UMARMY Scavenger Hunt

Great scavenger hunt tonight...who knew Rod Stewart was a dentist.

After the second day sites are starting to be completed. We have completed five sites ans a dangerously close to finishing at least five more.

The best part is watching teams gel and students find joy in work. We are living examples of grace giving clients what they need regardless of what they deserve.

Looks like we won't be able to post pictures until we return. We'll keep looking for a fast enough internet conection.

UMARMY Monday

We are well into our first full day. Teams got out in great form for a Monday. Students are on a variety of projects, from ramps to lawn clean up. The camp was written up in the Conroe Courier in today's addition. Read it here.

UMARMY primer

Want to know more about UMARMY follow the link:

http://www.umarmy.org

INSOMNIAC Recap

We had a great trip! An amazing time was had by all (the pictures tell the story).

Our next post will be last week of June for UMARMY.

Sunday Morning Update

Happy Father's Day! We are headed home to Lufkin. FUMC Arlington was an amazing host. I sometimes forget what a power ministry we can have when we simply open our doors.
I'm cerain you will hear some great stories when you get your child back after church this morning. If you kiddo says anything about a restraunt that specializes in chicken wings and caters to men by exploiting their waitresses attire, I can explain, really.
See you after church!

Saturday night update

After Kung Fu Panda, a very funny film. We went to have dinner at the Magic Time Machine. Our waiter was Robin Hood. We had many visits from the Joker and other asorted characters. Always an amazing experience...always an exercise in excess.
We are back and in for the night. Wii and sardines (the game are in the cards).
We'll be up and out by 7 am and home before noon tomorrow.

Saturday Afternoon Update

We woke late this morning, had breakfask and headed to Celebration Station.
We arrived and as we started our our second ride on the go-karts the rain began. Fortunately, video games, lunch and lazer tag held us over until the karts were running again.
It's now a gorgeous day.
We are currently sitting in an IMAX theater watching Kung Fu Panda on the big screen.
We will finish here and head to dinner.

Friday recap

12:15pm left church
12:18 arrived at McDonalds
12:30 on the road
2:30 pit stop at Love's...one child tries to use all their money on a slinky, etcha-sketch and yoyo combo pack, another learns that a bathroom vending machines come in many flavors including one that dispenses colgne for 25 cents. Save that quarter.
4:00 pm pit stop no known stupidity
5:00 arrive at destination
6:00 dinner at Chipotle's
7:00 planetarium
9:00 back at base camp
10:00 lights out (hopefully)

trip video

I tried to share a video from the second show at the planetarium.
The first was a show called "Astronaut" and detailed the demands placed on astronauts. This was followed by a woman who called herself a "physicist (sort of)". She seemed to be making most of her facts up, as she often changed answers and said things like; I want to say and I'm guessing.
The final show was the rock n' roll hall of fame. Literal visual overload set to tunes by The Who, Doors, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, Jimi Hendrix, Midnight Oil and U2. Very cool. We all left feeling a little dizzy or car sick. If I get the video to load, you'll see the wonder that was Led Zepplin.

We're headed to DFW!

We're packed and rockin' along in the "bread box" headed to DFW for the weekend.



We'll update the blog as we move from location to location. If we can grab ourselves a wireless internet signal we'll update photos to our photobucket account.

INSOMNIAC

INSOMNIAC leaves at noon.
A weekend of fun and fellowship for our Middle Schoolers.
This year we moved the trip from the Memorial Day Weekend.
We speculated that placing the trip at the end of VBS would be an incenotve to participate in VBS and be a nice reward.
Next year we will make sure we take Father's Day in account...

It's traditionl that students don't find out what they are doing until we are actually doing it.
Parents will get a full itenerary just before we pull out.

The blog will be updated nightly!

PET recap

Well, all of the pictures I have are up at photobucket. I've had a week to digest my thoughts about the trip. I returned excited and enthusiastic about the trip. Those feelings haven't waned. But in the context of VBS this week and leaving today of INSOMNIAC (a fun fellowship trip...yeah the name says it all) I've realised that the ideas and challenges of justice and oppression seem pretty daunting. How easy it is to let the big picture quickly leave our thoughts. Please join me as I continue to talk about justice.

