Shot Gun!
Yesterday was Jon’s last Light Force road trip. I have to say that I was a bit nostolgic about the trip to Michigan’s Adventure yesterday. It was a trip that is not only a lot of fun… it’s also represented a major “changing of the guard” for our group. As this is our last major summer event, it was the last opportunity for the class of 2005 to travel with us before they leave us for the college & career group. At the same time it was a major “tour de force” of our emerging middle school classes! They rocked.

This is my 3rd summer of ministry here and one thing has always been a constant. Every time we do anything, Jon yells “Shotgun.” Now with me, I have a rule about shotgun. [Who sits next to the driver in the car/van.] In order to call shotgun I have to have left the building on my way to the car. So when multiple people want it… they rush out in front of me and wait for my foot to cross the threshold. Jon almost always got it. So much so that there were times when other students were sour about it and I had to ask him to take the 2nd row.

Jon’s been a faithful travel companion for 3 years. He’s gone to almost anything and for any reason. He’s gone on countless errand runs to get things for Light Force. We’ve been to Home Depot dozens of times. He went on all of the college visit trips. He did all the mission trips, including the Northern Ireland trip. And he almost always sat next to me. We guessed that we’ve put in about 30,000 miles next to each other… and it is always fun!

Over the 3 years, Jon’s not just travelled with me a lot, he’s grown a lot. I beamed with pride when David Schultz from Project Serve bragged about how well Jon was doing in Ballymena a few weeks ago. He went on and on about how impressed he was with Jon in the work there. It also excites me to hear about the way he’s jumped into Romeo’s college & career ministry with both feet. All I can say when I hear these stories about Jon is “wow… that’s too cool.”
But, don’t read this as a story of pomp and circumstances… Sugar and spice and all things nice. Jon, while he has grown a lot, didn’t start out a success story. When I met him he was a headache. Undisciplined, unfocused, ulcer causing to mom and dad… Actually, the day I met him he managed to roll over the families Camry while driving… while he was grounded from the car. Mom wanted to kill him. His sister wanted to kill him. His dad probably wanted to kill him but never said anything… let’s just say he was one of the first students I prayed for at Romeo. You just never knew what Jon would do. If something broke… he did it. If something was missing, he knew something about it. If someone was mad, Jon was at the middle. There were times I too wanted to ring his neck. I always liked him, but sometimes to a fault.

But as Jon started to surrender his life to Christ… his life turned around quickly. He never went back to summer school. He got into a lot less trouble. He has gradually taken on more responsibility. He’s made better choices for himself. He’s gotten into better relationships. He’s really become a joy to be around. This past spring, when he asked me to write some references for colleges, I wrote the same thing in every reference. “Please don’t make the mistake of reading Jon by the averages. Look at him as a tale of two students. One before and one after.”

Now what?
I heard a little talk about who would take Jon’s spot. I know a couple of the upperclassmen are making their claim. The truth is. There won’t be a replacement. Jon was unique, he was an individual. There maybe someone new in the front seat… but it won’t be Jon. We’ll have fun together and we’ll bond and it will be cool… but there won’t be a replacement. I’ll miss my road trip buddy… but I will move on.

Of course, just because he’s in college doesn’t mean I can’t take pointless road trips with him!

When I came back from Northern Ireland on Sunday, I was floored by the amount of work that had been done on the office renovation project at church.

If I had to gauge my “pre-construction” expectations on a scale of 1-10 I would have put it at about a 4. I just wasn’t sure that the people of the church really were excited about the building project and they weren’t ready to jump in and do the labor.

As has happened many, many times before… I was dead wrong! All this week there has been a constant stream of people coming to do one project or another. All of the old walls are down and hauled away. The old carpet… Gone. Old furniture… Well, it’s still there!

Can I help?
I felt guilty all week because every time I asked to help I just got starred at. It’s a common misconception that all pastors are white collar and don’t know how to do anything. OK, so I don’t know anything about cars… But I can do a thing or two when it comes to home improvement! I’ve swung my fair share of hammers, sledges, and more. I would call myself “acceptable” at electrical and dry wall. I am pretty good with a paint brush. I can do a lot of things… But often I just get handed a blank stare…

So today Bob and I just showed up ready to work. The “white collar guys” got handed the task of keeping the jobsite clean. I’ll admit, it’s an important job. But I’ve been on enough job sites to know that this is what they do to keep people busy who they don’t think can do anything.

I’m hoping that this week I can move up in the world from broom pusher and shelf mover to cement mixer. Perhaps, if I do really, really good… They’ll even let me carry dry wall.

Change in status
Life is funny when you make a big change. Prior to being a pastor most folks would look at me as blue collar. I’d get asked to help with folks cars, help people move, help with building projects, get called when something broke, etc. But as soon as I started being a pastor everyone looks at you differently. It’s assumed that you don’t know anything about building stuff or cars or anything other than theology. At most, I am given tons of credit for being good with computers…

The same thing was weird in Northern Ireland. I was the old guy when I am used to being the young gun. People used words like “wise” there while back home I get “nice opinion.” So… In 5mile 29 was old, but here in Romeo 29 is young.

