This should wrap up my postings about Diakonos. I wanted to briefly post what I learned from the trip.
1. The students are pretty cool. This will cause much chagrin amongst
the students, who most assuredly do not want to be judged cool by a 35
year old computer nerd. But there you have it. They kids acted great
and there were almost no tensions that I saw. These kids amazed me for
serving others on their spring break. I do not think I would have done
so when I was 17 or 18. By contrast, I was 34, had been at CVCA 4
years, and had been a Christian for 10 years before I went on a
missions trip. It took 5 years at CVCA and being a Christian for 11
years before I put my money where my mouth is and went and served the
poor in this country. Many many kudos for the students for doing this.
2. Much to my surprise, God taught me that I needed to value people
over things. I did not think I had a problem with this – I am fairly
generous with things, but God had more in mind. On the first day on the
job, I went to a site where I did not need the new tools I had bought.
I was forced to give them to others who could use them, and I had not
labeled them yet. I had a momentary panic over that, but God let me
know I needed to value people over these tools, and so I had to let
them go (and I did get all but 2 small things back – God can be trusted
with these things). Over the entire trip, my car got more and more
dirty on the inside. I am not a neat freak, and I am not a car nut, but
again, this bothered me some for awhile. God again had to let me know
that the people I was serving were more important than my things (in
this case, my car). All week, I had to keep telling myself to value
people over things. This lesson still surprises me – on the list of
things I need to learn in order to become more like Jesus, this was not
at the top of my list. God does not ask for my list – he just teaches
me what he wants me to learn. I just hope I remember this one for
awhile.
3. I learned I am easily distracted from worship. I has suspected this
for some time, but it was brought to the fore by my having nightly
worship and having a couple of headaches that distracted me from that
worship. I’ll need to try to focus more on God when I worship, and less
on my whining to myself about things not being perfect.
4. I learned that part of serving is keeping your mouth shut and going
where you are needed. I was on a different job site almost everyday. I
think this was God’s gentle way of reminding me that he was running the
show and that I needed to go where He was going.
So, that’s it. I really liked this trip, and it was a privilege to
serve with Craig and the rest of the Diakonos crew. Lord willing (in
the fullest sense), I hope to serve again next year. Thanks to everyone
who helped me on this trip, and many thanks to God who never
gives up on me and never stops trying to make me more like his
son.
Excellent work on the write up! I lost energy mid-project and became distracted by grades. I have very much enjoyed your commentary, especially how I did not know that 2/3rds of these things were going on inside you; but I guess I was focused other things than whether you were uncomfortable with us blocking the sidewalk. Plus, I like to think of public worship as Pro-ACLU.
nice work, riordan. was good to read all this. i think it’s funny that i am more inclined to want to go on that trip now than when i was at cvca. don’t know what that means. ha. the pics of the crucifixion are amazing, btw. //things here are back in full swing. i am tunnel-visioned on the test next week. i think i will have to reread your entry, as most of my teaching of literature endeavors seem to be falling on deaf ears, and so i have had very existential questions about teaching here at valley, when maybe He is trying to show me that perhaps my focus has been on the lit too long and not enough on people in general. something for me to think about. // enjoyed hanging with you and meredith and look forward to doing more so this summer. i think you guys are golden. catch up with you later, jrc
i guess mere has a point about the dragons and tattoos not being so girly. hee hee. i DID find some jewelry, finally. you are a good guy to only spend a lot on one outfit. i keep coming up with excuses, every year, to buy new outfits for junior/senior. if ever i stop attending these events, i will have to hold onto these things until i am walking the red carpet when my book is famous. because authors get lots of attention that way, you know. haha.
yes, by all means–get cvca to pay for a trip to vchs. we’ll “study” tech in the literature classroom. no problem. =)
i have 5 more papers to grade and then i’m done with the year’s load. cannot TELL you how happy i am about being almost done with those baneful things.
and yes, i am very curious to hear about physics and r and g are dead!! –jc
um . . . there was some dirty dancing, but the admin was trying to stop it. in fact, there was only one dance floor. there were four levels, so i was right about that. we chaperones perched on the upper levels, looked down, and busted kids on the dance floor who wouldn’t keep it clean. i reported to a friend of mine, who called one of the top admin, who then went through the crowds looking for the offenders. not the best system–hard to hear on the phone when the music is going–but when we finally yanked the girl doing the WORST dancing i have seen, things seemed to settle down. they gave her two chances to clean it up; she kept moving through the crowd when she saw mark coming (he’s pretty tall), but after i saw her dance dirty with a couple of her GIRLFRIENDS, we told him to yank her once and for all. it seemed to me (hard to say since i was not actually confronting), that once you confronted the worst of them and/or made them sit out for the rest of the night, things were pretty calm. it’s funny to me, too, that most kids seem to dance more appropriately during slow numbers than fast ones.
i also had the dubious honor of being dragged into dancing a few times. i LOVE dancing, but was very careful not to shake too much booty. the kids involved were the good ones who were just having a good time, so i was REALLY pleased to be popular enough to get yanked into the dance. they actually sought me out on tier two or three (way up high) and brought me down to dance. much fun.
so . . . if cvca is thinking about progressing from square dance to full-on dancing, you need to warn them that the admin are the ones who suffer and hate it the most. 80% of the kids will be just fine. 20% will ruin the whole experience for the admin who has to discipline them.
ok. am way tired, so it’s off to sleepy land.