I will share about the activities of my weekend that required my time, energy, focus and attention causing me to step away from the computer.
But first, I wanted to thank each and every one of you that not only stopped by, but joined the conversation of introductions last week. I will be taking some time to get to know each one of you a bit better now that life should again be returning to some sense of normalcy.
Now to the last few days around here. I accompanied 17 teens from our church as the adult female to our district wide youth ski retreat.
My weekend:
Traveling in a bus filled with excited teenagers for 5 hours: energy filled
Arriving to meet up with 70 other teenagers: energy multiplied
Sleeping on the floor of a gym with only a gym mat beneath you: bearable
Waking at 5:15 AM (after getting to sleep at 12:30 AM) in an attempt to beat the girls to the shower in hopes of some hot water: crazy
Helping teenagers don ski's, snowboards, and learn the "bunny hill rope tow", repeating the process for an entire day: unplanned exercise
Slipping on the ice covered parking lot and falling to the ground: painful
Spending an entire day on a ski hill taking pictures and helping others: cold and wet
Applying butterfly bandaids to torn skin, dressing wounds, and caring for sick tummy's and blistered feet: second nature
Surviving an entire weekend on only 10 hours of sleep: exhausting
Standing shoulder to shoulder with teenagers singing and worshiping Jesus as Lord: unexplainable
Coming alongside and praying with teenagers as they prayed prayers of salvation and surrender at the evening rally: priceless
~~~
Long and loud drives, sleeping on a hard mat on a hard floor, early mornings, cold showers, falling on the ice, being cold and wet, little sleep and additional activity leading to exhaustion....
Eternal decisions make it all worth it.
Skiing is used as the avenue to get them away to be immersed in truth... and lives are changed.
Would I do it again? You Bet!
How did you spend your weekend?
You have a lot of energy! That does sound like fun and those teens are blessed to have you as part of their growing up years!
ReplyDeleteAs a long-time volunteer counselor/chaparone for summer youth camps and November evangelism conferences, I hear ya! Isn't it wonderful?
ReplyDeleteXO
You are a real blessing to those kids and the leaders of the event! I'm tired just reading everything you did! But like you said oh, so worth it!
ReplyDeleteThat sounded fun! Refreshing to the spirit though exhausting to the body. I stayed in during the weekend after a week of hugging the computer and to preserve my energy for a month of fasting.
ReplyDeleteDonnetta, I super admire your strength and inner beauty!