| Looking Back.... An overview of a year on the road
We met in August. The bitter sweetness of saying goodbye to those we have grown to love over the year mixed with the excitement of things to come. Even then, the road was calling, it was beckoning us to a reckless adventure, a love story with our creator. We met with pre-conceived notions on how its been or what we have been told. Stereotypes and stories of what it’s like to be a part of this kind of patchwork family. First impressions flew high and we wondered how on earth we’d live with fill-in-the-blank for 8 months with less then a square foot of personal space. We wondered how we’d possibly do the job that was assigned to us. Quickly, we jumped right into an unfamiliar world of truss’s and par cans, falling asleep at night exhausted, nightmares of tagging endless ware houses of tour shirts, and our skin rotting from simple green. Names became friends, anticipation and fear rose, then it was over. We over packed our bags and left civilian life behind with a trail of bus funk.
We survived the thrived the first event in Amherst. We wandered the historic streets of Boston. Loved our host homes in Delaware. Did our first and last Acquire the Spark in South Carolina. Our eyes opened and our hearts broke as we saw the disaster hurricane Katrina left in Mississippi as we helped clean up, we realized one of the key lessons- Ministry Team is about Ministry, not just youth conferences. We fell in love with the streets of San Francisco and realized the Candy Cane isn’t to keen on hills. We discovered DDR in the church in Danville and got through our first BCLS.
We soon realize life on the road was a love hate relationship, and at first our bus hated us. We laughed at the ghetto we found ourselves in as we waited for the taxis to rescue us and bring us to that sketchy hotel that drug dealers frequented. Finally our bus got going, just in time to make it to Canada- or so we thought. “Hey guys...we need to pray.” Became the famous words of Russ as the wheel barring acquired a little too much fire! We realized, with great irony we has broken down in a place called Battle Mountain, or so it said on the sign “Battle MT.” Time went on and we knew we wouldn’t make it to Hamilton, so they decision was made to fly half the team out to do the event. The other half would stay in the infamous town that has now become a cuss word to those who survived it’ tortures- Elko, Nevada. While half the team waited in airports for hours with no sleep, signing a barf bag for entertainment, the other half played in a dollar store called Honks, hung out in a Starbucks in a casino, and waited. And waited. And waited. Patience was tested and people were let down but this was a huge turning point for us. The event went on, maybe not so smoothly, but it went on, and while the half in Canada were broken to pieces and forced to rely on God, those in Elko realized another important lesson- we are not our job.
The next leg of the tour flew by. Cleveland. Our next two BCLS’s in Philly and DC when were were kind of reluctant to split up after the Elko experience. But we made it. Thanksgiving came and went, then we headed across the great and endless state of Texas to our next destination: Arizona. But no body had any idea just how long we would be there! We ended up on the side of the highway broken down again, but as always God brought beauty from ashes and we laughed and grew closer as we watched for shooting stars in the clear vast night sky. We had fun at the basketball game and headed toward our unknown retreat destination- that had fallen into place 48 hour before. We spent days relaxing, cooking and playing games in the woods of northern Arizona, laughed at the talent show and marveled that the fall tour was already over. We headed home, thoughts of Christmas in our minds. Then....”Umm. Hey guys...we need to pray.” We were stuck in the middle of nowhere New Mexico. Gloria was angry. We made the most of the 18 hours we were on the side of the road, breaking open chips and cans of cold beans left over from the trip, exploring piles of ruble and falling into swamps. We finally got out of there and made it back just in time to make our flights home for Christmas.
The Spring: Halfway through Christmas we missed each other and the high adrenaline fast pace of tour life. We all came back ready to jump into a new season. This time it wasn’t just us. We welcomed the January team with open arms and learned how to serve and teach them while allowing them to make their job theirs. We left for Houston anxiously ready to get away from the Sac.
Cities and venues blurred into each other mixed with mistakes and tears and laughter and missed cues, team meetings and malls. Peoria. Hitting the slopes in Iowa .Norfolk. The brave ones braving the slopes again, others going to America’s biggest mall. Time at Cori’s house. Minneapolis. Kansas city. Staying with the many Langhofers. Brittany’s church in Tampa. Our little windy island. Tampa. Back to campus to prepare for the Battle Cry. Then it was off to San Francisco where we had no idea just what we were getting ourselves into. We braved the wind, the rain, the protesters and all the things that went wrong. In the end, God shook the west coast in a powerful way, and the name Battle Cry blared from televisions all over the country. After the worlds longest load out we took the path once again from California to Texas to do a regular event in Dallas. Then over to Ford Field. Detroit was definitely the biggest, the badest and the best, with 35,000 people and a nearly flawless show. We reminisced how a few short months ago we sat in a ski lodge in Iowa, watching the super bowl saying things like “Hey, can you believe we are going to be there in a few months!”
After a relaxing Easter break we went back to the beautiful state of California, spent some quality time at the beach, and had a good event in San Diego. Then it was back to Texas again. We wandered the Alamo and river walk of San Antonio and had fun in the arena built for rodeo. Then we headed east. Sweet home Alabama. We braved a cave, learned syncro and how to pogo and got attacked by silly string in Birmingham. Now it’s the day before our last event in Philly and we realized then, how fast this year really went by.
8 months. 21 events. Countless Wal-marts and tears and Arby’s and load ins and Bolthouse smoothies and inside jokes and peer group time and how you doin’ forms and spontaneous worship and support letters and posed group pictures and the Barbarian way and team meetings and keep awakes and all the little things that made this year, this year. And it is the little things that will be remembered over the years. That certain conversation that changed the way you view life, that moment waking up and having no idea where you are but you are just happy to be alive, that teen you got to pray with at the youth service that changed the way you viewed God’s grace. That time you stopped working for a few minutes and just stood in the midst of kids getting real with Jesus for the first time, your heart racing as you got a glimpse of this miracle we are apart of.
This year will live on in your memory. In the deeply knitted friendships we have made and in your heart. Hold on to it and cherish it, but don’t try to re-live it... There is more to come, this is just the beginning. Life is a journey and it is a beautiful adventure, and yours is just getting started.
Written by Brooke Luby, Women’s Advisor August Ministry Team 2005-2006
Currently Listening
MT Soundtrack of the Year
Featuring: Joel Settle, Isa, Mary Vorrath, Jack Johnson, Seveth Day Slumber, Amy Grant, Catie King, James Blunt, and more. |
mixed emotions for everyone....
It's so beautiful here!!!! The concourse here is outside.... merch gets to be outside all weekend in the sun..... if only we could wear flip flops!
