Today was our first full day here in the blue ridge mountains of North Carolina. The day began with breakfast and worship alongside the other churches here this week and the ReCreation Experience team. The ReCreation team loves to start the day with a lot of energy and motivation for the day. We sang worship songs and listened to one of the ReCreation staff members give a devotional thought for the day as we headed out. He encouraged us to stand firm in our faith and know that God calls to live differently than the world does. This call to act differently was then lived out as we headed out to our work site to begin digging and painting. We were introduced to Brenda Clubb who lives in a trailer up on a hill in the mountains of North Carolina. She is married to Carl and they have two kids. Kenneth lives in the trailer with them and their daughter lives somewhere else. The opportunity to serve a very sweet lady and her family became an extra motivation for the team as we began the work. About 15 girls decided to begin painting the family's trailer while everyone else began digging two 160 foot long trenches. Each trench had to be a foot wide and 18 inches deep. It was inspiring and impressive to watch a group of 13 and 14 year olds give so sacrificially to help a family that they had just met that day.
After a full day's work digging painting the team headed back to the ReCreation headquarters where they showered, ate dinner and had some free time. People were playing soccer, basketball, four square, signs, cards, and many other community building activities during free time. It was great to watch the team be able to not only work hard together but also have fun together. After free time, the entire team gathered together for our first "Porch Time." This is our nightly gathering where we reminisce about the day, sing worship songs, and listen to a talk that is meant to help the team process the trip thus far. Tonight, Luke kicked things off by looking at the passage in Luke 10 where Jesus sends 72 followers out on their own mission trip. He challenged them to think about why Jesus would send people out "like lambs among wolves." He dug deep into things that could "devour" us and keep us from encountering God on this trip. He finished by talking about how our purpose on this trip is to "heal the sick and tell them that the Kingdom of God is near" and how the resulting emotion that the 72 and we will feel is joy.
To end the evening everyone split up into small groups to dive a little deeper into the things that may be "devouring" us and keeping us from recognizing what God is trying to teach and show us. It was a wonderful first night of small group in which your kids began to wrestle with the things that God is challenging them with.
Tomorrow we will be heading back to our digging site, but half of our group will also be spending the morning at the local MANNA food bank. So, check back tomorrow for more stories about all that God is doing. Also, don't forget we have the parent prayer meeting tomorrow evening at 7pm in room 156.
