The Hours

If I were to write about the hours and numbers that go into our annual Breakaway Youth Group Retreat, they might look a little something like the following:

Five- The hours it takes for me to search through pictures from our past twelve and a half years of ministry at Eastport Bible Church.  We have two speakers for our retreat this year, and both of them grew up in our church, so I had a lot of fun moments to search for to be shared later this weekend.

Thousands– The number of pictures that I have of our youth group kids, leaders and events.  And I’d love to share that they are perfectly organized, but they are not.  Which is why it took me five hours to go through them.

Two and a Half– The amount of hours that we were in Walmart tonight, picking up candy and supplies for this coming weekend.  It was two and a half hours too many.  If I never go to Walmart again, I think I will be okay.

Two– The number of Youth Pastor’s kids who also had to endure through two and a half hours of shopping at Walmart.  For most of the time, they were entertained by pushing around huge carts full of candy and miscellaneous supplies.  And for most of that time, I was terrified that they were going to crash into: a) each other  b) shelves of goods c) innocent bystanders or d) all of the above.  And yes, the answer was “d.”

Three- The estimated amount of loads of laundry that I have to get done from now through tomorrow at 3:00pm.  Yes, I’ve procrastinated, being busy with other preparations.  And no, I still have not yet packed our bags for the trip.  Sigh.

Twelve– The number of Breakaway Retreats that we have gone to since we’ve been in Eastport.  They have all been wonderful weekends away with some of the best kids and leaders around.

Hundreds-  The numbers of kids that have gone to our Breakaway Youth Retreat.  It’s been monumental for so many and we are excited for our upcoming trip.  We leave tomorrow and will have a group of just under 70 people to spend the weekend with.

Three-  The number of hours it takes to drive to Pennsylvania where we have our retreat.  Thankfully, the roads are clear and we are praying the traffic won’t be too bad, getting out of the city during rush hour.  Fingers crossed.

Eleven– The number of people who are driving out from Grand Rapids, Michigan to join us for Breakaway.  Mitch Connelly and John Caprari are driving out to be our speakers for the weekend, and then we are also having a worship team come out from Grace Bible College.

And finally,

Many- The amount of prayers that will go up this weekend.  For a great youth group retreat.  For safety in our travels.  For hearts changed and for lives lived differently because of the great things that were learned on a weekend trip to Pennsylvania.  If I could, I would just ask that you might keep our retreat in your prayers this weekend.  We know that God will do great things and would love for your prayer support for our students, our leaders and our speakers.  Thanks so much and I look forward to sharing some of the awesome things that will happen this weekend!