Tom led our team through one last morning devotion on Wednesday, asking students to consider who was in each of their spheres of influence. Who had God brought into their life that they could influence for Christ on a daily basis? How did Jesus want them to lead those they have close relationships with? How could they encourage and exhort those they called friends? How could they serve those whom they know less well? After spending some time alone with Jesus in prayer asking these questions, it was time to head out to serve on the hottest day yet.
We spent the majority of our work day on Wednesday at the middle school where Josh’s older daughter, Maggie, will attend school this fall. By the end of the day, students had picked up the trash around campus, bagged leaves and cleaned up the fence line, and sanitized several staircases and windows in the rather large school building. Once again, those we served had no category for the kind of voluntary work we did in the name of Jesus. The gentleman who we reported to had never had a group come in to volunteer help in the many years he had been employed at the school.
We shared our last dinner together at the Lobster Shack at Two Lights State Park. If that isn’t the ultimate “Maine experience,” I don’t know what is. The restaurant has delicious seafood and burgers with an absolutely breathtaking view of the ocean. Students explored the coast and enjoyed the sights before we found a quiet place among the rocks to have one last debrief and listen to the testimony of a family that God had called from Texas to Maine to grow and serve the Church in Portland. God had done some amazing things on our trip, and our front-row seats to the beauty of nature and the power of the waves served to underscore the goodness and the might of our Savior as we talked intentionally together about God’s calling on our lives one last time in Maine.
