things got really crazy toward the end of the summer and i feel like i'm just now catching up (finally!) at the beginning of august, john came for a visit! it was so good (and relaxing) to have him here for the weekend. the youthworks staff left to go back to their normal lives, but i followed them up to pittsburgh to help with the end of summer retreat and hang out with jess and belinda (area and regional directors over west virginia) before they went off on their new adventures as well. right after that, i drove over to canton to visit for a day and came back home to logan. i wasn't even here for a week before i got a late-night phone call from alissa that hayden carter (one of the boys from the small group i co-led in murfreesboro, and a friend as close as a little brother) had died suddenly in a car wreck. the next morning i drove down there to spend the week with friends and family. after the weekend of the funeral, alissa came up to visit for a few days. this last week was the first in a while i might describe as "normal" (maybe... if there is such a thing!)
in the midst of all of this chaos (including many hard days and hard nights) God has been so faithful. one night last week i felt like i should give up on just about everything, maybe move somewhere else and not tell anybody where. it was awful. but from every broken seed, God brings beautiful growth; and the next day, He blew new breath into me and showed me part of His vision for logan.
so, right now, i'm working on the details of an arts-based summer camp/workshop (or to avoid the community-center fiasco, lets just call it a "thing"!) to provide under-served students in logan with an outlet for all the awful things our society has thrown onto them. i believe that the arts are healing (they have been for me, and many others i know); and that, as God is the Creator, we also, being made in His image, are to be creators and not destroyers. (it's good for you, try it!) as usual, i really don't know what this is going to look like. but, i'm trying to get in contact with some people who are doing similar things around the country to get some basics down. please pray that God would continue to speak about His desires for logan and the students here. please pray that He would send workers when the time is right (and, of course, funds...). and PLEASE keep praying for hayden's family and friends.
::
in the midst of all of this chaos (including many hard days and hard nights) God has been so faithful. one night last week i felt like i should give up on just about everything, maybe move somewhere else and not tell anybody where. it was awful. but from every broken seed, God brings beautiful growth; and the next day, He blew new breath into me and showed me part of His vision for logan.
so, right now, i'm working on the details of an arts-based summer camp/workshop (or to avoid the community-center fiasco, lets just call it a "thing"!) to provide under-served students in logan with an outlet for all the awful things our society has thrown onto them. i believe that the arts are healing (they have been for me, and many others i know); and that, as God is the Creator, we also, being made in His image, are to be creators and not destroyers. (it's good for you, try it!) as usual, i really don't know what this is going to look like. but, i'm trying to get in contact with some people who are doing similar things around the country to get some basics down. please pray that God would continue to speak about His desires for logan and the students here. please pray that He would send workers when the time is right (and, of course, funds...). and PLEASE keep praying for hayden's family and friends.
::
No comments:
Post a Comment