MAN-Trip and More

I got back from the annual MAN-Trip yesterday. It wiped me out and didn't turn out like I thought it would. I didn't learn too much out of it, which caught me off a little bit. I guess that's a lesson I'm learning. At this point, I'm learning less and teaching more. My youth pastor sent me a letter a couple months ago and at the end it read, "Remember, you are here to give, not to get." I'm not quite sure why it's taking this long to learn., maybe it's that I don't think I'm qualified to teach. I definitely struggle with self-confidence, father based issue maybe?

Anyway, back to the MAN-Trip. To say it started and ended with a BANG! would be an understatement. Andy, our beastly intern, sent one of the windows on our churches "Party Bus" to kingdom come with his super-belly-smashing abilities, and that was the start. Once we had gotten up to Kelly's backforest (instead of backyard) and started a fire and got settled into worship, things kicked off spiritually. During worship I felt called to get up and walk over to the cliff that overlooked a creek. I thought, "Okay God, why not? I like nature." I didn't know that there was more to this calling, I guess I should have though.

Not long after moving to the fence did one of the guys come over. It was Andrew. I'd gotten to know him a little bit over the last month. He's a freshman that's new to the high school youth group. One thing I'd learned about him (because he told me...) was that when he gets comfortable around people he gets a little rough. We had a work day Tuesday (bear with me, it may seem like I'm drifting off topic, and it happens, but I'm not) and he was on my team. I found out that he was getting comfortable with me. I took a couple branches to the face that day. Where was I?

So Andrew walked over and pretty much shared his testimony with me. It may have meant a lot to him that I listened, but it meant a ton to me too that he was able to share some pretty heavy stuff with me. I know that we created a bond that night that God is going to use. I got to share a little of my testimony with him and it turns out that we have some common ground. I can't wait to see what God has in store with that friendship.

After that we proceeded to play three intense games of Capture the Flag that lead to deception, injuries, fun, a concussion and a bunch of half naked men running around. While it was fun, Zach had to leave early (he received the concussion) and that was a huge bummer. After the third game, things quieted down a bit. I walked up to the Party Bus with Jack (who is awesome, by the way) to treat his wound. When we got back to our camp site, everyone was laying down and it was pretty much the end of the day. (It was actually around 2 A.M.)

The next morning Tim, Danny, Mark, Nate and myself went to find the horses (Kelly's backforest contains many creatures, four of them happen to be horses). When we found them, we decided to re-name them all. We came up with American Ed, Nelly, Cow and Butts. There's a back story for every name, but this little story is off topic enough.

We made our way back to camp and were greeted with a great message from Old Man Harrington. He talked about how important it is for us to find and maintain relationships with other dudes that will ask us tough questions and keep us on our toes. While this was a lesson I've learned, I realized that it was probably one that needed to be heard by some of the guys and even re-heard by the rest of us.

After the talk we went to Sheldon's and got some grub. Not some grub I guess, A TON of grub. So many of the guys thought they could down three of the biggest pancakes you may ever see. I had seen these pancakes before and wisely chose to get a breakfast burrito, which was delicious.
Needless to say, almost everyone failed at eating the three beasts. The only person who did it was Mark. He made history that day, and he pretty much closed the trip.

Overall, what I learned out of all the broken windows, concussions, capture the flag victories and pancakes was that sometimes, I'm not the one doing the learning. I created and strengthened many relationships on that trip, and that's more than enough for me. I'm ready to step up myself.