dear New Orleans,

can you believe it’s been a week since we got home from our New Orleans STM over spring break?

in that week, I watched us grow so close to each other and so much in our faith. we did a lot of things that week – spent the whole day driving in vans, ate every meal together, learned to appreciate things we take for granted and were stretched to follow God’s call in faith. I’m so proud of you for stepping outside of your comfort zones, for praying with and for one another, for having conversations with people far older and bigger than you, for being loving, compassionate and gracious to the people we were ministering to and the people we were ministering with – because you understand the importance of the gospel message you were sharing.

our God answered many prayers and did many great things for and through us in New Orleans. my prayer for you is that you continue to hear His voice and follow His wisdom in a real, deep and powerful way in the lives and mission fields He has placed us in.

thank you for spending your week in New Orleans. the city has been changed for eternity because of your sacrifice and courage, and I am thankful and honored to have been there to experience it with you.

reposted – read full post here!

I’ve been on mission trips before, but leading one is an entirely new experience that requires an even deeper level of trusting God – it’s one thing to put yourself on the line, quite another to ask the youth whose parents have trusted you to take care of them to do the same. that week, our team fed and ate meals with the homeless, loved and shared the gospel with recovering addicts, prayed for people affected by hurricane katrina, drove 800 miles without getting lost, shared a three-bedroom house with 20 others without air conditioning, ate no chinese food – and for every detail that I misjudged or forgot, God was there to meet us. know that your prayers for protection and provision were heard and answered in very tangible ways – from a broken window being fixed for free, to a house being provided for a homeless man we prayed with, to the humble and obedient attitudes of the youth, to having just enough cash to pay for beignets for 44 people. each and every one of these is an expression of His grace and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for being a part of our New Orleans team.

and if you want to fully experience what it’s like to be on this team – come with us next year! then you’ll be the ones with the blog posts to write and stories to share. promise I’ll buy you a beginet!

“even oceans and their waves”

one week ago, I was hanging out in a huge beach house with some of the coolest youth and leaders surfside has ever seen, spending my days eating Estella’s delicious cooking and falling asleep to the sound of waves hitting the beach just outside my window.

I’ve talked before about how songs can bring me back to certain places, which holds especially true if it’s a place I visit often. we’ve been going to surfside for winter getaway for as long as I can remember, but we’ve only been going to this particular house for a few years. the first time I stayed at this house was two years ago, soon after carrie underwood’s “play on” album came out. we drove there in cyn’s car and listened to it the entire time, and everyone was obsessing over the song “temporary home” (personally, my favorite track on that CD is “quitter,” which is a much more positive song than the title implies) so jer learned to play it on the guitar so I could sing along, and since then I’ve always associated that entire album with winter getaway.

but there are other, somewhat more fitting, songs that remind me of WG too – really any worship song that has the word “ocean” in it, but specifically one that has the line “even oceans and their waves bow at Your feet.” there are so many reminders of God you can find in the ocean:

standing on the shore looking at the vastness of the earth and the sea reminds me how small humans are, and at the same time how big and great and powerful a God is who could create all of that with just His words. the constant waves hitting the shore make me think about how relentless God’s love is for His people, that He would spend eternity chasing after them to have a relationship with them. the way the water slowly wipes the sand clean every morning, leaving no trace of castles built or words written in the ground the day before, mirrors how Jesus gives us new chances and new life. and the waves really do seem to to look like they are, in a a way, bowing every time they hit the sand and break.

this year’s winter getaway was my very first as staff, so it was definitely a bit tiring having to be responsible for things, speaking, having a small group and leading leaders – but in the midst of all my worrying and doing, God found a way to reach through and remind me of who He is. I’ve always loved Camp most out of the retreats we do (probably because I’m a big sissy and hate cold) but winter getaway is starting to earn its own place in my heart. which I guess is good thing, because I’m going to be going to these for a while ;)

even oceans and their waves bow at Your feet…