Chaperones

Right now Arthur and I are curled up in the basement watching the Olympics.  It is such a relaxing and restful evening.  Which we desperately needed.  We just spent 36 hours with a group of middle school and high school students, and survived relatively unscathed.

Friday afternoon Arthur and I got off work early to go with the youth group to Kansas City to a youth conference called Acquire the Fire.  I was assigned to the 15 passenger van with the high school girls.  Myself and the other female sponsor decided we didn't really want to drive.  I was able to sweet talk my loving husband into switching to our van to drive.  Arthur was excited to get the opportunity to drive such a massive vehicle around (I don't even like driving my little car around downtown KC), however it meant extended time with the segment of the population that tends to make Arthur cringe-- high school girls.  After a quick safety check of mirrors, controls, etc., we cruised down the interstate with Arthur at the helm and myself as his trusted co-pilot for navigation and crowd control.

Here's our selfie from the conference.

The conference was Friday evening and all day Saturday with 2,000 teenagers from around the region.  There was a worship band, a few mini concerts by other bands, messages, and drama presentations.  It was all geared towards teenagers-- fast paced, lots of action.  Someone had tipped me off that it was going to be loud and recommended taking ear plugs-- I am glad I did.  My ears are not as young as they used to be and I work with enough patients who have difficulty hearing I will try to protect mine.  There was a lot of video graphics and lighting effects.   Sunglasses might not have been a bad idea either.  One thing that Arthur and I have talked about lately is different tastes in worship music.  It seems to be an issue which every church deals with to some extent and many even have different worship services because of different music preferences.  We attend the more traditional service at our church although we joke that most of it is actually worship music written in the 1980s and not necessarily hymns that are centuries old.  It seemed like most of the kids really enjoyed the music this weekend.  I think it is great reminder that worship isn't about the style of the music but the heart and the message of the lyrics.  It is my own opinion that harps might be a little tame for heaven and what we experience this weekend might be a good representation of worship in heaven.  I love Isaiah's vision in Isaiah 6.  Isaiah is in the Lord's throne room with seraphim all around saying:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory!”

And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

The foundations of the temple was shaking.  The room was filled with smoke.  Imagine that for a moment.  The Lord's throne room is not a place for tame worship.  This weekend there were times when you could feel the drums and the base throughout the auditorium.  I think the fog machine also filled the stage with smoke.  I, personally, am more of the "Be still and know that I am God" but I don't think it will be quiet when the mountains and rocks cry out in worship someday.

We spent the night at a church in Kansas City.  Nothing like sleeping on the floor in a room with 40 other people.  Once again the ear plugs came in handy.  We also both had sleeping pads and were so exhausted  that we slept great.  For about 4 and a half hours.  We did manage to get teenagers up on a Saturday morning and out the door by just after 7am.  After the morning session we went to Minsky's Pizza for lunch which was Arthur's highlight for the trip.  I also feel like I won some "cool" points by going with the high school girls to Starbucks. 

In one of the messages that I really liked the speaker talked about our legacies.  God uses us despite our backgrounds or qualifications, many times in spite of them.   We were asked to look at our hands and think about we can change the world or our corner of it.  In looking at my hands I saw a scar from running the zipline at camp in Alaska and all that I learned through those three months.  I saw the ring on my finger that my husband gave me last summer when we exchanged our wedding vows and thought about how I am so thankful and blessed that God gave me such a wonderful man but also considered how God will use our marriage and family for His kingdom.  My hands are small but I am told by many of my patients that they are strong.  Sometimes I am told I have magical fingers, or fingers of death depending on which therapeutic technique I am using at the time.  How do I use my hands to touch those who a hurting through my profession beyond their physical needs?  

After the conference we loaded everyone back up in the vans and tried to find our way out of downtown Kansas City late at night.  Does this sound familiar, like one of our recent posts?  We shared the story of our first date in Kansas City with some of the girls as we drove out of town.  Arthur showed his skills as a driver and did a great job.  On the way home the rest of the gang fell asleep but we kept ourselves awake with different mind challenges.  I lost a bet because I got the capital of Massachusetts wrong but Arthur doubted me that the 10th, 11th, and 12th presidents were Tyler, Polk, and Taylor.  If anyone had been awake and heard this conversation we may have lost some of our coolness.  We pulled into our driveway at about 1:30am and exhausted.  We didn't see the light of day until 10am the next morning.  Being teenagers again was exhausting.  Omni Vincit Amor.