If you get to thinking about it… This goes on forever. People assume that because I am in youth ministry that I am inexperienced and too green to do “real ministry.” On and on and on. They say you can’t judge a book by it’s cover… But no one in the real world seems to go by that.

A couple of things that have been on my mind in the last few days.

When I was in Northern Ireland things were much slower. OK, they were really, really slow. But at the same time I was able to really sit around and think through things. The freedom of time [boredom] allowed me the freedom to rest in my thoughts. It allowed me to hear God in the silence of my day. Long morning walks were like fresh air to my “near burnout.” [Kind of like being “kind of pregnant.”]

Then it all crashed down in the corridor of Detroit’s airport. Reality hit me in the face like a slab of meat. Busyness came back. Hectic schedules and overworked job responsibilities came swirling back. Ministry became a job again instead of a joy. family became something 24/7 and not something I miss. Contacts needed to be made. Houses had to be looked at. Bills to be paid. Appointments to be rescheduled. Lessons to prepare.

As my first “post 5mile” week comes to a close I am left spinning. OK, I am realing from the load of stuff piled on me. And I want out. I am sick of ministry being a job. I want it to be like it used to be for me… something I looked forward to. It’s not that I hate what I do… but at the same time it is depressing that ministry is what I do. It sounds kind of weird, but it comes from the reality that being a professional minister is hard and sometimes… especially when you are tired… you want out.

Those who have read this rant before know that I always resolve it with a simple statement: Satan has a special “ministry” just for those in ministry.

Here is what I am resting on during this period of stupidity in my life:
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28

I just heard from our agent. The other party sent in all the paperwork to release the contract. We have ourselves a house!

Of course, there is still loads to do. But I am very excited.

I did something at Light Force that I never ever do. I checked my voice mail. Something just told me that between water games last night that I needed to check it… so I did.

On my phone was a message from our realtor letting us know that everything was now clear for us on the house on Bailey. [YES!] The other people who had a contract on it backed out since their house hadn’t yet sold. So we know that our good news is their bad news. Since we’ve had our house dreams crushed before we know how hard that is to swallow… ugh. I feel for them.

We are supposed to sign the final paperwork today and get an inspection done over the weekend. If that goes well, we are 100% done. We’ll just need the bank to do their thing and start the long waiting period. [Since the seller sold the house so quickly, 13 days, they haven’t even found a new house yet. We may not move until mid-November!]

Here are some pics…

Some good news from the realtor. The seller has agreed to our offer and we are just waiting for the final documents now. The only bad news is that the house is still under contract with another party. If they don’t come up with the money in 24 hours… the deal is sealed!

So… please pray for us that we might get our slice of the dream. I am so excited and so scared at the same time. YIKES!

So, I remember something during the breif debreifing time about not making any quick decisions after our trip to Northern Ireland.

I threw that out the window! We made an offer on the most coolest house in the world today. We are so excited!

We should find out Wednesday afternoon if we get it or not. In the meantime… we’re biting our fingernails.

It seems like a cliche` but it is so true. I can’t believe how fast kids grow up. Has it really been two years since this baby boy was welcomed into our arms? It doesn’t seem possible.

Yesterday, in a family tradition, we took Paul and Megan to the Detroit Zoo. I was [still am] pretty tired from the last 3 weeks but I was determined to do something special for his birthday. So about 11:00 AM we climbed into the car and headed down towards Royal Oak. It was well worth it.

We went to our two normal stops, the Artic Circle and the Butterfly House. Even though they have been there about 20 times… my kids still get juiced about seeing all of the animals. We also made some stops at the Reptile House and a few other places… but Megan and Paul wanted to spend the most time at the playground. They love the playground and could spend all day there. And when I am fully rested I like to spend a long time there too.

After playing for a while we decided it was time to head for Romeo. We got home, put Paul down for a nap, and all rested a little bit more.

When naptime was over the time had finally come for Paul to open his presents. He got a lot! [Yes, he had opened most of his gifts before but I brought him some from Northern Ireland and my mom’s box had just arrived.] He got lots of clothes and plenty of toys. He seemed mostly please with the “Little People” toys that my mom and Kristen got for him.

Two years old. So long, yet SO FAR TO GO. I remember the day and moment that he was born like it was yesterday. There was laughter and joy in the delivery room that day. I’m not kidding, we laughed a lot during the labor and delivery of my boy. We marveled at how big he was when he was born. We stared into his big beautiful eyes. And we proudly shared with our family the name Kristen and I had picked out for him years before. Paul Garrett. Paul was my paternal grandfather. Garrett was Kristen’s maternal grandfather. I long to see my son grow up to be the man Kristen’s grandfather was. A humble man who worked hard and loved the Lord like crazy. He is my sturdy oak tree.

Thank you to everyone who prayed for me and my team as we traveled to Northern Ireland these past 3 weeks. We arrived safely home last night after a long, but uneventful trip. As the last leg of the journey wore on I got pretty emotional about the whole thing… It was sad how we all kept getting split up.

