Destination Unknown is in the books for another year. Sara Pensyl really outdid herself, planning a stellar trip. I don’t think any of the high school students knew where we were headed until they started seeing road signs on the way. We jumped on a bus in Happy Valley and headed east to The City. Yep, we hit the Big Apple about noon, when the busdude dropped us near Central Park for the start of our Amazing Race (which, if you say it out loud, could also be Amazing Grace!)
We spent several hours racing south through the city from Central Park to Grand Central Station to Times Square, taking the subway (eat fresh?) down to the Bowery Mission, through Chinatown, ending up at the Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall. Three teams of teens and adults surfing the subway, logging miles on foot, gathering odd mementos and making great memories…the weekend was off to a great start. We ended the night with a splendid dinner in Little Italy before taking a short bus ride out to Neptune, New Jersey to spend the night at a sweet hotel.
After a deelish breakfast it was back on the bus to Point Pleasant Beach. We spent some time in worship and prayer, and I shared a bit about Jesus and Peter from John 21. The rest of the afternoon was spent playing in the water, walking the boardwalk, and hanging with friends.
We rolled back into Happy Valley just as The Flood (our monthly prayer gathering) was kicking off. We’ve decided to make The Flood part of our monthly rhythm of prayer, so we dove right in. Well, they did…I went back outside to see if I could help sort out the car that the bus pushed up the guy wires of the telephone pole in the parking lot. Yep…that happened.
As the dad of 3 high school young’ns, this was a great trip. As the youth pastor ho got to spend hours with lots of high school students, this was a great trip. There’s a good bit of excitement and momentum building.
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