planting seeds

Last summer on our way home from Idaho we stopped in a little park for lunch and frisbee. The youth all filled out evaluations, and every single person said they'd like to go on another mission trip.

Driving along, I wondered how we would decide where to go. There are so many possibilities. It was three weeks before Hurricane Katrina would devastate the Gulf Coast.

In the fall I got to meet a number of times with a group of young people who brainstormed every possibility from a retreat in Alaska to inner city work in New York (and many in-between). They kept coming back to serving in the hurricane area, despite the cost and logistical challenges of going there.

I remember the evening when the youth leaders made their presentation to adult representatives from all the churches in the county. They described their vision--hard questions were asked and answered--the group voted unanimously to approve the plan. Then the adults walked out of the room shaking their heads, wondering how we would ever pull it off.

With God's help (and our participation), nothing is impossible.

Michael+