"Joe"

On Friday night, we piled into an EC bus, a church van and a mini-van and headed west. It's funny how much prep goes into this weekend, and it is over so quickly.

This weekend was probably one of the most moving and wonderful youth retreats we have had, although every year is always a blessing. With 12 seniors, our group is sure to change next year.

Having to re-cap the entire weekend would be lengthy and I still probably would not be able to capture it perfectly. Let me tell a story about a kid in my small group. Each year we have our main meetings on Friday night, Saturday morning and night, and Sunday morning. After our large group meetings we have small group meetings with about 6-7 kids, normally led by two adult leaders. This year we were one leader short, so Sherri asked me to do it on my own. Sure, no problem! :-) Our entire youth group is a diverse one. We come from a very diverse community, and God has given us a very unique task. One of the members of my small group, whom I will call Joe, has been coming to youth group only since September. He came with a friend from town, and is on the quiet side. Recently, I engaged him in conversation after Christmas caroling, to find out he has only been in the states since 7th grade (now a Junior) and came to the US from the Philippines, knowing and speaking no English. He came over with his dad, a doctor, and his two brothers. His mother had to stay behind due to documents and legal issues. Wow. His story floored me, and his ambitions floored me more. I asked him about his religious background, and he told me his mom used to read him the Bible, and he guesses he was Catholic.

When Sherri put Joe in my small group, I knew it wasn't by chance. On the retreat, we gave Joe a Bible and Matt often "caught" him reading it. During small group he questioned a lot about the truth of the Bible, and we talked about how we know that the Bible is truth. Wow. Thankfully, some of the other "churched" kids in my group helped me out with that one! He wasn't convinced though, and said that he could believe in God and not have to read a Bible. Uh-oh. How was I going to handle this?? Throughout the weekend we kept our discussions open, and he told me he hadn't opened or read the Bible since his mom did back in his home country. I asked Joe why he came on the retreat? He said he didn't know . . . and then he said that it was supposed to happen this way. Saturday night blew me away, though. Du had the discussion, all in regards to how God loves us, simple, but powerful. Joe was moved to tears. We had a pretty intense small group, and a lot of prayers in a room full of bunks in a cabin in PA where it was clear that the Holy Spirit was present.

On Sunday morning, Joe left worship, and I thought we had "lost" him. I quickly sent Tim out after him, and Tim came back, hugged me, and said Gnome, it was quite the opposite, Joe is feeling so overwhelmed by the love of the God right now. The tears came (again), and I quietly thanked God for speaking in such a powerful way this weekend.