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The
Journey's of Paul - A trip to Turkey, Greece and Italy.
 Never
in my wildest imagination would I ever believe I would climb on
a plane a total of 7 times to take a trip to Turkey, Greece and
Italy and back home. I do not like to fly.
Airplanes go against God's known force of gravity, or so the
"gray matter" in my head tells me.
But when I overheard a conversation by two other people ... I
knew without a doubt ... that God had me standing where I could
listen in. |
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| A Mountain Experience |
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Every year our Church sponsors a group of
youth to NYR, otherwise known as
Nationwide Youth Roundup. I love it ...it's in my
favorite state to visit ... Colorado. As it's name
suggests this camping experience is open to basically anyone and
they come from all over. Car loads of kids, school bus
loads of kids, rented coaches, vans, RVs, little trailers and
big camping trailers make their way to CAMP ROUNDUP.
Anywhere from 1200 to 2000 people have at one time or another
scraped out a spot for their tents and trailers. Camp
kitchens are organized and come in all sizes for all group
situations ... from a few to 100.
Morning and evening sessions consist of rockin' music and
speakers geared to the Jr. high and Sr. high school aged kids
and their needs ... with a revival message for God's kids of all
ages. If it fits, wear it.
After the first session everyone breaks up into classes by age.
For two years prior to the 2008 session ... Mark Scott was the
leader/teacher for the adults. He will be familiar to me.
However, even though I like to sit close to the front, he will
have little reason to remember me.
In 2008 Mark Scott had the pleasure of taking on we adults ...
the sponsors who come and go because lunches need to be tended
to, etc. First Peter was the scriptures to be discussed
and he has so much energy and so much to tell that we did not
get past the first verse during the first session. And
interesting problem to be sure. How does one get though
the whole book? Fortunately for us, he was a speaker for
two of the main sessions and so the chapters in those
sessions were not repeated. If you check out Mark's
website ...
you
can listen to audio renditions of those very lessons on 1
Peter. It was nice to be able to go back and listen again
and some even again. Thank you Mark. You just can't
remember it all. Even with my notes ... I don't take it
all in.
After the first session ended ... I had a question for Mark.
I no longer have a clue what that question was, but I stood in a
short line while he visited with a couple of other people.
As one conversation was about to be wrapped up ... Mark was
asked if the Ozark Christian College was sponsoring any tours in
the near future. This caught my attention and since they
were in close proximity ... I listened in.
It was as though I was standing in a pool of light and we were
the only three in the camp. People were folding up their
chairs and heading for their own campsites for lunch. It
wasn't my turn to prepare the meal so I didn't need to get back
right away. Had I needed to ... I would have missed
hearing the words... clear as day ... "you are going."
Mark was explaining to another person that this was a trip of a
life time and very likely the last time they would do the
Missions of Paul. His list of locations was astounding. I
didn't even know where some of the places were, but to stand in
the market place of Ephesus, well whoa!!!
They ended their conversation and it was my turn. I don't
think I asked him the original question that put me in line.
I did manage to tell him I was interested in the trip ... and he
said he would bring the brochures the next day. I didn't
know the details ... but I went back to camp and told my pastor
that I was going on a trip with Ozark Christian College and
Mark. I was going ... what ever it took ... wherever, I
was going. There was never any doubt.
The brochure was mind boggling. Just look at the
itinerary. Fourteen days stuffed from daylight to dark and
then some. And two of my favorite
teacher/preachers/speakers to do the lectures. For me ..
this was then and is now a trip made in Heaven. For who
else speaks from a light? Paul knew.
For the rest of the story ... check out ... How the
"Know Your
Bible" Mystery Tour came to be.
Linda Shanks
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