On the road again...

We had a great day at Schlitterbahn yesterday. We arrived at 10am and closed the park down at 8pm. We'll be leaving New Braunsfels this morning and headed home. Our ETA is 3pm at the church. We will call from 45 mins out to let you know we are within striking distance. Please make sure you son or daughter helps to unload and clean up the bus(anticlimatic, but important).
It's been a joy to be with this group for the past five days.

note: there will be one last post with some final thoughts on the trip. Any remaining pictures will also get posted. I think there are few pictures from Schlitterbahn...cameras and water; bad mix.

Wednesday afternoon update

Well, after 3 great days of work we headed to Luling High School and showered and then headed to Bucees. If you haven't experienced Bucees, shame on you. Bucees is the ultimate travel stop. It is a Mecca. It also happens to be located at the Luling exit on I-10.

What was purchased there:

7 frozen Dr. Peppers

3 lbs of fudge

Jerky, Jerky, Jerky

Candy

Texas themed items

and a Flamingo walking stick. One lucky family (actually two) will get to enjoy a 4 ft tall walking stick shaped like a flamingo. Two youth pitched in to buy this utilitarian master piece. There is a custody agreement in place.

We leave tomorrow in the a.m. for our fun day. Details later.

Ending Oppression

5 things people are already doing to challenge oppression around the world:

1. Paying attention- They watch reliable national and international news media and web sites for clues bout what's happening in the world and how they can act for justice.

2. Praying- They talk to God about justice specifically and relentlessly.

3. Giving- They fund justice work of organizations.
They give to justice missions of their church.

4. Telling Stories- Whatever they learn about justice, they teach to anyone willing to learn
They talk to church leaders about supporting justice missions
They talk with law enforcement professionals, officers of the court and
diplomats about justice-making activities of agencies.

5. Crossing Borders- They choose careers that cross borders to challenge injustice and oppression.

How can I pay more attention?
How can I pray?
What ca I give?
How can I become a justice storyteller?
Can I prepare to fight injustice across borders? (Are there borders in your own community you need to cross first?)

First Amendment Right to Assembly

We have had an outbreak of clubs, associations, and societies this week. It all started when the girls seemed to have pieced together that they all own "tankinis". The Tankini Club was formed.
The discovery of a half dozen lawn flamingos led the boys to form the People's Flamingo Liberation Front (or something along those lines). Meetings on Tuesday and Friday. Free Donuts.
The women of course had already moved along to forming the Pudding Society. I don't know how the bylaws read for the Pudding Society, but the girls all laugh with no control if you say the word "pudding".
On a tangential note, today Luling was the birth place of the World Cross Classification Insect Bottle Battle to the Death. The boys happened to find an empty water bottle (okay it was mine), a small cockroach (the Texas Water Beetle variety) and what was clearly misidentified as a "Pine Beetle", managed to get them in the same bottle. Both bugs sat there doing really nothing, but the legend lives on!

Quote of the day...

It's easy to get overtired on a mission trip (heck, any youth trip). I sat down for a moment to share with you a great thing that was said today. I couldn't remember it. I said to Karen, my wife, I wish I could remember that great quote.

"Was it something somebody said?"

I give you your quote of the day!

Photobucket account or yay pictures!

We have started uploading pictures from the trip to our photobucket account:
http://photobucket.com/osmtrip

We will continue to add photos daily. Enjoy!

Thoughts from the day

Justice: working to see that every person has what is rightfully hers
Oppression: using force and lies to deprive others o what is rightfully theirs

Isaiah was a giant in his day. He was respected in royal circles despite his unpopular message.

Isaiah 1:10-17
Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
11What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt-offerings of rams
and the fat of fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.
12When you come to appear before me,
who asked this from your hand?
Trample my courts no more;
13bringing offerings is futile;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation—
I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.
14Your new moons and your appointed festivals
my soul hates;they have become a burden to me,
I am weary of bearing them.
15When you stretch out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
16Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your doings
from before my eyes;
cease to do evil, 17
learn to do good;
seek justice,
rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
plead for the widow.