Saturday night we said goodbye to our Northern Irish teammates and Slada from Serbia after he BBQ.

Sunday morning at 4:15 AM we said goodbye to Joy and the Northern Irish who came to our all-night vigil. (As well as our NI leadership… Mad props to Allan Grier… That man in “class.”)

Sunday afternoon as we arrived in New York we bid farewell to most of our American teammates. I don’t know what it was, but I had a hard time saying goodbye to Casey and Allysa as they went towards their ticket counter and I split off with my team and Mary Beth to go to Detroit.

By 2:00 PM it was just the 9 of us. We were an emotional wreck. Tired, but couldn’t stop talking about all that had happened.

As we left JFK for Detroit we gathered in a little circle (which just hours ago had been 150!) and prayed for Mary Beth’s trip. We then boarded the last plane ride for the Romeo crew… Knowing that a large group of people awaited us in Detroit.

As the plane arrived at DTW 30 minutes late our parents and friends were quite anxious to see us. But can I share a secret? I don’t think any of the 8 of us were quite ready. We still wanted to hold onto Northern Ireland. So, we kind of stalled a little bit. The girls went potty, we checked on Mary Beth’s flight and prayed with her one more time… Then we boarded to “wee train” for the main terminal. Finally, after 21 days were were split up all the way down to 8 again.

We stalled a little as we rounded the last corner for the escalators to baggage claim. Deep breath… I could see Megan at the bottom of the escalator! With that, one of the most memorable times of my life came to a close.

Someone asked me… “How does it feel to be home?” I told them the truth… I have mixed emotions. I was ready to be home. But I miss my little team. They truly were my family for 2 weeks. Real World: 5mile was officially over.

We were whittled down again as LisaB took off as soon as her baggage arrived. Then Katie was gone. Then the last 6 of us jumped into the awaiting vans with all of our family. Again, I was struck by how quickly the team was cut down. There were only 2 of us in my van. Dawn and I.

It took an hour or so to get to Romeo from the airport. As my head pounded from a sleep deprivation headache… I was anxious and not anxious to get home. Still holding on to the trip we got there. 7800 West 32 Mile Road.

We were narrowed down to 1 as my family piled into the Camry and drove home. Now I am home… Starting to sort out in my mind all that took place… Trying to make sense of it all… Trying to hold onto an experience that will last a lifetime.

Dear Lord, don’t let that be my last trip to Northern Ireland or Fivemiletown. Amen.

Last night was a good last night of drop-in. We spent some time hanging out and also had a bit of programing as well. I think we really saw that there could have been much, much more programing throughout the two weeks. We sang some praise songs, played some LF classic games, and I did a quic talk and challenge. They sat and participated and really listened as I answered their questions from the question box and shared the gospel.

For the 2 weeks, 9 students have given their lives to Christ and many, many more were willing to take my challenge to “give Jesus their Friday nights.” [This is when the drop-in/youth group will meet.]

As my mind starts to shift from what has happened in 5mile to what will happen in 5mile I am also reminded of the aims of this trip. Our work doesn’t stop when we leave Northern Ireland. For the people here, the work begins. And for the team coming home, the work has just begun. I know I have learned many things that I can do better in brining students closer to a relationship with Jesus… let’s pray that I am not alone in that.

I’ve also just realized something about myself. For a lot of the 2 weeks I have been very antsy. I’ve felt like I wasn’t giving anything to the team but just happily stayed in the background. In a lot of ways I’ve had to learn a new role… that of a backdoor supporter. I have been around to pick people up, challenge them, correct them, and just plain serve them. But it wasn’t until I got up to speak last night that I realized that I hadn’t gotten to do “this” the entire time I was there. Speaking to young people is something I like to do and am comfortable with. But since I wasn’t allowed to do it I had to learn a new role. Frankly, it stunk to be out of my “strong role” and it wasn’t until I got back into that role last night that I even noticed that. I really hope I have learned something from that. More on that in the future.

Camera problems… I don’t know what the deal is but I am taking pictures but not able to view them later. It’s pretty annoying. I took some videos last night that I’d like to have… but they seem to be gone. That stinks!

Clean-up My team will be busy all day trying to clean the hall. It is very, very bad. We have a few more hours, but I suspect it will take an all out effort to get it done.

Troubles in North Belfast Derek Tang asked me if these latest problems have anything to do with our teams. In looking at the map it is several miles from any of our teams. LisaB is closest in Monkstown… but still a long way away from any of that. While I don’t understand a lot of the history of “the troubles” it is clear that this is a case of two paramilitaries [gangs to us in the States] that are fighting over drug turf. Both parties technically fight against the IRA… but from what I can understand since it is so quiet right now the paramilitaries care mostly about drug turf. We are going to Hillsboro later today and that is a good distance from Belfast. [An hour or more… in NI that’s a long way!]

Just about 36 hours until we are home. Praise God for His abundant provisions. Thank you for praying for us!