Today we get Fred from Impact VA. He has been building a ramp and repairing and painting a trailer in western Virginia. He says he's had a great time. He enjoys working, so I was excited for him to have this opportunity. It'll be good to see him again. Sam and Peter have been at Vacation Bible School all week, so Ben has been alone every morning. I've spent the week running errands and unpacking and packing.
Last night I sat down in the living room and saw that Michael Jackson had died. I was so shocked that I let out a suprised "noise." Ben tells me that he's never been so startled. To see that his life was over really hit me. Farrah Fawcett's death was expected. She'd battled cancer for 3+years, I believe. But Jackson's was sudden and unexpected. I haven't followed him since I was in jr. high/high school, but I had the Thriller album and spent much time listening to it and watching him on Friday Night Videos. People die every day, but for me, these celebrity deaths are so much more shocking for some reason. Perhaps it's because they seem bigger than life--their lives are separate from the rest of us. Plus, he was only 50! It made me think, once again, about the insecurity of life. We talked some about death at bedtime. Ben asked me if Jackson was a Christian. I have no idea, but his life certainly didn't reflect that. When I prayed with Sam and Peter, we talked about how for us the sting of death is gone. We don't have to be afraid of it anymore. We know that Jesus bought us. He loves us. We belong to him and so our eternity is secure. You just never know when that bus is going to come out of nowhere and take you out! I don't know where Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson are right now. But I'm sure that if they could come back, their message would be the same. Repent, turn to God, ask Jesus to save you and then live for Him every day. When it comes to death, nothing else really matters beyond that.
My Family Life Group
My seat-mate all week
I'm still recovering from Student Life Camp last week. These are the students in whose lives I got to share for 5 days. It was an amazing, hard, wonderful experience. Half way through the week, when there were more hard things to deal with, I was moaning to God about it. I felt like He was reminding me that I did say I wanted to go on a mission trip and not a retreat. From the moment we got there, there were challenges and things that just didn't happen the way they should have. I had planned on working on my Bible study and reading some while I was there. I found out just a week before that I would be leading a small group all week. When I got to camp, it was evident that I was expected to spend most of my time with my group--even their rec time. Then free time was spent with our own kids from our church. There was no time to study or prepare (aside from sacrificing some of the scant 6 hours of sleep allotted for each night). Despite these upheavals and more, the week was worth the work. I was moved. I hope I was changed. I was challenged to live my life fully for Christ according to His directions in the Bible. I was really challenged to care for the poor and to not shut my ears to the needs around me. I hope that Ben was changed as well. He decided to sponsor a boy from Thailand through Compassion International. The speaker was great--David Nasser, and the band was even better--Unhindered. The best thing was that I got to pray with a student who wanted to give his life to Jesus and become a Christian. I can't describe how that felt except to say that it was worth it all. I am hoping that maybe Chris can go next year, too. Maybe we'll even do Mission Camp instead. It's hard to be home. I really like who I was there. I'm trying to find that here. 
