Warm (Not So Warm) Beach. Rafting (Not So Rafting) Party.

My weekend was filled with Junior Highers, but not in a way that was draining. I was with five kids and two adults at Warm Beach Camp for a retreat....the three girls and I had a very cozy "Mt. Baker Cabin" (named after the mountain that my dad discovered in 1862), and I, for the first time in recorded youth ministry history, slept on my own full-sized bed. What is that all about?!

It was amazing--because I wasn't tired, and I wasn't frazzled, and I wasn't overwhelmed. I just enjoyed being with the girls. We played on the swings, we watched Robots, and we giggled about the apparently cute drummer. Two of the three girls have grown up in the church, so we talked a lot about what it means to be a leader...what it means to love people who are different than us...how we should really be living as Christians at school...

I was frazzled for a bit, because the retreat overlapped with the End-of-the-Year Rafting party, and I desperately wanted to see my rafting friends and fellowship with them. So I ducked away from Warm (not so warm) Beach for a few hours and celebrated a glorious 2005 rafting season with them.

It was very good to be there...to hear about what next season will look like...to get excited about finishing off my certification on the Wenatchee River...to get to tell the whole group how much Greg and Danica mean to me as we celebrated their twelve years of service...to pray for Paul and Faye as they prepare to move to Idaho (to start YD Adventures in Idaho)...and to get re-excited about Adventure Ministry after having a few months to dry off...(photo on the left is Heidi, Greg, and Danica, my best-good rafting friends...well, three of my best-good Washington friends).

By the time I made it back to Warm Beach, my kids were antsy, but I was so glad to be back with them. We broke bread together, and two of my girls affirmed how much I mean to them. One of them cited that, "She called me to remind me what time we were leaving for the retreat," as an important thing I did to show I cared. I was humbled by how small the significant things can be.