Carpentering for the Carpenter

Four days after becoming a Senior Citizen (of sorts) I boarded a (school) bus for a five hour trip with 40 teen-agers (and a few adults) to a weekend youth conference in Edmonton. There at "YC 2005" some sixteen thousand young people were gathered in Rexall Place, the colliseum where Wayne Gretsky used to play hockey (there's a statue of him holding up the Stanley Cup outside). Soon the places was vibrating with loud music, and louder kids. I appreciated the worship band but the other singing groups (like Delerious , Tree 63, and Audio Adrenaline) were a little (no, a lot) too loud for me. Earplugs helped but they could stop my body from vibrating with the booming bass sounds. Then they ended the conference with Toby Mac! His rap style took "loud" to another level. (And I think I caught about five words of what he said!) My recomendation: get the Gaither Vocal Band next year!

The speakers, Miles McPherson and Mike Pilavachki, were right on. Several hundred kids came to Christ the first evening. Everyone was challenged to go deeper in our relationship with Christ. Sunday morning the call came to stand if we were willing to do anything for God (including crawling across broken glass to get to someone with the gospel). Mile P. did not make it easy, yet a good number of young people and leaders responded.

Back on the practical side of the weekend. I spent two nights in a Holiday Inn room with 3 young guys. Friday night allowed for five hours sleep. Saturday night was (a little) better and I got about six. I thought the kids would be dead on the ride home, but they wern't! I finally got back into my own bed at 1:30 a.m. and still made it it work by 8:00, dragging one hind leg! I think I'm getting too old for this, but apparently God doesn't. I must say it was a blessing to be involved, to be able to pray with (and for) various people and to meet a number of old friends at the conference!