Oct 1, 2011 - a couple of the Present:Hope tour team watch the sun set after having toured the devastation of tornadoes in the Tuscaloosa/Birmingham, AL area.

click the image to see this

I am mindful these past couple of days that it was just a year ago that almost 300 tornadoes ripped through Alabama and left almost that many people dead. according to the weather channel, it was one of the largest outbreaks of tornadoes in history.. the destruction path was over 18 states.

It was only seven months ago that i rode with 12 others as part of Venture Expeditions the Present Hope Tour  through that area to help bring awareness of the good  work that Convoy of Hope was championing to help rebuild peoples lives and their homes.  just watched a report of the Gov. of Alabama reminding all that the recovery and rebuilding is still continuing.  it will be years yet til all is restored.   

so i headed out for a road trip with some of my students last nite to an event in north canton hosted by a Kingdom ally – Joel Daniel Harris. i intentionally asked a few students who are prospective leaders in our student ministry.  the evening was billed as a…

night for middle school and high school students to come together for worship, to meet new people on a similar journey in Christ, to pray for one another, and to connect with God. Joining youth from across NE Ohio, The Gathering is an opportunity to have a night of worship to remind us that we are not alone but are joining in this journey with Christ together, no matter our church.

one cool aspect while waiting to enter was "photo boothes" with photographers snapping fun pictures like this one of our team: in front - Maddie & Sara and back row, Mitch, me and Jamie.

The theme was “Who Are You?” and  Joel and his team did a great job of making the evening an amazing time.  for the students i took it was a good investment of time.  All three were really encouraged by the time of worship and teaching.  the biggest surprise and blessing for me was these three students answering the challenging question for the night…who are you in Christ.  Two of the students responded “leader”.  in both cases i know these students have  the capacity and i’ve been trying for awhile to encourage them to step up and lean into that calling.  last night was a huge confirmation.

another area youth pastor tim beck and his students made this video as a set up for the message.

and here’s a nice little wrap up.

The Gathering happens regularly…you can find out more about it at facebook.com/330gathering

Venture Expeditions from Park Bench Pro on Vimeo.

it was fun to see my own unexpected adventure today as i spent the entire day in a local middle school with an amazing group of students and their teacher sharing about the present hope tour.

got my name on the board.

i’m in this school once a week connecting with a young man with whom i’m mentoring. i’ve walked these halls many times…but yesterday was the first time to spend time, up front teaching. it was a great day. i was invited in by the 8th grade language arts teacher, ms. osterland. she has a love of books and leverages that with her students. she has a connection with her students that is straightforward and engaging.  i love that that the  back wall in her classroom is  filled completely with books that are well-worn from being read. it was fun to hear several students bringing books back to get new ones to read over the break share their excitement over what they had read.

a reminder to the thread here on my blog about “story”. i couldn’t help but begin my conversation with each class with a pause of reflection on the three young men who have taken their lives in the past 40 days. i asked each class if they knew any of them. it was interesting because in every class almost half raised their hands. but when i clarified and said…how many of you spent time with them…the hands went down. further discussion revealed that most only “knew” because they were friends on facebook…but had never met. so hence maybe the larger issue for another post.
so weaving out of the idea of a story that we are part of…much like the stories in the hundreds of books in the room to my own story of riding a bike 800 miles with a team of incredible individuals to even the idea of doing hard things.
it was good to share the stories from those i came to know on the bike ride…Jason, a husband whose wife Wendy was killed by the tornado and who’s wedding ring pastor aaron brown wore on a necklace during the ride or the story of will norton, a student who had just graduated hours earlier on that fateful day in joplin and was killed while riding home with his dad. it was will’s story that even gained more traction during the day as the teacher received several emails from students who had gone to the computer labs and did research to learn more about will and those students forwarded the links.

at the end of the nine periods, as the teacher and i were debriefing the day, a common thread -no surprise-appeared… and it was the understanding that “story” connects us and yet there is much that comes against us being all that we were created to be.  respecting my context, i didn’t dive too deeply into spiritual issues but yet at the core that is why our stories become frustrated and complicated.  i find these words from john eldredge helpful…

… our lives are not a random series of events; they tell a Story that has meaning. We aren’t in a movie we’ve arrived at twenty minutes late; we are in a Sacred Romance. There really is something wonderful that draws our heart; we are being wooed. But there is also something fearful. We face an enemy with vile intentions. Is anyone in charge? Someone strong and kind who notices us? At some point we have all answered that question “no” and gone on to live in a smaller story. But the answer is “yes”-there is someone strong and kind who notices us. Our Story is written by God, who is more than author, he is the romantic lead in our personal dramas. He created us for himself, and now he is moving heaven and earth to restore us to his side. His wooing seems wild because he seeks to free our heart from the attachments and addictions we’ve chosen, thanks to the Arrows we’ve known.

And we-who are we, really? We are not pond scum, nor are we the lead in the story. We are the Beloved; our hearts are the most important thing about us, and our desire is wild because it is made for a wild God. We are the Beloved, and we are addicted. We’ve either given our heart to other lovers and can’t get out of the relationships, or we’ve tried our best to kill desire (often with the help of others) and live lives of safe, orderly control. Either way, we play into the hands of the one who hates us. Satan is the mortal enemy of God and therefore ours as well, who comes with offers of less-wild lovers, hoping to deceive us in order to destroy our heart and thus prevent our salvation or cripple our sanctification. These are the stage, the characters, and the plot in the broadest possible terms. Where do we go from here? (The Sacred Romance , 147-48)

guessing that “the hobbit” will be a box office smash…because that story reflects our own lives.  can’t wait.

the present:hope tour team on the catalyst stage. my pal paul is to my right (he's 5th from R and i'4th with the camera on my helmet).

