Along with C.J., most everyone else braved the tepid waters solo. The sun only briefly said hello and the beach was cut short by more rain.

We took in pizza for dinner at My Cousin Vinnie’s (no relation) whose most excellent T-shirts boasted the “most wearers” (besides camp shirts) on the trip.

Upon returning, the Mt. Zion Singers took the finale entry in the annual Variety Show evening program, singing their rendition of Day-O:

Come, Mister journey man, journey to Savannah
Daylight come and we wan' fix homes
Come, Mister handy man, handy me a hamma
Daylight come and we wan' fix homes

Day, we say day-o
Da Spirit come … we fix mo’ thana homes
Day, we say day, we say day, we say day...
We say day, we say day-ay-ay-o
Da Spirit come … we fix mo’ thana homes

In the daily devotion that accompanies on on-line version of A Purpose Driven Life, a story appeared this year in which it was suggested that Jesus implored his disciples to not seek to impress others, but rather SURPRISE them, by their actions.

“They will know us by what we do … and they will know we are Christians by our love!”

Mike Naumann shared a story that had him choked up to where his voice cracked in telling it. A young woman on his crew said to him,

“We don’t do this to get any credit or mention, but it sure feels good to know it’s making a difference.”

The gift comes without the asking! Surprise!

Surprise seemed to be the theme of today’s God Sightings:

God Sighting I: A crew that encountered a severely roach-infested house (at week’s end a count of roach slaying in the high hundreds was verified by most) thought it wouldn’t be out of order to call several local exterminators and ask for an estimate for exterminating their resident’s home. They had offered to pay for it themselves! Upon calling only two exterminators, the young woman was asked to hold while the woman attending the phones called over the owner of the business. He said “It was covered” and they offered to exterminate the house for no charge!

God Sighting II: Mike Naumann decided to take his crew for a pizza lunch as a token of support for hard work, well done. When he went to pay, the waitress told him that “it had been covered” by a couple, Dale and C.W., whom they were apparently only too happy to point out. Mike approached and thanked them both. He then asked why they would do such a thing. Their reply … that they’d seen the story in the local paper and thought the work the crews were doing made such a difference to this community. This was their way of supporting the effort and saying thanks ina way they felt they could.

Pizza @ the ocean front $100
Water and ice on the site $20
Boogie board $18

Saying “It’s covered” Priceless

Tuesday, June19, 2007

The theme for today was Forgiveness.

Colossians 3:13

“Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

Work at the sites continued. Many stories abound about residents taking in the workers for lunch or attending noontime devotions. One woman shared that she could finally have friends over for a big supper now that her house would be repaired enough to do so. Red shirts magically appeared with frozen milk shakes that quickly melted down workers’ parched throats. Much more painting renovation and soulful renovation occurred throughout the day.

At my site, we had a somewhat extended devotion as the topic of forgiveness is “a heavy”. People had lots to say and share. Much baggage got unloaded. It was a healthy start and young and old alike took to it willingly. I haven't experienced such an outpouring of raw personal experience as I did today in a long time. It was refreshing and revealing, especially the ability and want of some of the youth to "share their worlds".

My group was suffering from my lack of hard core leadership skills (aka yours truly), but a youth pastor from outside Chicago with a great sense of humor showed up to save the day. By workday’s end, the job was looking better and everyone was spent, but in good spirits.

Mike Naumann’s group met their awesome work site transport driver who saw the work campers were in the local paper and bought a personal copy for each and every one of the 7 work camp crews he bussed to sites today! When Mike offered to pay him for them, he wouldn’t hear of it.

Allie was even photographed for the article!

Upon returning, we were getting ready to audition for The Variety Show when I met an older red shirt named Brian who was taking photos everywhere. I told him I saw him everywhere and he looked like he was thoroughly enjoying himself. He was thrilled to tell me how young these work campers made him feel! He then offered all his photos to us so I was hoping we’d be sharing some of those with you on our return. I was thinking this was a God Sighting for our group when I subsequently learned my wife, Laurna, had already agreed with Brian to provide Mike his photos. One step behind was I, as usual.

