Reflections

I am totally amazed at what God can do on a regular basis, but sometimes things just come together in such a way that it can ONLY be God! I am 100% convinced that God was in complete control of our mission trips this summer. That includes both the Guatemala trip and the Memphis trip. Every trip is awesome in its own way, but every once in a while things come together in a way that I just have to sit back and be in awe of God. A few months ago I was a little concerned about the trip...I had talked to Mission Serve a few times and they said that the youth pastor at the church we were staying at would be arranging our work projects. Well, I wasn't getting a lot of answers (at least not answers that I wanted to hear anyway. I was concerned that our projects were going to be "less" than what we wanted. He kept talking about painting and I kept saying..."we have skilled people and a group that can handle much larger projects". A couple of months ago, Jeff Williamson(youth pastor at Union Ave. Baptist where we are staying) gave me a choice of several houses to complete and I also decided on doing a VBS in one of the innercity parks. I felt a lot better about our projects and after talking with Jeff a few times, I felt even better. BUT, the reception we got when we arrived...to the service we got on our sites and at the church...and on and on and on......I HAVE NEVER BEEN ON A TRIP WHERE THINGS WENT SO SMOOTHLY! (Guatemala was pretty much the same way) If we needed something, it was there...If we had a problem, it was solved immediately. I can't even describe how awesome Jeff Williamson was throughout the week and how awesome the city of West Memphis was for supplying everything we needed and more. Our kids had a great experience and did some incredible work! So proud to be the youth pastor of this group. I feel sad because I am losing a great class of kids to college this year, but I am so pumped about the future of The EDGE! Our church, our parents, the folks who give so much to us...BE EXCITED! This group is awesome and will be for years!Steve