Shorebound

We are headed to the Jersey Shore TONIGHT! 

The day has finally arrived.

Pray for us? 

For safety. 

For attitudes. 

For travels. 

For weather. 

For intentional relationships. 

For humility. 

For grace. 

And for Christ to be made much of, in the cleaning out of muddy homes and sorting through of people's treasured possessions. 

Cross-Training

With leaving for New Jersey in three days, I was discussing with a co-worker at work today about whether I was ready or not.

The answer was clearly no.

So, we decided to do a little cross-training in the huge walk-in freezer and two fridges we have at work.

You see, I work in the backroom, so we do some pretty funny and entertaining things throughout our long shifts. It helps to get through the crazies.

We bundle up in the knee-length fur-lined jackets we're provided, and head on in to pull whatever is needed from the freezer or fridge.

I'm starting to be able to handle up to four minutes in the freezer, and seven in the fridges, before my eyelashes start gathering frost.

Mind you, the freezer is 0 degrees Fahrenheit, so around -18 degrees Celsius.

It won't be near that cold in NJ, but one cannot be over-prepared.

Bring on the cold weather and warm hearts.

Work!

I'm tired. 

A kind of tired I haven't known in quite a while. 

My days are full. Full of nine hour work days, and any extra time on either end is full of family and friends. 

And I'm sore. 

Boy, am I sore. 

My new occupation is more of a workout than I could have ever imagined. Walking, running, climbing, carrying, reaching, pulling, pushing... 

My muscles are growing, but it's a painful process. 

And my bruised knees and shins are great conversation starters. 

Long story short, work is good. Tiring, but so good. 

Good for my brain, good for my soul, and good for my body. 

The last two days and the next four are crazy. 

Thanksgiving and Black Friday were a frenzy of football, food, family, and freaking insane shoppers. 

The next four are full of four all-day shifts, and packing for Sandy relief. 

Four days from right now, we will be at the airport awaiting our red-eye to Philly. 

As in, 96 hours from now. 

And I have no idea where I am going to find clothes warm enough to survive over there. 

Full days, but fulfilling days. 

Crazy days, but good days. 

"For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:15-18

Hurricanes

I came to know Jesus in the midst of destruction left behind by a hurricane.

Serving alongside 30 people I barely knew, on a trip that none of my friends (at the time) went on.

Little did I know, those people I served with would be made into my family.

And still are today.

We would proceed to go on two more trips after Katrina together.

And plant Hope Church together.

On that first trip, at a stupid sixteen years old, Jesus called me out of my sin, showing me so clearly that this world is not about me, and my life is not my own.

I became a believer in Jesus Christ on a Thursday night in a water-damaged church on the coast of Mississippi, surrounded by people I barely knew, but that I would later call my Pastor, my wise counsel, and my best friends. 

From that night onward, I knew that the rest of my years would be spent in service of He who knit me together.

Absolutely everything changed.

It began a period of burning away what once was, and replacing my old ways with ones that glorified the Father.

He made me brand new. 

In less than three weeks, we're headed to a hurricane disaster zone.

I cannot lie; I am nervous.

And I just know, He is going to be tearing us apart and stripping us of what does not matter.

Pray for New Jersey.

Pray for groups that are headed there.

That God would be magnified through a region losing everything they held dear.

That people would come to know that the Lord is the only one who never fails, and the only thing we should be found clinging to in a storm.

And that He would make new what has been destroyed.