Encouragement...

I have been crazy busy the past couple weeks. Today I leave for Chicago with my youth group. I am pretty excited because I get to stop and see my parents tonight...my whole youth group is staying at their house. : ) And I think I might get to see miss melissa while I'm in STL too, which would totally rock my face off. Then it's on to the Chicago Construction Zone, which I'm pretty excited about...not only am I looking forward to it because the event in VA Beach last year was cool but because the kids in my youth group have never experienced anything like this, which makes it cool...Plus I get to see Lindsey and Danielle. These girls are so encouraging to me in life and in ministry. They are strong for me when I can't be. The pray for me when I can't pray. They sing with me when I'm happy, and they listen to me ALWAYS. Knowing that I will see them soon makes me happy.

I'm feeling so good about life right now...and about what I do. This past week I found myself in a lot of conversations with church workers and leaders from many other traditions and it was encouraging. I am surrounded by people serving God. I had a converstation the other day with a guy starting a Christian Skate Park in a "city" near where I live. The town is highly unchurched and non-christian. I've planned a huge srevant event for the area. As we were sitting there talking about plans he said something like, "I am learning so much from you." that was encouraging and scary all at the same time. Encouraging because it means that I am on the right track with what I am doing...scary (not necessarily a bad scary) because it reminds me that people are watching what I do and it's an example.

I guess it's just encouraging to have people in my midst that get it...they get why I'm excited about ministry and they're excited about it too.