Day Five, Friday--"The Circle of Life"-- The Lion King
Today's theme was a bit hard to come up with, because I really had a roller-coaster of a day. But in the end, I remembered a quote from J.M. Strazinski (sp?) regarding an episode of Babylon 5 when one of the main characters had a day that went from good to bad. He said "The wheel turns, and if you forget that it eventually turns on you, you'll be ground beneath it." When I think back on today's events, I can only come to the conclusion that there was some real spiritual warfare going on that day. Read on, and you'll see what I mean.
The day started out innocently enough. We were all to be working at the fitness center today. Some of us were to be working outside finishing the last 20 feet or so of the wall, while the remainder were inside painting bathrooms and putting a cool stripe in the aerobics area. We loaded up as we had every day this week after breakfast, and started on our way. It was a good 25 minute ride into the reservation to get to the fitness center.
I had Evan, Casey, Kaitlin, and Courtney with me in the truck. We were the last car in the caravan, just standard operating procedure. Listening to music, talking back and forth. Suddenly, the tire alarm went off in the truck just as I felt a slight pull on the wheel. Sure enough, we were driving at 60 mph with a flat front tire. I was able to pull over, and Evan and I quickly got to work changing the tire. The hardest part, believe it or not, was figuring out how to get the spare down from its cavity under the truck. We turned Casey onto the manual, and quickly had it out.
The biggest problem, as it had been all week, was the heat. We left the car running so the A/C would stay on, but the engine heat was venting right into us as we changed the tire. But we still managed to turn it into a half-way learning experience for those who did not know how to change a tire.
We were back on the road in about twenty minutes (it may have been less, but we definitely were NOT the Duke brothers) and we took a shortcut to the fitness center, where the rest of the group was waiting for us.
Of course, Rachel's sense of humor was in fine form today. She had already assigned the project teams, and wouldn't you know it, our truck got to paint outside! We laughed (a little), then got down to business. Turns out we were able to finish the wall, touch up from the day before, and paint a little pony wall that was part of the entrance. In other words, our outside team rocked it again.
For lunch, we had the food in the truck. However, we forgot that when Rachel borrowed the truck to go to lunch in town. So we ended up not eating until we got back to the church, where we met Rachel with the truck.
We had about an hour until we had to report for VBS, so I decided to take the truck around and try to find a new tire. The spare had plenty of miles left on it, but it was just a donut, so I wanted to get it taken care of. What I found out was double-trouble. Not only did no-one in town have tires to fit my car, but the other front wheel had an identical screw to the one that had killed the flat tire. It was only a matter of time before the screw either broke or blew out, and I would be stuck with two flats.
So I was a bit dejected when I got back to the church, needless to say. It was at this point that the war for me that day was at its greatest. It seemed that there was little hope, and that I was going to let down the rest of the group.
But right then, I remember feeling this calm come over me. It is the same calm certainty I have felt at the critical times in the past: Sara's test to match bone marrow, Gerhard's heart transplant, the birth of all of the kids, etc. It was a turning point-- despair or faith. Failure or hope. I felt God telling me that even though I didn't know how, it would be okay. So I decided to go with God. I embraced the calm and the hope, and it carried me. Not that I didn't worry the whole night what exactly I was going to do, but I knew that it was in God's hands, and that was reassuring.
The VBS was almost exactly like the 2nd day at the other neighborhood. The kids were waiting for us, having opened up and allowed themselves to relish the joy and love that we were pouring on them. There was even a pair of sisters that brought their baby sister, who could not have been more than 8 months or so old.
It was especially fun today because we had inadvertently added ice to the play water, so the kids were filling their squirt guns with ice cold water. Many a leader, HSM'er, and child were shocked with the cold. And when that ran out, we just kept up with the hotter water, too. It was great fun, and once again we said bittersweet goodbyes at the end of the day.
For dinner, Tory and Kara had arranged a poolside BBQ at a friend's house. So we all went over there, and amused ourselves watching the high schoolers find creative ways to go down the slide into the pool. We also had a great discussion with Terry that went over into the next day as well.
Once we got back and debriefed the week, it was time to go out and see the stars for the last time. But of course, as with everything we do with HSM, we did it to the extreme.
It started out just Shelby and I going out to explore into the hills behind the church. But we didn't have light, and the first time we heard the brush rustle we headed back for lights and reinforcements.We found Garrett and Conner, and a flashlight, and headed back to where we had gone before. The others were trying to come along, but not until we were already a ways into the brush, so we just continued.
Up about 3/4 of a mile into the hills was a set of huge water towers. We decided to head for the towers, and stumbled our way there. Once we got there, we climbed up onto the wall that surrounded the towers and went around the periphery as far as we could. That must have been when the others passed us, because we did not see them when we got around, so we headed back.
The others had a quite different experience. Instead of heading for the tower wall, they went on up around the tower to another trail that led further away from the church. Apparently, they went far enough to feel a bit worried, then headed back in the general direction of the church. At one point a coyote howled not too far from them and gave them the chills. Their final adventure happened when they ran across some suspicious activity between some trucks just before they got back to the church. That was when we met up with them again.
While they were telling us their story, some police cars came up looking around at the towers and right by the church. The plan was that the kids were going to run inside while I talked to the police, but fortunately they passed right by us without a second thought. Not sure what was going on, but it was definitely weird. Hopefully they were going after the trucks.
That pretty well ended the night. By this time it was about 12:30, so we all decided to turn in.
Today's lesson was about worry. You see, between the flat tire, the missing lunches, and the lack of tires, the devil was definitely trying to end the trip on a sour note. Because I was worried about control of the situation. We thought we had it all figured out. And by tripping us up, he was trying to get me to despair and lose hope. But God stepped in at exactly the right time, as He always does. His calm kept me from the abyss, and allowed me to recognize that He was in control. And more than that, His grace made it possible to continue pouring out His love on the kids, even when things were looking sour. Its amazing what He can do.
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