Your love will never stop chasing after me

It’s hard to try and begin to describe a week filled with music, laughter, fellowship, and feeling the immensely huge presence of God that filled every moment of the conference. Last week I had the privilege of serving as a leader with my youth group at the EFCA’s Challenge Conference in Kansas City, Missouri. I went to two Challenges as a student, and the first year just happened to be in Kansas City, so going back with an entirely different group and vibe was a little weird. But the week was so much better than I expected. I served alongside Brian, the youth pastor; and Dan, a leader and the father of one of the girls that went with us on the trip. We had six girls and three boys with us, my younger sister included. We left early Monday morning, with a church from Zimmerman in their church bus-a literal school bus. We arrived in Missouri that afternoon, and the conference started that night. It lasted until Friday night, with two different worship bands, multiple speakers, two spoken word poets, a painter, and a DJ. We had two sessions a day, one in the morning and one at night. Between those we had meals, free time where we could go to “equipping labs”, which were times where we could dial in a little bit more on a specific topic that was offered, go and do outreach, or just hang out and relax. Our outreach times were on Thursday and Friday, so we cleaned up trash along a creek on Thursday, and then prayed over the FCA headquarters on Friday. The other days were filled with swimming and just relaxing in the hotel. The sessions, however, were the most fun, special, and powerful times of the week. I saw the students really let go and just worship freely while having fun, and I learned a lot from them through that. The music was incredible, led by Seventh Hour in the morning, and Urban Rescue at night. Seventh Hour is very familiar to us, because they’ve led the worship at Camp Shamineau during the fall retreats we go to there. Urban Rescue was completely new to us, but we all loved them. They always pulled out something incredible and tied whatever we had learned that night together nicely. Combined with some amazing speakers, I somehow learned more on this trip than I learned both the years I went as a student combined. The students really opened up and were more talkative than other groups were in the past, and just were a really good group as a whole. They were a little family, in a sense. It was very cool to watch them all grow and learn together as the week went on, and gradually open up and become more and more free. On Friday, as the week came to a close, we were sitting out in a courtyard after the last session, dancing to the music they were playing, and having fun. I was suddenly filled with a love for those students that I can’t describe. All I knew was that I was there for a reason, watching and learning from the kids. I pray and hope that I will continue to be able to go on these types of trips with the youth group in the future, because what I experienced I don’t want to miss out on. I want to be able to make an impact on these kids’ lives, no matter how big or small. At one point, I was sitting and watching the students mess around, and Brian made a comment to me about how free the students were. I agreed, knowing that freedom was something I also experienced in the past, and something I was feeling in that moment too. We both knew that this moment of freedom was fleeting, but so beautiful to see in these kids. That freedom is something only God can give, and while we were all on a spiritual high, I knew that it wouldn’t last, and that free feeling was something we would all have to fight for. The passion we felt in that moment was fleeting too, and is sometimes hard to keep alive, something I didn’t try very hard to keep during my trips as a student. But in that moment, I knew that was something I needed to keep alive, even after the high of the trip faded. Because it’s always hard to come home. No matter how good it’ll feel to be home again, it’s always hard to come back after something like that. Because for a week, you get to see God move and have an impact on the people around you and be surrounded by people who love Him and want to make Him known, and it’s an incredible feeling. I’m incredibly lucky to go to a college with that same environment, but over the summer it’s hard to recreate that. So, to experience that for a week, in the middle of summer where I’m separated from the people who influence me the most, was wonderful. It was very hard to leave, but it is good to be home. Plus, getting to experience it with Naomi and her friends, kids I watched grow up? Incredible. I see them in a very new light, and I am so glad I got go on this trip. The newfound love I have for these students is something I hope I never lose, and something I hope I get to show again. So, here’s to the rest of the summer and the last few weeks before heading back to college.