A Collision into Collide

Today, my good friend Cody Walker shared with me some important information. As we were watching The A-Team in the theater, he leaned over to me and showed me what someone had tweeted. The tweet read, "In 'Back to the Future,' Doc sets the clock in the DeLorean to a day 25 years in the future. Today is that day." Interesting? Oh yea. Besides learning about Back to the Future, I received some revelation after watching The A-Team. If the bad guys would just learn to aim when they were shooting, theatrical productions would only last about 5 minutes. But I thought the movie was pretty interesting, so I'm glad Liam Neeson and Rampage Jackson seemed to dodge the bad guy's bullets with ease.

I just got off the phone with my good buddy, David Heffren. He is spending the summer in Corvalis, Oregon. From what he has told me, it sounds like he is having a great time in the Northwest. The other day I was reading his blog, and I noticed that he had changed up the background of his blog, so I decided to do the same. I might not envy his curly hair, glasses or guitar playing skills, but I do covet his writing ability. He doesn't know this yet, but I am writing the foreword to his first and fourth books he is going to write. So check out his blog...it is worth it.

But on a Serious Note, I love God and the way He moves in students' lives. I just got back from CIY's Move conference in Holland, Michigan. It was blast getting to know the 29 high school students and six leaders I was able to minister alongside. The week was full of 12 inch ice cream cones, sunburns from the beach, sore arms from playing Red Rover on the beach, learning God's word, and lots of laughs.

You can learn somethings about a person by hanging out with them once a week, but it is something totally different when you spend an entire week with that person from 8 in the morning until 10:30 that night. There is just something to laughing and crying with someone that really accelerates the process of friendship. And this week past was full of crying and laughing. The high school group at Southeast is called Collide. I have only been at the church for about four weeks, so I have not had the chance to get to know these students that well. So I guess you could say that I had a collision with the Collide group this week.

I had the blessing to hangout with high school students for the week, and I met some awesome students. I met a kid named Nick who would not quit trying to take me down with some wrestling move. The first day of the trip, we went to Cedar Point, a huge roller coaster park in Ohio. I'm proud to say that I actually rode 4 different roller coasters! But the day was kind of sad because it rained off and on all day, and because of the rain, puddles accumulated on the walking paths. During the afternoon, Nick asked if he could have a drink of my pink lemonade, and I handed him my cup thinking I was doing something very nice for this young guy I barely knew. As soon as I handed him my cup, he throws the lemonade all over me. He thought this was pretty humorous, but I found it to be a little uncomfortable. So i thought I would make him feel uncomfortable, and I picked him up and threw him into a puddle. Its been a blossoming friendship ever since.

I also was able to get to know another guy that was in my small group throughout the week. His name is Shane, and he reminds me a lot of myself when I was his age. He is pretty athletic and all the ladies like him. Okay, the only thing we have in common is that we are athletic. But Shane's honest heart was very refreshing this week. We were able to talk throughout the week, and I had so much fun hanging out with him. He knows he tends to let his pride get in the way of his relationship with Christ, and he wants to be able become less so Christ might become more in his life. At the end of the week, he came up to me, and he asked if I would mentor him this next year. This blew me away!!! I am humbled to be asked to mentor Shane, and I cannot wait to see how Christ works through me to mold this young man's life.

There were so many other great students I got to know on this trip, but there is not enough time to tell them all to you. There was Jabriel, a.k.a. Mr. Alright; Emile, who shared the most insightful and genuine comments all week; and Nicolette who wouldn't quit smiling even when she threw up :( Like I said, I love all of the students I met, and I'm sure I will be posting more stories about these guys the more I get to know them. I love my Collide Family!