This post is slightly delayed, but consider this your update from our weekend here in Dayton.
I could tell you a lot about this weekend.
I could tell you about our time at the Miami Valley Women’s Center Saturday morning and how we powered out more projects in one day than I’ve seen us do in several months combined.
I could tell you about our Friday night hang out at the site of the first NFL game (Go Triangles!).
I could tell you of our adventures on the RTA Saturday afternoon as we explored our city.
I could tell you of our Sabbath rest on Sunday spent at John Bryan, and how many of us experienced very real healing. I could even tell you of our Sabbath play at Young’s Dairy and how I was better at the driving range than all the students. Okay, I guess I probably shouldn’t brag about that.
I could even tell you of our worship and service at Target Dayton Ministries Sunday night and how for many of our kids it was their first real interaction with the homeless population here in Dayton (roughly 1000 people on any given night).
I could tell you about all of that and more, and I hope to, and I hope our kids do, and I hope you ask.
But I want to tell you about Ron.
Ron lives in Dayton. Ron’s mother passed away a couple years ago. Because of the grief of the loss of his mother Ron began drinking more. And that drinking led to a DUI. And that DUI is the reason Ron found himself on the RTA with us Saturday afternoon. Obviously confused as to why 30 obviously suburban kids piled onto his bus, Ron began a conversation with one of our adults and told us his story as we told him ours.
You see, Ron knows he shouldn’t be drinking. He knows he should be reading his Bible and trying to live how God wants him to live, but it’s hard.
And that’s why Ron was stunned when he was told that there were 30 high school students from his city that cared enough about the broken and hurting and loved God so much that they would give up a week of their summer to help others. Perhaps stunned isn’t the appropriate word. Ron was moved.
His exact words were, “It was no accident that you were on my bus today”.
We probably won’t see Ron again (although we could, we do after all share a city with him). But Ron’s story is just one small example of how God can and will and has used our students, your students, to do the subtle, quiet, incognito, subversive, powerful, unstoppable work of His Kingdom.
If there is a theme to our trip it is redemption because we worship a God who is in the business of redemption. God is in the work of healing his creation and calling it all back to Him. We are honored to be part of that work. We look forward to telling you about it. We pray for the continued redemption of our City, and for the life of our new friend, Ron.
