God Moments: Rockport Texas
Ever struggle to stop and be still, to take a moment and seek God's will?
I do all the time, especially when serving.
A TEAMeffort day can be so busy, as a director especially. I am constantly making sure everything is ok with the mission sites, staff, youth leaders, students, homeowners, etc. The list goes on and on. I get caught up making sure I am providing the best experience possible with the most opportunities to serve, that it’s easy to forget to take time to slow down and let myself serve or worship.
In 2018 I directed the Rockport camp in response to Hurricane Harvey. Rockport was a great camp for youth missions, serving a community that I quickly loved. But like I said above, I can really get lost in the daily tasks of running a camp.
One day during week six of camp, I woke up to it raining. Whatever, no big deal, happens all the time.
At breakfast, someone came up to me and in a very serious voice told me it was raining and there is a flash flood advisory. Needless to say, this is something that doesn’t happen all the time. It did flood and water stayed on the roads all day.
I immediately started trying to find little tasks for people to do, pulled out all the games, opened the camp store, told the staff to think of fun things to do while the roads were closed, and found a new room for the group that had water come into theirs.
I was doing a constant rotation in the church making sure that people were having a good time regardless of the weather.
At some point, someone came up to me to ask if they could use the choir room to have a time of worship. Obviously, I didn't think twice about it and encouraged them to invite everyone. I continued to do my rounds for a while and finally decided to pop in on the students worshiping.
When I entered the room I found the students were singing songs loudly, being silly, teaching each the words, making the music with instruments and their mouths, they were truly making a joyful noise. It was a beautiful moment to be apart of. I couldn’t help but stop my busy rounds and join them.
The students' simple act of worship reminded me that no matter what's going on outside, or with my schedule, or with myself, there is always time to stop, slow down and give God my attention.
Why did I even want to go to the mission sites that day? Why did I want to make sure the students were having fun, the adults were ok, that people had something to do if they wanted to do something?
See, I think I wanted to serve and worship in those moments and I wanted to be God-honoring. However, it wasn’t until I saw middle schoolers and high schoolers pouring their hearts out in worship that I found how I could.
Sometimes the details are everything, but sometimes the simplicity of seeking out God in a busy moment and surrendering our busy lives to Him is the best we can give Him.
I do all the time, especially when serving.
A TEAMeffort day can be so busy, as a director especially. I am constantly making sure everything is ok with the mission sites, staff, youth leaders, students, homeowners, etc. The list goes on and on. I get caught up making sure I am providing the best experience possible with the most opportunities to serve, that it’s easy to forget to take time to slow down and let myself serve or worship.
In 2018 I directed the Rockport camp in response to Hurricane Harvey. Rockport was a great camp for youth missions, serving a community that I quickly loved. But like I said above, I can really get lost in the daily tasks of running a camp.
One day during week six of camp, I woke up to it raining. Whatever, no big deal, happens all the time.
At breakfast, someone came up to me and in a very serious voice told me it was raining and there is a flash flood advisory. Needless to say, this is something that doesn’t happen all the time. It did flood and water stayed on the roads all day.
I immediately started trying to find little tasks for people to do, pulled out all the games, opened the camp store, told the staff to think of fun things to do while the roads were closed, and found a new room for the group that had water come into theirs.
I was doing a constant rotation in the church making sure that people were having a good time regardless of the weather.
At some point, someone came up to me to ask if they could use the choir room to have a time of worship. Obviously, I didn't think twice about it and encouraged them to invite everyone. I continued to do my rounds for a while and finally decided to pop in on the students worshiping.
When I entered the room I found the students were singing songs loudly, being silly, teaching each the words, making the music with instruments and their mouths, they were truly making a joyful noise. It was a beautiful moment to be apart of. I couldn’t help but stop my busy rounds and join them.
The students' simple act of worship reminded me that no matter what's going on outside, or with my schedule, or with myself, there is always time to stop, slow down and give God my attention.
Why did I even want to go to the mission sites that day? Why did I want to make sure the students were having fun, the adults were ok, that people had something to do if they wanted to do something?
See, I think I wanted to serve and worship in those moments and I wanted to be God-honoring. However, it wasn’t until I saw middle schoolers and high schoolers pouring their hearts out in worship that I found how I could.
Sometimes the details are everything, but sometimes the simplicity of seeking out God in a busy moment and surrendering our busy lives to Him is the best we can give Him.
Check out our other blog posts for resources on youth ministry and missions and to see what God is up to through TEAMeffort.