For many of us, summer is the best time of the year!
Trips to the beach can become fun-filled adventures. Days are filled with picnics, cold drinks, friends, birthday parties, weddings and bonfires. Music blasts over the sand volleyball court and the boats are filled with sandwiches and smiles.
In the evenings you could find yourself strolling down the sidewalk in the middle of a street festival or in your neighbor’s backyard grilling hamburgers on the BBQ. You can stay up late gazing at the stars and watching the fireflies come out.
But what if your summer could look different?
[photo by Lacee Peloquin]
What if you spent your day with a widow who couldn’t afford to eat or holding orphan children who are aching for God’s love?
What if you spent your afternoon painting and fixing up a house for a poverty stricken and unemployed family who has been struggling to make ends meet or visiting and entertaining lonely elderly in nursing homes?
What if you spent your evenings taking food to the homeless and listening to their stories as you sit with them on the sidewalk or organizing a community wide outreach event for local families?
If you’re part of a youth group or an individual high schooler wanting to venture out by yourself, you could go on an Adventures Youth Trip or an Ambassador Trip. The world is yours! You are needed and useful right now to step up and lead the change in your generation.
If you are in college with a busy schedule or an adventure-seeking adult, you could go on an Adventures Encounter Trip. Step out in faith as Peter stepped out of the boat into the waves and trust God to provide for you as you give your summer to Him. Watch Him come through for you when you decide to step out of what you know and what makes sense.
Take your whole family with you on a Family Trip and watch Him bring you closer together as even the littlest member works as His hands and feet. God intended the family to work as a unit and can use your example to touch the lives of others as you minister to all ages.
If you are just beginning your career, in the middle of your career or have retired don’t wait until later. There will never be a better time to go on an Adventures Encounter trip! You will never regret the time you spend loving God’s people.
[photo by Alene Snodgrass]
What will this summer mean to you? The choice is yours!
