and... I'm home

"Sidebar," Ashley said, pulling one of the guys off for a private talk. When they came back, I was very surprised by what they had in mind.

I had stopped at a church just over the state line into Illinois, and was sitting out back reading, wondering if it would rain that night. Then I heard voices. Some teenagers had pulled up and began talking and joking. Soon someone noticed me sitting there and I introduced myself. They didn't seem bothered by my presence.

Then Jeremy came over to ask questions about my walk. We began talking and gradually all of them gathered around. They were friendly and interested, some of them members at the church, all of them surprisingly comfortable with a stranger. Then they surprised me more by offering to drive me all the way to the farm. "We've been thinking it's about time for a road trip. What kind of music do you like?"

They also arranged somewhere for all of us to stay that night (after I met some parents). We all slept in the lounge area at Restoration Ministries, a live-in rehab center affiliated with their church. Or rather, I slept. They spent the night mostly talking and laughing and telling each other to be quiet.

At around six the next morning, we piled into Eric's car with Joe driving. When we pulled up next to a red convertible with a businessman at the wheel and a "MR G" license plate, Joe shouted, "Hey, it's Mr. G! Hi Mr. G!"

"What are you teenagers doing up so early?" Mr. G wanted to know.

The ride was pretty loud and very fast. I had to brace myself around every corner (and broke into spontaneous prayer more than once). But even though they admitted to being "directionally challenged," we only made one wrong turn in our 100-mile journey.

The car bounced into the gravel farm road before eleven, and I went looking for Heather. Christi followed along, wanting to see Heather's reaction, and the rest of the group followed her. After knocking on two doors (since I didn't know which house Heather was staying in), she appeared at the third one. Her expression was a beautiful mixture of happiness and shock. How...? And who were all these teenagers looking at her?

Then we embraced and I was home.

They all stayed for lunch, then started back, arms waving out the windows all the way down the road. "Have a nice life!"

In all my travels, I never met a group of young people (or any people) like that before. But I'd like to again. That was a fun fifteen hours.


This morning Heather and I saw the sun rise as we walked to the fields for work. And later, sitting in the grass overlooking pretty Daisy hill, quiet all around, we chanted psalms together again:

For God alone my soul waits in silence,
for my hope is from him.

He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my deliverance and my honor;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us.