Now, some of this might not sound like what would be traditionally called serving, but I want to take a moment and challenge that thought. Service is, essentially, meeting the needs of others. So, while some of our students were in a comfortable air conditioned environment trying to find the next piece of the puzzle, they were really lighting up an elderly person's day. While our students were throwing around a football or letting a little girl braid her hair, they were really investing love in that child's life, a need that everyone needs met.
On Wednesday, a number of our students and I were put in a truly uncomfortable situation. I co-led the sports camp team and we arrived downtown at the ministry site, Lorick Park, after lunch and were preparing to get the afternoon's activities to a start. It took a while, but we finally corralled all the kids for our outside activity time. Once outside we began playing with kids, throwing footballs and frisbees around. The girls went straight for the playground so they could play with our female students' hair. It wasn't long before I saw a red car pull out of the cul-de-sac across the street and take a right turn. As the vehicle made the turn the passenger pointed and fired a POP, POP, POP, POP into the side of the first floor of the apartment building on the corner. Thankfully, all of the shots were fired away from where our students and the kids were. Additionally, no one inside the apartment building was injured (I think it was more about sending a message). My co-leader and I hurried to get the all of our students and the kids inside Lorick Park's gymnasium. Needless to say, this incident ended our ability to return to the ministry sight for the remainder of the week. After we piled in the car and left for the day our students talked about how scary the drive by was. After some dialogue I asked, "Do you guys want to go back?" They responded with a resounding "YES!" It was hard for me because I knew that for liability reasons we would not be able to return. The remainder of the car ride I painfully explained all the aspects that factor into the difficult decision process that would determine whether we would even be able to return to the ministry site. That evening it was announced that we wouldn't be returning to the ministry site... Our students were crushed... They had invested time and love into these kids and they wouldn't be able to see them again... It was painful...
The following day I had to call our contact at the Lorick Park to inform them we would not be returning. That's when light flicked on. What if we could bus the kids to another place and finish out our ministry site there? Due to short notice, we couldn't get it worked out for Thursday, but the plan was a go for Friday. We worked it out that we would shuttle the kids from Lorick Park to meet up with our students at our lunch site. During planning our students were kept in the dark to ensure they wouldn't get their hopes up in case the plans fell through. So, when they saw the kids from Lorick Park at our lunch site it was a sweet surprise. It was amazing to see their faces light up. Students hugged kids, high-fives flew, and there was a lot of laughter. The rest of the day was a great time of reunion, fun and games.
Through the whole process of losing the sports camp ministry site I really felt challenged to lean on God's sovereignty. It was difficult to leave a ministry site without closure. That same evening I felt that God spoke to me bringing a couple of passages to my mind, Zephaniah 3:17-18 and 1 Timothy 2:3-4. These passages drew me into worship that night. God is great, He is in control and if the drive by happened then God must have had a different plan in mind. It makes me glad that we have a God who cares enough about us that we happened to see those kids again and, Lord willing, we'll see them again before too long.
