Day 1 and Day 2

Day 1–Yeah, we drove.  And what makes this group so special is that after 10 youth group mission trips, they know the drill.  Everyone took care of each other and we arrived at Lakeside Christian Camp early.  It’s rare when 12 hours together doesn’t feel like forever.  Rarer when you look back and realized how much you liked it.

We jumped in Lake Erie, played mini-golf, and enjoyed this little town on the edge of one of the five great lakes.

When we were here five years ago, it was so hot a few of us slept outside on picnic tables.

We all crashed happy in 75 degrees and slept through the night.

We woke up this morning to the first of many sunny midwestern days.

After breakfast, we went to church at the pavilion right on the lake.

Our theme is give and receive love.  For the first two days we’re looking for the stranger and where love shows up from those we don’t know.

And it did.

The preacher’s topic was “Finding God in unexpected places.”  We watched sunbathers placing their chairs right on the edge of the pavilion so they could still hear the service.  We have the best bus driver in the world, Tony, who said, “I just want to spend time with you guys this week.  Can I come to church too?”  Some of the rising Sophomores had extra pizza last night and they were ready to offer it to the kids playing on the dock.  Then their parents showed up and they decided to offer it to the rest of our group.  We’re looking for the little places to offer love, to receive it, and this ride and our first night were the preparation for a week of loving.

We’ll have three scriptures this week on giving and receiving love.  The first tonight is from Leviticus 19:  33-34.

When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. ³⁴ The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.

We are strangers going to Chicago, a city of 3.7 million people.  We are going to meet new people in a place new to most of us.  And, along the way we will find friends, and create a world with fewer strangers.