January 20 – “Six on six”

There were 23 students and one very small dog at youth group tonight.  I met one new guy.  One girl was there who hasn't been there for awhile.  One guy announced that he's moving to New York next month.    We had a box of paper, a table, and six chairs in the truck with us.  The paper and table went into the old building.  The six chairs we needed to put up in the school building.  I asked a few guys to help me, and six of them followed me out.  I teased them about how hard it was going to be for each of them to carry one chair.  They stammered something about teamwork.  When I got upstairs and opened the door, here they all came.  One guy was carrying all six chairs.  The others were "helping" him, I guess.  They wanted to see the building.    With Mike in Tennessee, Rita and Cory are working really well together.  Rita leads a game and makes a spiritual point from it.  Cory does a short Bible teaching, leads a prayer time, and chooses praise music on the computer.    I talked to Kel for a long time today.  He reserved three spots for some kids from First Baptist to go to camp with us.  He's planning to go as well as a counselor.  Camp deposits were a big topic on FaceBook today.  At least they were in the posts that I made.  And I made a lot of posts.  It worked.  I got several deposits tonight.  A few assured me that they had it, but left it at home.  Some others said theirs would be here Sunday.  Bring them on.  Now our huge hurdle is raising money for the bus to get us to North Carolina.  It's supposed to cost somewhere around $9500.  And we have to cover the counselors camp costs as well.  That's some big bucks in post Ike Galveston.  We have been praying for God to do something that can only be explained as him at work.  Maybe this is it.    Still no car purchase.  We made an internet offer on a Chevy Equinox.  We decided that if we ever have to evacuate again, a Cobalt won't be big enough, even with the truck.  The Equinox runs about five thousand more that the Cobalt.  Our other choice is the Toyota Rav4.  I hope one of them wins soon.  We have to use our trade-in coupon by February 6, and it could take five to seven business days for the money to get transferred to our account.  Give me a winner, please.   John 15:9-10 says, "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love."   Father, what does that mean "remain in my love"?  I don't want to ever get out of your love.  Amen.