SERVE Part III

The last and final SERVE post more than likely. Talked to Dustin last night on the phone and he and I both seem to be going through a similar post-SERVE funk. Although, I'll admit that mine's not as bad as last years. Everything went so great this time, that I'm still riding a pretty big SERVE high.

So what is there left to tell. Too much I'm afraid, so I'll just try to pull out a few more of the highlights from the week.

Poemetry
Well, as many know, I've been trying my hand at poetry writing for the last several months. On the first night of SERVE, I was playing prayer-partner-substitute for one of the prayer partners that couldn't make it to pray with their server, and I got paired up with a great young lady named Meghan Gage from Chicago. Turns out she's an aspiring poet as well, so I challenged her to write one by the end of the week, and then read it in the final worship. She did, and it was magnificent. I shall have to grab it out of my still packed suitcase and post it up here sometime soon. Yet, as great of a poet as she was, she did get a little feisty when I asked her to play Queen Jezebel. But oh well, Jezebel was pretty evil I guess. So, in a way, Meghan really nailed the part. Hope to hear from you soon Meghan!

Running
I've been running since the February / March portion of this year. Not a ton, just two or three miles a day - trying to remember what my body used to look like before five years of college and another five of youth directing. Well, lo and behold, I meet a young lady by the name of Lauren Hoag who's quite the runner herself and so we had a great two mile venture during the middle of the week. Unfortunately, even though Lauren wanted to run again, I had the very bad habit of staying up way too late with the boys at SERVE, and only made that one run. Sorry Lauren.

Staying Up Way Too Late With the Boys at SERVE
So we'd hit the hay around midnight or one, yet the chats and horseplay just kept on going. Things were flung around the room. Flashlights were use to put people in the "Hotseat" (a position where, if in the light, you had to answer any question asked), and many laughs were had by all. Was it worth it? Most definitely. I only wish the gals hadn't gotten so jealous at how much fun we guys had every night. My favorite night, of course, ended with me lullaby-ing the boys to sleep with a little four string tenor banjo.

More Than Meets the Eye
Part of the theme for the week was about using your spiritual gifts. So Dawn, the spiritual director extraordinaire that she is, had wrapped gifts for me to open every night right before my talk. Inside each gift was an object that had something to do with the talk that night. On the first night, I lamented to the group, as I opened the gift, that I sure hoped there'd be a new Transformer in one of these things during the week. Lo and behold, someone takes my joke seriously, and during my last talk on Friday night, what do I pull out of the gift, but a brand new Transformer from Small Group #3. He's a jetplane, and his name is Terradive, and I've played with him every day since.

Z.Z.
For the second year in a row I was blessed to have Zach Zomerman attend the SERVE where I was speaking. Zach is an amazing guy from Orange City who also attended the RISE Above Music Festival and schooled some folks in the Sioux City Wheelers basketball demonstration. Zach played Elisha to my Elijah on Thursday night, and did a great job. I've heard through the grapevine that he might be at the next SERVE as a volunteer on the host team, and I'm pretty pumped if that all falls into place.

Worksites
Well, Luke really out did himself again this year finding some awesome worksites for all the servers to take part in. My favorite was the Extreme Makeover site. The servers put in a fence, sandbox, new deck, and did some landscaping for a family who really needed it. While the work was being done on the home, Bartman put the family up in the hotel he works at, and they got a limo ride and a trip to the zoo. On Thursday, the groups got to make up their own challenges. And, deciding to become some crazy Nehemiah's, one group decided to head to a Laundromat and hand out free quarters to anyone who wanted them. I heard they had a great opportunity to share their faith and met some pretty interesting characters.

What more can I go on about? Hmmm. There are so many topics left that I may have to let the week process a bit more in my mind before going back to it. And if anybody out there knows something of great importance that I've left out, feel free to shoot me an email. Perhaps this won't be the last entry on SERVE - but it will be the last one for this week. Andrea and I are heading up to Okiboji for vacation, so it'll be a bit before this thing's updated again.

Till next time,

Jason