May 30, 2012

On this mission choir trip my journaling is by hand in the bound journal similar to the ones given to each participant. Following is a transcription from yesterday:

Tuesday, 8:20 am Burlington, W. Virginia; I am well-rested, well-fed, and have enjoyed a cup of coffee. Revelation 17 has given me a vision of the woman, the whore of Babylon, drunk in the blood of the saints. This violence of the end times reminds me of Hitler and the horrors of WWII – unimaginable, but so real. The life I live is so much easier then this which is described – but could turn horrific at any juncture. I desire to make every moment count, not waste a single moment.

11:30 am Amphitheater- Our crew finished at the playground in about 45 minutes, and now we are here at the amphitheater on the grounds of the Burlington campus. The project is a ramp, but is slow getting started. I will lead a painting project this afternoon in 2 offices. Most of our kids are not engaged, and they are being patient. Finding enough work is always a challenge for a host site.

9:00 pm After dinner – Mark and I drove the church bus to Keysor (20 minutes) and picked up the catered order of chicken, potatoes, mac and cheese and cole slaw from KFC. The shift manager could not figure out how to ring up 210 chicken strips, so she attempted to do this one at a time. After waiting for this process for about 30 minutes, she finally called a manager and figured out a better way. Upon serving the chicken strips to the kids, we realized we were shorted. I called and spoke to the shift manager, who said that there was a pan they forgot to give us. I asked if they could bring it to us, and they refused. Rev. Rich Hogg, our host, offered to drive me there in his Jeep Liberty to retrieve them, which we did. I convinced the manager to throw in some chocolate cakes, which she reluctantly did.

10:00 pm Group worship and devotions – We are assembled in the large gym where we sleep, and as is our evening custom, are circled up with three students leading a time of singing, with most of the students worshiping in great sincerity and truly praising God for his goodness, surrendering their lives through the words of the songs to his purposes. Julie continues to teach on the prodigal son. Tonight the phrase “he began to be in need.” Sin promises more than it delivers – it takes us further afield than we ever intended to go, and the father waits for us to return. His grace is there before we realize it. The prodigal began to feel the need…

11:30 pm As we start heading to bed, I took possession of the Frisbee and soccer ball that were about to be the evening recreation. Julie had instructed us to proceed from family groups to bed with a sense of quiet meditation. I have helped that process along. It has been a good day.