On Monday of this week, five youth and three adults from FPCGV Youth Connections got into a couple of cars and made a fantastic road trip.
On our way through West, Texas, we stopped at the Czech Stop Bakery on the northbound access road of I-35. If you’ve never had a kolache from the Czech Stop, I’m afraid that you might have a new item for your bucket list. I tried a sauerkraut, sausage, Swiss cheese kolache and experienced a bit of gastronomical nirvana (I paid for it later. . . .). Don’t get me wrong, the sausage and American cheese version was also quite good, but this was a doughy heaven. On my next trip, I’ll try one of the fruit varieties.
Go see the yum here: http://www.czechstop.net/home.php
Then we proceeded to Killeen, Texas, where we made a stop at Fire Station #3 and got a tour of the station and a less-than-modern fire truck. Our new friends at the K.F.D. lamented that their truck was 15 years old and they were hoping to get a new one within a year.
On our way home, we stopped at the KFC in Temple. While the food was quite ordinary, one of the staff was really quite philosophical with us. We also met up with our friend Calli, who is a tremendous joy to be around.
But Kolaches, Fire Trucks and Calli were not our reason for making this trip, amazing as that may sound. We made this trip because I believe God called us to do so.
Many of you are aware that the youth of FPCGV Youth Connections have an annual tradition of taking some of their Christmas Magic fundraising money and some of their own money to purchase Christmas presents for adopted families. This year, we adopted five families. Two of our families came from Dove Elementary and one came from Grapevine Middle School. Another adopted family is a mother and son whom we adopted last year and requested our help again.
Our fifth family was a unique situation. From a friend of a member of our church community, we heard the story a family of three kids and their mom. Their father served as an Army Chaplain’s Assistant and was deployed in the Middle East. While serving, he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and this family lost their husband and father at Thanksgiving. Their financial situation was already difficult, but now this family lost their dad.
So, on an overcast December morning, eight of us made the 3 hour drive to Killeen to deliver presents. We also took the youngest member of the family, a 6-year old named Dacian, on a tour of the Fire Station #3, because he loves fire trucks (really, who doesn’t?). We helped assemble one of the toys, shared stories and pictures with the mom and then said our goodbyes (and we saw our friend Calli on the way home).
Often times, youth ministries are criticized for making trips and planning events that might be seen as “frivolous”. One could easily ask: Why didn’t you call the Presbyterian Church in Killeen and ask for their help? Why didn’t you just ship the gifts? Or just purchased a bunch of gift cards and mail them?
These questions are not without merit. Often times, it can seem that youth ministries take their kids too far away when there are problems and poor people “in our own backyard”. I hope that this youth ministry has demonstrated that our trips (this summer to New Orleans and San Antonio) are not the only form of mission work that we do. We contribute in so many ways throughout the year to missions and outreach opportunities on our campus, in our city and throughout the community.
Our reason for serving at GRACE in Grapevine or at Project Homecoming in New Orleans isn’t because of where it is or what’s involved. Our decision to help at the Presbyterian Night Shelter in Ft. Worth or at Goodland Boys Home in Hugo, OK doesn’t come from what we think is cool or fun. Our motivation to go to Presbyterian Village North in Dallas or Heifer Ranch in Arkansas doesn’t come from us.
Our reason for going anywhere, be it in our backyard, in Louisiana, in Honduras or anywhere else doesn’t come from our own will. It comes from the will of God. It comes from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
What does that inspiration look like? It’s different in every case. In the instance of us taking a couple of hundred dollars of clothes and toys to Killeen, it was a conversation. After hearing a story of need, two friends felt compelled (dare I say, “called”) to make it happen in the way that it did last Monday. We knew that taking a whole day was harder than sending gift cards, but when you’re called by God, you often realize that responding is often going to be harder. When you’re called by God, the things you do aren’t necessarily going to make sense to those who are not responding to or understand the call.
Sometimes, the call of God looks like a magical moment or a long consideration. It can be a thought that keeps you up in the middle of the night or pervades your thinking for months or years. The movement of the Holy Spirit can be a conversation between two friends over coffee or a bothersome nudge during a sermon. It can be as dramatic as a flash of light and the voice of God (Acts 9), a still small voice (1 Kings 19), the invitation of a friend who says “come and see” (John 1) or even in the belly of a giant fish (Jonah).
In this case, a few friends talked over e-mail, in person, over the phone and at a gathering. And poof, a road trip was born.
So, the real question is: Where is God leading you? How is God calling you to step out of your comfort zone and go forth? What are you willing to sacrifice in order to respond faithfully to God’s call?
Last Monday, the response was in several hundred dollars in clothes and gifts, wrapping paper, eight hours of travel and visiting, driving through a rain storm and two tanks of gas.
The kolaches, fire station and Calli were just pleasant additions to the trip.
I enjoyed your post, I would like to add that the spirit is far reaching as well. Calli came home talking about and inspired by your group. Zach was inspired as well. This provided the segue for a much needed conversation at our house about giving, Christmas and what it means to be a real part of a youth group. Thank you for sharing.