Day Two - Monday, July 27

Grace and peace...

Day Two and all is well. We got started on our main work of the week. We went to the home of Eddie and Betty. Both of them were home and with us all day and all of us had a chance to visit with them several times during the day. Eddie is a likable guy who is without a job at the moment, but never seems to be without a good story. He was laid off from a chicken business a few months ago, lost his health insurance and suffers with bone-on-bone pain in his knees. This does not seem to deter his spirits. We found out today that he was pictured in and contributed writing to the Foxfire books. Remember those books with the brown covers on life in rural Appalachia? He told how his school teacher told the students to interview their grandparents and find out about mountain life of old. They came back with a paper written in proper English and the teacher said, "No. Write it the way they say with mountain expressions and all." The rewrite with words like "fir piece" (long way) was turned into a book which he produced and I have seen. I think I read it in Boy Scouts years ago. Fascinating guy.

His wife Betty was raised in the home we are working on and after her father passed away moved back to her girlhood home. With Eddie out of work and her working at a Thrift Store, they are simply not able to do what is needed at the house. That is our work this week We are bringing the exterior back to good condition through paint and light repairs. Today, we had one group of our team replacing the front porch railing and the rest of us scraping the entire house of flaking paint while dogs and chickens wandered through the yard as we worked. I have the feeling it will take a while to get truly cleaned. After the coldest shower ever in the history of all showers ever taken, I still have dozens of flecks of paint stuck on my arms.

I got to thinking about the people we are helping and our motivation for helping them. Our goal is to serve Christ. Our team in Honduras a few weeks ago met the working poor there as we are meeting them here. The working poor are in Pinellas County. They are in Dunedin. Someone mentioned Matthew 25 last night during worship. We may not be aware of it in the moment, but when we help someone in need - ANYTIME we help someone in need - we are honoring, loving and serving our Lord Jesus himself. That reality makes our work meaningful, especially in times like now when we step back and ponder it.

We've had some tensions on the team, although nothing that we haven't been able to work through. And we have also had some amusing moments so far. A few highlights:

• A quote heard on the ride here: Your breath smells like an attic
  
• A road sign at the entrance to I-75 north read "Valdosta 500'" One thought that meant we would reach Valdosta in 500'. We were in Lake City, FL. It was early and she was sleep deprived.
  
• Jean MacKenzie on naming a movie that begins with the letter S: Selma and Louise. Said a very amused Jean: (The actual movie in question is titled THELMA and Louise.)
  
• The boys were able to practice slam dunking a basketball with a five-gallon bucket as a spring board. After a particularly successful dunk, we will also be replacing our homeowner's clothesline in which one of the boys landed.

We're having fun. This afternoon during free time, most of the team were together and talked about all kinds of subjects. I was with another group, but the report from them was it was a unifying moment for that group.

Even better was what has been happening in the hearts of some of the students. I see God moving in all of the hearts, and some in particular have been feeling something important. I asked you last night to pray for God to break through. Keep praying! It is happening! Under the stars on this mountaintop in Tennessee, God is stirring the hearts of our students. It is nearly taking my breath away. I want to tell you everything, but like last night it's late as I type. Plus, I want to see it play out this week. I will tell you it is good to be here and be a part of the movement of the Holy Spirit.

I am off to bed.

Day One - Sunday July 26

A group of 15 of us have traveled to Copper Hill, Tennessee for a week of mission work here in the southeast corner of the state. As I write, I am bleary-eyed near midnight after a long day of travel. The night sky is breathtaking. The stars are brilliant. All are well and healthy and the trip looks promising for interpersonal as well as Kingdom gains.

We had a sleep-in at the church last night with the mission team. The theory was to have the team sleep at St. Andrews and load the vehicles the night before in order to relieve the parents of a 4:00 a.m. drop-off of their child at the church. A sleep-in was good in theory. However, the reality was that not much sleeping took place. The boys didn't sleep at all last night. I finally got to sleep at 11:30 p.m. night and was awakened about every half hour by a group of boys in the room whose concern for my sleep had them all whispering at 100 decibels be quiet! Amy Becker, our youth minister and my daughter Christina, another chaperone on the trip, got even less sleep in the girls' room. Needless to say, the 12 hour drive to Tennessee included frequent caffeine stops. Thankfully, I had a talkative teen named Danielle riding next to me in the vehicle.

We got settled into our homes for the week: cabins at a camp in the beautiful hills of Tennessee. The boys' cabin is about 40 feet from the chapel where we will worship nightly. The girls' cabin and all of the bathrooms are atop a 9,000 foot vertical climb from the base camp of Mount Everest. Give or take a few feet. I had to lean backwards to remain upright when walking down from the bathrooms this evening.

Al and Jean MacKenzie from St. Andrews joined us tonight. They are staying about 30 miles from here in their RV. They came bearing gifts of chocolate chip cookies (Jean is the demi-god of cookies), brownies, water and soft drinks. The water in the desert for the Israelites came to mind. Manna from heaven too. Al and Jean will be with us all week. They are beginning their two months away from Florida with a week of mission work with the youth team. Awesome. Later this week, they will take the bells for the bell choir to a specialist in South Carolina for routine maintenance. I look forward to spending time with them and the whole team this week.

We are at a camp led by an organization called Team Effort. There are other churches with us this week. Two churches from Florida (Orlando and Miami), one from Pennsylvania and the rest we'll meet and get to know later. We have been with Team Effort for the past three years and they do a good job of preparing the youth and leaders for a deeply spiritual encounter with Christ and leading us there as we care for the least of these in our mission work.

Our project this week is painting and repairs to the home of a woman named Betty. We don't know much more than that at this point. Tomorrow morning the work begins. A young girl named Hillary from Alabama will be our leader from Team Effort.

The students are well-rested… most of them anyway. Amy, Christina and I may be exhausted, but most of the students slept well. We are praying that their rest translates into good energy for the work ahead.

Speaking of praying, I already have a sense of the work of the heart that is ripe in the youth. God seems to be on the move. I've had a number of conversations with the youth and while many are filled with excitement and joy, some others come with pain, uncertainty and questions. I suspect a few are seekers of God, but have not opened themselves up to a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. I ask you to pray that the Holy Spirit will descend in a mighty way and stir the hearts of the youth and all of the leaders who surround them to awaken hearts and recommit others. Something important is happening in these Tennessee hills.

It is late. I'm tired. And I really need to brush my teeth. I feel like I am wearing fuzzy slippers on my teeth. Off to brush and then to bed.