Adventure Week!!

This is our family's favorite week of the year!  We are so sad that Steve isn't here with us, but we are sending him lots of pictures.

For those unfamiliar with Adventure Week, it's essentially our church's bible-camp-week.  You might have grown up with a Vacation Bible School or something to that effect.  Ours is held in the evening, and our entire church gets involved.  My job is heading up the Parent Café, which has become quite a Thing.  People come and get fantastic desserts, drink great coffee and are able to spend some quality time with each other while their children are being well cared for and having a fantastic time.  We try to make the parents feel loved by decorating it well and making it fun.  I calculated once that somewhere around 900,000 calories pass through the cafe during the week!

What I love about this week is that it isn't just about entertaining the kids (though it totally does--check out the ORIGINAL music here).  And it isn't about telling the kids they'd better be good or the devil will get them.  They are very clear about the state of our hearts.  We all--ALL--fall short.  We know it.  THE KIDS know it.  They know they can never really be perfect.  And how can we ever fill that gap between us and a holy God?  Not by doing extra good stuff, and avoiding bad stuff.  The kids learn why Christ had to come, why he chose to come, why he had to die, and how they truly have the very free gift of that bridged gap available to them.

Another way I see God having prepared us for this season in our life is how he orchestrated my responsibilities for Adventure Week.  It can be nearly a full-time job with late nights and single-focus.  However, for the first time ever, I was weeks ahead in my work.  The day after Steve's accident, I took 30 minutes to write an email to several key people to hand off my work, and I literally did not think about the details again until I showed up tonight.  I learned that at least dozen different people put in HOURS to make sure the cafe would look gorgeous, that desserts and coffee would be abundantly provided, and that I wouldn't have to worry about a thing.  The way people stepped up was tangible love for us.  This is what it looks like when the body of Christ joyfully loves and cares for others, suffers and rejoices with one another.  It's only possible because of Christ!