end-of summer musings

I recently arrived back home after an incredible experience counseling teens at summer camp. In just eight weeks I learned so many lessons about the Lord, about childhood and adulthood, about self-sacrifice, about the heartrending brokenness of the world and about the power of Christ's healing and all-encompassing love for the searching and distraught. My faith was strengthened and my spirit encouraged through godly fellowship, and I was incredibly rewarded through pouring my heart out in ministry to scores of junior high- and high-schoolers. It was the best summer of my life.

As great as my summer was, it had to end at some point. When I returned home, I was blessed by meaningful time with my family and friends before heading back to school. Very soon, the day came when my family packed our things in the car and embarked on a four-day journey cross-country. Ah, the classic American road trip.

There is a certain wild and unexpected beauty to road trips that tugs at my faintly romantic and old-fashioned heart. While flying is convenient and dominant, traveling by car or by rail is often my preference. In my mind, any trip is just as much about the journey as it is about the destination. Consider this:

Day two of our cross-country road trip began with with a brief side trip through the Little Bighorn battlefield. How grave it was to behold land that had once been the scene of bloodshed! The ordinary-looking gullies and hills were inevitably cast in the light of battle, and each white or red stone in the blowing and sun-bathed grass marked the site where a man thought his final thoughts before he died--a man with a story, with struggles, with loves and dreams. A healthy imagination transformed a possibly mundane trip to college into a significant glimpse into two nations' histories.

My hours of road time logged with energetic campers this summer molded me into a treasure trove of riddles and minute mysteries and simple games that pass the time. We laughed and schemed for hours (occasionally pausing to remark on the psychological and historical significance of the thousands of Harleys en route to the Sturgis motorcycle rally) and discussed any and all odd topics that sprung to our minds. Despite the inevitable discomfort of hours in the car, I look back and remember lots of good-natured laughter and joking. Make the most of necessary down time--that's a lesson I learned well this summer.

In the afternoon we made another side trip--this time through the Badlands in South Dakota: a striking arid region that inspired much interesting conversation. We traveled small highways nearly as often as we traveled interstate, thus getting a flavor of every community we passed. It was an incredible way to tap into the nature of this expansive country of ours. Day three of the trip brought not only a powerful electrical storm and the most brilliant rainbows I have ever seen,


but also a check mark to my bucket list with my first ever sighting of lightning bugs! Each night, like a child, I am struck again by the magic of fireflies.

I am currently in the middle of RA training. Part of that involves diving into the job, welcoming incoming students and their families, getting them on their feet, answering questions, and helping them move in as efficiently and with as little stress as possible. I have carried more boxes and TVs and microwaves, dispensed more keys, and connected with more people in three days than I really imagined. And right now we only have a fraction of early-arrivals in the apartment building! Ah, for the two great move-in days when new transfers and returning upperclassmen arrive in one giant crash. Huzzah!

Tonight we run our timed mile as a volleyball team, kicking off our pre-season three-a-day practices. Soon I'll be training for campus ministries, leading freshmen through orientation, beginning my upper division English classes, working in the financial aid office, leading a couple different bible study groups, and intentionally ministering to the thirty girls on my floor. Whew--what a lot of things to accomplish! I guess that in life, as in road trips, it's better to think less about destinations; it's better to make a careful itinerary and then get caught up in the surprising blessings and joys that can be found while puttering along the way.