The evening program was extremely powerful. Again, the Get Down Dance was followed by the text from Colossians on clothing ourselves in forgiveness. A skit was followed by nearly everyone taking our need for forgiveness symbolically to The Cross. Many from our group had a very emotional response to this. People congregated at several different places immediately afterward. As I walked the hall, I kept seeing people in each others’ arms. There was deep, deep sharing from well within people, from a place where the heart lives strong and holds onto much. There were many tears shed. I was dumbstruck taking it all in. This is an AMAZING group and I was feeling in awe being in their presence. God is everywhere this week, but The Creator is in Savannah in a way most personal to us. But tonight I experienced seeing how much God was present to many in our group in the form of others in our group. It was very, very powerful. Those moments that “take your breath away” were occurring right before my eyes seemingly everywhere I turned. As all this was happening, a torrential cleansing downpour had water running through the streets as emotions, from individuals’ needs to render forgiveness to others’ needs for it flowed from person to person before my humbled eyes.

God Sighting: The rain that poured, pounding the roof of the auditorium at JUST the opportune moment, as hearts outpoured beneath it, making the illustration for us that cleansing is a good and powerful thing.

We auditioned for the Variety Show by rewriting the Banana Boat Song to render it Work Camp Worthy. If we make the cut we’ll report back. Tuesday saw the opening of the Care Card Rack! Work campers can leave positive notes of thanks, encouragement, high fives, smiles on paper for a fellow work camper. I have to echo one of Mike Naumann's Hi's from devotions: "I just love care cards!"

At devotions, more heartfelt tears were shed and hugs extended … in appreciation for all the support people gave to one another. This group experienced the power of God intimately tonight and spoke about it openly. I think people were even excited to share that intimacy afterward. I had not blogged for days as there’s no place to upload anything at the high school, but people began asking about it. I sensed they wanted to share their God-given moments in the rain from above and the rain of their tears with you. To let you know God is most certainly traveling with us!!

1800 gallons primer and latex acrylic paint $Oodles
Food for 400 $1000
Frozen Milk Shakes $400

Hug from a grateful Savannah native Priceless

Tears from a member of your group as they hold you in the pouring rain Priceless

Knowing God forgives you every day Priceless

Material renovation requires paint, brushes, sweat and toil (& milkshakes?!?)

For everything else, there’s The Spirit

Monday, June 18, 2007

Today’s theme was Choose.

Colossians 3:12

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”

Work crews hit the sites. The usual stories of worksite directions gone awry and crews finding residents by only prayer and GPS (in that order) abounded.

God Sighting: On the bus transporting Mike Naumann’s crew , a bus driver from Barrington, Illinois said he was going to take two entire cooler chests of ice from his hotel and personally buy two cases of water and drop these at each of the work sites tomorrow!

You might be at Work Camp IF … you travel on NONE of the streets in the travel directions handed out before reaching your work site.

You might be at Work Camp IF … the travel directions say “go 6.6 miles, read sign” and the only sign you find reads “Large 10 piece with mash and 3 sides”

You might be at Work Camp IF … your transport bus is turned around at an Army Base “looking for work camp”

Youth Group Work Camp Savannah 2007 Hits the Road

The Theme of the Savannah Group Work Camp 2007 was RENOVATE … to renovate both homes for those in need and renovate souls, the souls of young servants in search of the meaning of servanthood. I know I set out to witness God in action and God was ever present throughout this trip.

The very first day, the bus ride saw two movies. One was Hitch. In it, Will Smith has a most memorable line:

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take … it’s by the number of moments that take your breath away.”

Our lives are really a sum of the most memorable moments, the ones that must flash in front of one’s eyes when time is something whose measure one is becoming particularly aware of. To have a number of such moments in a single week, I had previously thought, would be remarkable. This was one such journey.

Friday, June 15, 2007

The 2007 Work Camp crew departed from Mt. Zion early in the day en route to Savannah, GA. What struck me was what a mature group of young adults these disciples are already becoming. Some of us spent the day getting to know others we had not known well before. Perhaps there are better ways to do this, but an ultra-competitive contest of “The Game of Knowledge will “clear the air” AND give people a roundabout estimate of your actual date of birth. Two 6-person teams chosen largely at random led me to believe there is nothing random about how young adults choose up sides.