We tend as a church to talk mostly about what God loves. Based on the Isaiah passage what does God want more; worship or doing right? Push come to shove, what does God ask from us here? Which is easier acts of worship or seeking justice? Which do we see more in the modern church?

Todd did an amazing job bringing the message yesterday in the Contemporary Service. If we are to be like Jesus we are going to revere how people get to God. His message set this group in the right direction. "Trampling of my courts" sound familiar?

God commands 7 things from us:

wash yourselves; make yourselves clean
remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes
cease to do evil
learn to do good
seek justice
rescue the oppressed
defend the orphan
plead for the widow

We've been talking about all 7, but we keep coming back to 2 of the 7; learn to do good and seek justice. Isaiah was talking to people who walked, talked, acted, appeared, performed rituals, showed up like God's people. These people were off-based and off track. What did God tell them to do? God told them to do 7 things. Don't you think when God says, "Okay, you've really gone and messed things up. So much, I can't bear to even look at you. So do these things" we might want to pay attention?

Learn to do good: Why do we have to learn? You mean it doesn't come natural to us? Of course not. By nature we are self focused. Learning is a mind set, an openness, a willingness to set aside our selfishness.

Seek justice: If we get real with ourselves and allow ourselves to really take a look around, injustice is easy to see. We now have to hunt out opportunities to make sure that people have what is rightly theirs. Next thing you know he'll want us to rescue the oppressed (your Bible might say "encourage the oppressed" I like the NRSV's rescue. Encourage the oppressed? Hang in there oppressed! Some translations read rebuke the oppressor. Bad oppressor! Rescue rings true to me.

It's clear that God hates injustice. God calls every Christian to join the fight against it. Christians have a decent track record at fighting injustice (we are responsible for our fair share too). So what are you doing about it?

Today, I saw 17 people change the lives of two people, maybe two families. As I saw our youth get to try out the PETs today, I saw the joy and the happiness in their faces and voices. I couldn't help but think how much more joy will the man or woman that gets the PET experience. Our team stood up and walked away. The future owner will not be able to do the same. We shouldn't take that for granted.

All work and no play

Ty and Katie show us how it's done.

Monday pictures

Pictures from the day:

Assembeling the PET

Painting the PET



























The paint dries

Put together and taken apart to make sure everything works

Packed in a box with other goodies for shipping

Boxed and ready to go

Monday afternoon update

Our first day in the workshop seemed more fun than work. The PET is a great device. Throughout the day several people stopped wanting to buy a PET. The answer was always the same. "They are sent to a third world country. Would you like a brochure?"

Highlights from the day...

7 PETs painted

3 PETs boxed to ship

3 PETs fully assembled

2 PETs being assembled

Quote of the day:

Can I just be a girly-man and go and paint? - Ty

Sunday Night Update

We made it safely. The 5 hour drive was made bearable by Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark and Meet the Robinsons.

The church greeted us with a delicious dinner casserole (ground meat, mushrooms and crescent rolls on top.

We've learned that girls will form any club possible in order to bond and that Tanner LOVES MadGab.

Tonight we talked about light. God created the light, his word is light on our path, Jesus is the light, we are children of the light and we are to reflect God's light.

We are setting out to create over the next few days. This is one of the ways we know that we are created in his image. We are creating more than a cart to help someone without mobility. We are also creating opportunity in oppressed areas. The places carts have been sent have children sold into bonded servant hood and prostitution. Most of these were forced into work because a parent couldn't pay a debt. Will one of the carts we build mean that a parent will not wind up at the mercy of a money lender and so they child will be able to stay in school?

This mission trip is about more than building carts. It is about justice and our part in seeing justice done and oppression ended.

Begin to pray for those who will receive the carts we will make this week. We will have our first day in the workshop tomorrow at 8:30 am.