We had an awesome week of programming wrap up yesterday--our first week where everything truly clicked! And I don't think we could've asked for a much better bunch of youth and adult leaders. Talk about servant-hearted! I mean, taco Tuesday dinner was served early--that's a group that comes ready to work in any way they're asked. And please ask me about a game called "bunny bunny" sometime--we'll have to get 20 of our closest friends gathered in a circle & we'll play. Trust me, it's fun--I certainly couldn't have been playing it at midnight on Thursday night if it wasn't.
In all seriousness, I think my body is starting to rebel a bit more over the extreme levels it's being pushed to this summer--very little sleep, weird diet, little exercise. It's craving rest. On staff, we've all decided that our first couple of days at home will involve nothing more than lying in our pjs and alternately sleeping, watching movies/mindless TV, and otherwise doing nothing. I'm looking forward to that--about 3 weeks to go. But besides wanting to rest & recuperate, I think we're going strong. 3 weeks is not a long period of time (well, unless it's measured in YouthWorks days ;) and truthfully speaking, it's a lot of good time to do ministry). this past week absolutely flew by. we're all a lot more settled into our roles, so for the most part, the days flow smoothly (except for the unexpected bumps along the way). and now, especially as site director, it's time to start anticipating end of the summer tasks--such as planning community member gifts, preparing as a staff for the upcoming transition, etc. with these additional to-do's in my day, i know i'll continue to stay busy. and even as 6:15 feels earlier each morning, even as the repetition of certain meetings & activities starts to wear me out, even as i begin to count off the days until i never to put on a YouthWorks staff shirt again ( i mean that in the literal sense--I'm sick of those shirts!)--I think we'll suddenly wake up & it will be time to leave. i want to anticipate that because even with the chance to consider it ahead of time, it's going to be insane. we're going to be messed up for several days and/or weeks. so it may take me a while to get in touch with you all personally--i'll need some serious processing time before i can somehow communicate to you what happened this summer. but i look forward to that--i've missed you all so much & miss knowing what's going on in your lives. YouthWorks is truly an alternate universe, a parallel dimension, and I'm sorry that I haven't been better about keeping in touch with the real world. But I think about you all often.
Okay, now it's story time! I decided this week to write down what a day in the life of a YouthWorks site director looks like. Let me start by saying--no two look the same. Nothing is truly predictable. I did this for 2 of my days in the past week. I don't have the actual full-length list with me right now, but here are some highlights to whet your appetite:
- wake up at 6:10, get ready for the day in a middle school bathroom, and proceed to lead a team of 12 youth in preparing 100+ waffles and other breakfast & lunch items
- wash a load of dirty kitchen rags & footwashing towels--and reconcile my weekly finances in the $18,000 budget I manage while I'm waiting
- clean out a tub of several dozen rotting cucumbers
- play a game of Apples to Apples with a group of youth
- listen to a history talk--twice-- on Lake Mattamuskeet as part of an evening activity
- mop. lots of mopping
- drive 20 miles to "town" and visit with my friends at Dollar General, the post office, and the Red & White (grocery store) as I run errands
- clean out pre-wash bins & sink. i am afraid of no disgusting food particles. egg shells, soggy cereal, lettuce--all have passed through these hands.
And now for one final story--I am thankful that we weren't washed away in a flood last night! There was an absolute torrential downpour yesterday. We've had more rain this week than usual, and the sky was definitely threatening yesterday as we left for our 1.5 hour drive to WalMart. The cool thing was, the rain came while we were inside shopping, and had finished by the time we needed to load up. When we got back to the school, again we had just enough time to haul everything into the kitchen before the skies opened up again. However, the actual drive back was quite the experience. It was not the worst rain I've ever driven through, but it was close. All I could do was watch the reflectors in the middle of the road to know I was staying on course, and pray that the lightning striking right next to us would avoid hitting the car. What a metaphor for life--for this summer, at some points! But we made it home safely. And then laughed about it this morning when "Flood" by Jars of Clay played on our mix cd.
The sun's coming out! We're off to the beach :)
All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God was making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:18-21)
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