Living Unfiltered for God

We just got back from our annual trip to Florida Family CFO ... the same place where, three years ago, God inspired me to start this blog. One of the things I got to do this year was lead the Communion service for the Youth. Every morning we would meet at 7:30 AM on the dock extending into beautiful Lake Yale in central Florida.  The service was never fancy. Just me and up to eight teens and pre-teens, sharing some time out in part of God's marvelous creation. We would chat a bit, listen to the birds, watch the alligators, read the Word together and take part in Communion. When I was preparing for camp and getting ready for all the things I knew I had to do, this was nowhere on my radar. I was not thinking at all about participating in this part of each day's events. There were Creative Writing sessions to prepare... Programs and notebooks to put together... Meetings to plan and organize... All sorts of things to fill my mind and plate that were not anything to do with...

Over the last several years, my wife and I have been using this expression, "Making memories" as an encouragement to each other to live life to the fullest; to take advantage of opportunities to experience things, together and with others, that we might otherwise choose to pass up. Sometimes we get so caught up with our ruts and our routines that we miss chances to share a moment... an hour... a day... or longer with someone, that may turn into a memorable moment for a lifetime. This morning was one of those times when I had to be encouraged to "make the memory".  My alarm went off at 4:50 AM. I had not slept well and had been mostly awake anyway for several hours. The early rising was because this is July 4th - and if you're a runner in Atlanta, that means it's also Peachtree Road Race day! The problem was, it was raining... hard. And according to the radar and the weather forecast, it wasn't going to change much over the next 6-8 hours. Shortly aft...