my friend, paul hurckman has an interesting post on the venture expedition blog about the impact of “story”.  the tension between tell a story in front of literally tens of thousands of people and to just one person.

i find it interesting especially even today, some 12 weeks since riding more than 800 miles with paul and 11 other individuals in the present:hope tour. 

i shared again today about the tour with a small group of senior high young men that i’m mentoring in a local high school.

my sharing with them was less about my personal accomplishment and more about the larger idea of a  willingness to risk to make a difference in the lives of others, even those we may never have met.  it was a great exchange between myself and these 7 young men.  most of these guys are making some unwise decisions about lifestyle choices that are impacting themselves in a negative way ( one of the reasons we’re spending time together).  i began our conversation with the “what’s goin’ on“  video from the post last week with thoughts about another young man, jonah .  it was good to hear my 7 young firends championing jonah’s plight and offering to befriend him.  and then i showed the tour video and a couple other videos i had shot riding on the highway.  those videos were a great springboard into a good conversation about understanding  that all of our lives matter and can leverage and impact others in ways we might not even understand while living it out.

i was on the phone later today with two others and again the impact of 12 days on a bike during the present:hope tour came up.  there are times i find myself wanting to apologize because it seems like all i ever do is talk about the those 803 miles.  yet what it really is about is simply sharing what the weight of those miles– the friendships– the investment from family in friends–and the list goes on — has offered not only to my story in life but literally hundreds of others.

paul notes correctly that the good folks at Venture have yet to receive an application for the 2012 rides…i’m hoping and praying that we can change that.  because as paul says…

…the real power in the Venture story happens when one person takes time to tell another how their life has been transformed by being on a tour.

so here’s my challenge…if you’re a pastor or youthworker  this Kingdom effort called venture expeditions could offer  you and/or one of your students the opportunity to truly benefit the world and discover your soul. check them out.

looking for the team sweep.

not sure how many days left for riding outside…but got one in saturday. lots of beauty in the midst of the brisk fall air. lots of activity too…saw a gazillion wooly worms making their way across the highways. There still is a strangeness to riding solo. lots of time for reflection but i kept yearning to hear a voice behind…”car back”.

the tweet that started it...

mark riddle  shared this video today on his facebook profile.   a dude named george overbey is following fourth year NBA star, currently playing for the Oklahoma City Thunder kevin durant  on twitter.

kevin durrant posts that he’s bored and wants something to do. and george tweets back and invite kevin to play.  with more than a million followers on twitter a single conversation begins

the series of tweets that followed from george to durant.

and so its on…kevin drives about an hour and plays some flag football with some students. craziness!  but  so cool.  it was a risk for sure.  and from the video it got crazy.  so grateful that a dude with durant’s celebrity status would risk  to be inconvenienced and hassled to play a game with some ordinary students.  i see the message of being present all over this.  so the question today…are you willing to let your daily routine be “inconvenienced” to make a difference?

Stephen Hosmer

yep…another story. here’s some video from an interview that Present:Hope Tour team-mate Stephen Hosmer did with KUSI-TV in San Diego.  Steve has an amazing heart and is an AVID cyclist. He rides a minimum of 2,500 miles a year. Personally he was (and still is!) an INCREDIBLE encourager to those of us on the team who were novices to cycling.

Steve is the Co-CEO of Royale Energy, Inc.  who also was a major underwriter of the Present:Hope Tour.  Steve has an amazing wit (note the picture on the trike) and a servant’s heart.  Every morning on the tour he worked quickly and almost anonymously to assure that each team member’s bike was properly lubricated and had correct tire pressure.  So cool to see his home town of San Diego recognize his accomplishment. So cool too that the story of our 803 mile ride is still offering momentum to the efforts of Venture Expeditions and Convoy of Hope.

mark zimmerman and benny

i realized that i hadn’t posted the final conversation i had with my Kingdom ally Mark Zimmerman at WCRF radio 103.3 FM Cleveland.  Mark and I spoke early on Thursday morning as we arrived at the Gwinett Center in northwest Atlanta for the first session of the Catalyst 2011  Conference.  Mark has been a huge encouragement over the years, but especially on this last crazy adventure.

Mark can savor some of the effort the Present:Hope Tour team accomplished as he stepped off back in July to run (& hike) the BT50k @Cuyahoga Valley National Park. He finished the 31.2mi. race, got the tech shirt, the medal, & the car sticker and the”trophy”….a new truck for Love & Hope Children’s Home in El Salvador.  You can read about Mark’s effort here.

I’m hoping that in the coming months i’ll be able to make a return to trip to joplin and tuscaloosa to see how our effort through Convoy of Hope has been leveraged in the rebuilding.

over the past week ABC TV’s Extreme Home Makeover has been on site at 7 homes in joplin offering encouragement by rebuilding.

Pastor Aaron Brown said in an email on Monday:

The Extreme Home Makeover people have flooded the city and the excitement is off the chart.  It’s amazing to see these 7 houses going up.  At the same time the reality is that we have thousands more homes to rebuild.  THOUSANDS!  Joplin is crazy with hope and life.

the kids from the orphanage sit on the truck that Mark's fundraising efforts helped obtain. Mark raised over $10,000.

Like this photo that Mark got from his friends in El Salvador… i’m looking forward to seeing what ABC has done and to hear some stories about how encouraging it is to the process.  Excited that several of the Present:Hope Tour team members, Jay Perske and Brad Godwin and their spouses have been able to be on site and volunteer.

By the way, the effort is still underway to raise monies through the Present:Hope Tour. Todate more than $60,000 has been donated. Our goal is $100,000. You can click on the donate button to the left or text the word PRESENT to 50555