Mission Trip Replaces Vacation

Picture of our entire group at Mission Serve (youth groups and chaperones from 6 different churches)

I could have gone on vacation. Instead, I decided to serve as a chaperone for a local church youth group on a mission trip recently. Through a program called Mission Serve, the kids give a week of their summer to work on homes of those less fortunate than themselves. They scrape, paint, repair, re-roof, and fix up homes in the stifling heat while functioning on little sleep. (Up and at it by 6 a.m. every morning.)

When deciding whether or not to invest a week of your life to engage in such a venture, you must count the costs and ask yourself whether or not it’s worth it. Sweating beneath a scorching sun while painting a house which is not your own. Sleep deprivation on a hard floor in a room with 15 other males- most of them noisy teenagers who make crude noises with their bodies and who don’t want to simmer down once the lights are out.

Fortunately two of my sons were with me but this meant I spent the week minus the company of my lovely wife and my youngest son, who still hugs and kisses me most nights before he goes to bed.

Enough whining. Exploring the brighter points of the week may help answer the question of the value of such a trip. In no particular order:

1. I struck up a conversation with the custodian of the local host church in Georgia and discovered that Lee had lived an incredibly interesting life. Abused by his father, he ran away from home at the age of ten and drifted for nearly forty years. Five years ago, his fifth wife forced him to accompany her to church and ever since, his life has become a testament to the power of a forgiving God. And he makes it a point to tell everyone he meets about his Heavenly Father, who has never abused or let him down. Inspirational.
2. Having no daughters, I was pleased to acquire a sizeable following of mostly pre-teen young girls from other churches, who followed me most everywhere I went. Missing their fathers and viewing me as a cheap but readily available substitute, my “groupies” demanded my attention constantly. I dubbed one little girl “Omnipresent” because every time I turned around, there she stood smiling at me- braces sparkling and eyes shining. Refreshing.
3. From my perch atop a ladder, I witnessed one of the most remarkable scenes a father could ever experience. Most everyone scattered when an obvious drunken fellow appeared on the street of our jobsite. But two kids, one of which was my oldest son, approached the man and started a conversation. Mist filled my eyes when the threesome knelt and engaged in prayer together. A few minutes later, we observed this man being arrested for carrying a lethal weapon, but it did not change the fact that his heart was touched by these two boys who dared to love him unconditionally and who were willing to share their hearts with him. Remarkable.

There’s more but cramming it all into one column would be unjust so be on the lookout for more next week. In the meantime, rest assured that a comparison of costs versus benefits of the trip was a no-brainer in my mind. Vacation can wait.