Journey

"She took a midnight train going anywhere..."

Ok, so it's not that kind of Journey. This weekend, the high schoolers are going to Journey in January at Camp Lutherhoma in Tahlequah, OK.

Journey is by far one of my favorite retreat weekends, albiet the campy-ness and coldness that accompany it. Journey is a retreat that is planned and led by high school students from all over the state of Oklahoma. These youth plan for this for months and willingly give up a lot of their time and energy to make this weekend work.

This year's theme is "Good Morning Journey" and is supposed to address the urgency of our faith. I'm excited and interested to see how it's addressed.

Mostly, I'm excited about Journey for three reasons 1) It is a GREAT opportunity to spend some QT with the kids at much church without having to really be in charge of anything other than the youths themselves. 2)the youth are really pushed to think a lot harder about who they are as Christ-followers and how that relates to their every day lives and 3)there are a lot of kids going this year... more than have ever gone before, which is exciting. I know, I know, it's not about the numbers, it's about the relationships, but it is nice when a lot of kids want to come to something that was once only a few (like 2) youth attended.

So, yes, I'm braving the cold and braving the "wilderness" and I am excited. I am excited for the youth going, for the other adult chaperone going, and for myself. Is it time to go yet?