The final score was:
Team 1 (The Spirit Busters) 70

Team 2 (The Sonic Shuttlers) 63

Tod The Busdriver 4

Movies Watched: The Matrix, Hitch

We logged roughly 600 miles on the bus to Tennessee with a mere 1% further on foot to Sonic Burger in Kentucky. It was awesome!!!

God Sightings: After a 40 block walk to Sonic Burger, exactly upon arriving, the speakers are playing the song, Day-O, which the work campers hope to be parodying at the evening program on Wednesday.

190 gallons of diesel fuel $400
Thrifty Inn Lodging for 21 $200
Sonic Burger Run $120
Devotion-Size Candy Bars $10

Game of Knowledge with Mike “Cuththroat” Naumann Priceless

Life requires food, gas, and lodging (& I-pods??)

For everything else, there’s The Spirit

Elizabeth Boos led evening devotions (sans FULL size candy bars), setting the tone for the week ahead. All were pretty tired and lights out was followed by a quiet, restful night.

And … I figure the casual reader and Work Camp novice (of which I am one) will need at least a few entries read from the Work Camp Glossary …

Red Shirts: Any of a number of dedicated Group Work Camp Staffers that move from site-to-site to oversee work, bring needed supplies and cold liquid relief, and/or Krispy Kreme chasers.

God Sightings: Any of a number of improbable happenings that a person of faith recognizes as God intervening in the world to help the universe conspire to allow his creatures to be His Living Word for one another.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Another 600 miles or so to Savannah. Another, much less competitive Game of Knowledge pitted guys against girls, but no score was “officially” kept. Unofficially, the women gave the guys a run for their knowledge. You don’t want Mickie O’Brien on “the other side” when you’re trying to name the four oceans north of the 38th parallel. But you also don’t want Mike Naumann challenging your “degree of difficulty” when the sun’s position is questioned when only “mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid-day sun”. Hours later, everyone was happy and excited to arrive! First things first and in the hotel pool for a quick cooling off. Then a quick and quiet ride to the River Walk in Savannah. Jeff and Drew Cockerham flew down after attending Drew’s graduation. We picked them up at the airport and proceeded to dinner. Jeff Cockerham shared stories about the slave trade ship landings at the riverfront and some of the rich history of the Savannah water front and port.

Today, along the river are a bevy of restaurants and shops. We took a few tables in Spanky’s Pizza on karaoke night. Pizza’s kept the bellies happy while Mickie, Jackie and Allie took to the microphone with their joint rendition of STOP In the Name of Love ( … Before you break my heart!).

All were tired, but took in devotions back at the hotel. We shared the blog and travel stories from Day 1 and hit the hay again tired, but excited “to be here at last”.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

The week’s theme is Renovate – Jesus Makes New

Colossians 3:9b-11
“Since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there are no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”

We started Sunday bright and early with service at The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Ascension in Savannah. The pastors and members greeted us and made us feel extremely welcome. The Church dates back to the 1740’s with a beautiful marble altar depicting The Last Supper. The Sermon on the Self-Righteous Pharisee was moving and evocative. Pastor Roen was extremely friendly and made the service memorable for all.

After a tour along the river walk and port of Savannah, everyone enjoyed a quick stop in River Street Sweets, purchasing everything from famous pralines to taffy & everything you can possibly make with enough sugar.

God Sighting: Mt Zion Youth take their picture with a statue commemorating the port of arrival for the slave trade inscribed with words from Maya Angelou:

“We were stolen, sold and bought together from the African continent. We got on the slave ships together. We lay back to belly in the holds of the slave ships in each others’ excrement and urine together, sometimes died together and our lifeless bodies thrown overboard together. Today, we are standing up together with faith and even some joy."

The Sunday evening program introduced us all to our work crews. As often apparently happens, people are genuinely excited to share and seem to click in mysterious ways. I will divulge a deep and dark secret that I have wanted to own a Jeep Wrangler for most of my adult life. A silly, ridiculous thing you hold onto. Two young adults in my crew share the same materialistic wanting and the other adult in our crew owns one so we talked Jeeps and then got down to business and picked crew role assignments. Sixty four of the sixty eight work assignments are painting so many power tools have been safely tucked away.

The overriding theme for the week is RENOVATE, both homes … with paint and nails and sweat, and lives … with Jesus , the Word, and the power of fellowship and witnessing.