Waking the Dead

Taking the youth on trips to confrences is awesome. God does wonders. Their lives are changed. As the youth director it is always hard to keep them on a high. Not very often do I see any youth pastor succeed in keeping the momentum going. Through many reasons this sadly happens and yes, I too fail at it. That though is the beauty of these trips because it forces us to really work at maintaining our relationship with Christ.

Now, the hardest part about trips like this weekends is the sleeping part. Actually, that is only a partially true statement. How about the going to sleep part is actually the hardest part. For me, I amaze the guys in my room at how fast I can transfer from awake to out cold. I consider it a miacle if anyone in my room is out by midnight or earlier (yes, one guy in my room passed out at 11:32 last night).

Yet, despite any diffifulty the youth may have in getting a semi decent night of sleep in, there is always the part they forget about. WAKE UP!!! The final day of any weekend trip starts early. I always have to get up first (15-30 minutes before them) just so they can be up when instructed. When I announce wake up visits the night before, there is always grumbling. Even then, their choice is to stay up and have fun. I have no problem with this and even encourage it. Then, at times when many of them are getting up during the week, I greet them with loud rapping on their hotel door. ALWAYS, there is one who never gets up with the first knock. And, there is always one in the group who expresses their...gratitude for the early visit.

As any parent knows, it takes a move of God to get their teen/preteen awake. Now, try imagining waking 12 teens. It is in these moments of the trip where I see the most frequent miracle God could ever perform - waking the dead. YES, God does still perform miracles!