my 2nd home...

good morning from white bear lake, mn! at the caribou coffee, reading a bit, catching up a bit before day 2 of the confirmation trip. we had a great day yesterday -- driving thru torrential rains, between dsm and the very south end of minneapolis; afternoon @ the water park of america, pizza @ aurelio's right near bethel, and worship @ eagle brook church, their 'edge' service. hello, rock show! it was a worship experience to say the least! you should visit if you are ever here...

i'm considering a second home in white bear as i've spent so much time here in the last year -- it really is a nice little town! too bad real estate is out of this world...maybe a plot of land to park the camper on. hmmmm...

we are on the confirmation trip -- we study communion (take it 5 times in 3 days), worship at 3 very different church services, and have a ton of fun. the best part of this trip for me (and it's my fave youth trip, followed closely by pine ridge in the past) because we are away, we focus on God really hard, and we have lots of fun. one very cool thing is the sense of family -- you take kids, from different schools and social circles, provide them a common setting and experience, ground it all in the community that develops from communion, and something very holy takes place. for a short time the kids forget who their friends are at home, what others think of them, and just embrace being a family of faith (i call it a big disfunctional travelling family circus, ricky hawks is the ring master!) but i love that it's Jesus that is the link in all this...when we commune @ zion, think of that. the coming together of all of us, from different arenas of life, diff social circles, incomes, perspectives, etc -- all coming and confessing our need, acknowledging before each other that only Jesus can fix us, and then being identified as part of the family thru body and blood...amazing.

happy sunday all!