Every year for most of the last 20 years, I have taken groups of middle school students on end-of-the-school-year ministry trips. We have gone to Philadelphia, Halifax, Boston, and a variety of other communities, but one thing has remained the same. The 12, 13 and 14 year olds who I bring go on these trips to share the Gospel through juggling, magic and skits. This year's trip was to Burlington, Vermont. We were again hosted by the Community Bible Church of South Burlington, who allowed us to sleep in the Sunday School rooms in the church basement.
So, on the morning of Thursday, May 21st, my wife and I, along with three other chaperones: our friends Charlie and Linda, and my classroom aide, Amanda - loaded up 14 kids into three vehicles, and headed toward the Green Mountain State. Charlie and Linda are in their late 50's, but you'd never know it. They have done multiple mission trips to Peru, and have joined us on trips to Kentucky in 2007 and 2008.
Before we ever got to the Burlington area, we had our first show. It was at the Fold Family Ministries in the north-eastern town of Lyndonville. The Fold is a residential school for 'troubled' teenage girls. It is also one of the most special places we visit in the course of our year, and this time was no different. After a picnic lunch, we set up the show outdoors on the basketball court. It was a beautiful spring day (with remarkably few bugs!), and both groups of kids were eager to start. Two of the girls from the Fold were there last year to see the LOL show, and they were so excited to have us back. Their enthusiastic chatter about our troupe went a long way to earning 'cred' with the other girls. And LOL didn't disappoint.
This was a show in which the entire team was 'on'. They did every routine excellently, The highlight, though, might have been Molly's beautiful vocal solo. Every year on these trips, the eighth graders are spotlighted in a juggling solo routine, but Molly's juggling repertoire isn't enough to merit a whole routine. But she loves to sing, and sing she did. What a blessing.
After the show, we had about 45 minutes for the two groups of teens to hang out together before we had to move on. Two groups of kids who would normally not get to interact: Christian school kids and girls with a history of drugs, suicide attempts, self injury and promiscuity. Within five minutes, though, you couldn't tell who was who. They were just teens having fun, laughing and telling stories. Before we got back into our vans, I asked one of their girls to pray for the rest of our trip. I love how she started her prayer. Not, "Dear Lord" or "Heavenly Father". Her salutation to the creator of the universe was, "Hi, God". She asked for blessings on the rest of our trip, and God clearly heard and answered her.
After arriving in Burlington, unloading and having a little free time, we headed to our next gig at the North Avenue Alliance Church. Initially it was supposed to be for their middle school youth group, but they opened it up to the whole congregation. This worked out really well, as the audience ranged from preschoolers to senior citizens, and, yes, some middle schoolers, too.
Again, the LOL team was spot on in every routine. The real God-moment, though, was on the ride back to the base church. Abby was unusually pensive and somber. The classmates sitting near her asked what was wrong, and she didn't offer much. Then I said, "You're thinking about that little girl, aren't you?" You see, the youth pastor's daughter has CP, or a similar condition, and Abby, in spite of her usual giddiness and general loudness, loves little kids like few teenagers I've ever worked with.
I reminded Abby that the little girl is in a loving, Christian home. Then I told her, since I know who the girl's parents are, she could write to her when we returned to Maine.
We returned to school yesterday, and Abby has already written a letter to both the girl and her parents. I helped her proof read it, and it should be in the mail before the weekend!
DAY TWO BLOG TO BE POSTED SOON.