The R.A.C.E

So due to some issues with a previous plan we had to reach out to the kids of our community, Jess came up with the idea to do a race day for a kids outreach. We started the planning process about a month or two ago, but because of other events (i.e. the youth conference), planning didn’t really happen until about the week and a half before the actual event. I’ll be honest when I admit that I wasn’t 100% invested in this event because I was just so drained from the conference not to mention all the other internal battles waging within me. But we planned, we bought supplies, we made ribbons, we mapped out the course, we put out fliers, and made radio advertisements and before we knew it, the event was upon us. Of course I switched into full gear a little late in the game and ended up spending a sleepless night the night before getting things the way that I normally do before big events. By 8:00 in the morning the tents were up, the course was marked, the sound equipment was set up, and our start and finish signs were posted. One thing I can’t quite get into my head is the idea of time here and how it’s different from my idea of time and therefore most of our volunteers arrived AFTER the kids did. I had done my usual planning, but really, absolutely NOTHING went according to plan as far as volunteer line up, how the races would go down, etc... but it was truly a miracle with how the races actually almost finished on time. I had my key guys who really reminded my of Gideon’s army after God siphoned the weaker ones out - I had about 8 guys (and a couple girls who really came through and I basically used them for everything because you would never realize just how hard it is to try and explain some of the positions to people whose second language is English. And the bottom line is that all those kids heard the Gospel and about 50 of them seemed to respond to the invitation to receive Christ into their heart.