I have come to the end of my second mission’s trip of the summer and just like the trip to Romania, this trip to Poland is full of memories, stories, and a new awareness of just how awesome our God really is.  Prior to this second trip I wrote briefly about how it would be significantly different than the first trip.  As I wrote that last entry I thought I was simply trying to prepare the folks at home that the blogs from this team would not be like those from the first team.  In hindsight what I was really saying was, “don’t be disappointed if something big doesn’t happen in Poland because God only works in situations like we had in Romania.  Kid’s lives could only be changed if they were living with host families, fully immersed in the culture, and working with the less fortunate.”  Once again I was putting my God in a small box, and once again He responded by saying “oh yeah, watch this!”

We serve a HUGE God.  As I look back over this trip it is simply amazing to see God’s timing and orchestration.  As a team we worked together from Friday to Wednesday to set up camp, teach English and sports clinics.  We also worked to build relationships with the Polish students – specifically the students we each were drawn to personally.  All of that changed with the introduction of the Noro virus and the Polish hospital.  As roughly half the camp found themselves in the hospital from Wednesday until Friday God proved again that He is bigger than my plans and worthy of my trust.  Our teens in the hospital built relationships with Polish teens in the hospital, while the team still at camp also had to connect with a different set of kids.  There was real bonding and community happening in both locations.  When all 60 of us were finally reunited at camp it was as if we were all family.  We now knew all of the campers and amazingly the Polish students from the hospital wanted to go back to camp rather than home. 

God knew what he was doing.  Had we gotten sick earlier in the week, I think the relationships would not have been as strong or diverse and I believe camp would have been canceled.  Had we gotten sick later in the week, the Polish students would have simply been picked up at the hospital and camp would have ended.  Instead the Polish students pressed their parents to allow them to go back to camp; they wanted to finish out the week even after three days in the hospital.  The timing of God was incredible. 

It was such a blessing working with this team.  Hearing the way’s that God impacted them this week was nothing short of amazing.  To hear our kids share that they learned things like “when I am weak God is strong – He was with me even when I was scared,” or to hear them speak about gratitude, and compassion just proved to me that I have no reason to ever doubt that God can work in any situation. 

Over the past five weeks I have spent 28 days in Europe on teen mission trips.  It has been an incredibly impactful stretch of time for me.  I have learned so much about myself, my teens, and my God.  I believe it’s going to take at least another 28 days to truly process all that I have experienced, but one thing is for sure, I serve a big God, who, despite how often I try, does not allow me to put Him into a box.  I love that my God continues to say “oh yeah?  Watch this!”

  Pastor Mike