Now what?

To my YouthWorks friends,

At long last, we've reached the finish line (and in Birmingham, there was actually a finish line - it was really quite impressive). The YouthWorks 2006K is complete. How does one recover from such a race?

At the end of last summer, I sat down to really think about the answer to this question - it was one I had not answered well in summers prior. Exhausted from the race and unsure of how to get my life back to a normal pace, my bed often claimed the victory, with the couch and remote control coming in a close second. My journal and my Bible collected dust, and my phone sat idle as I wondered how to start a conversation that would allow me to really talk about my summer. Those were dry times, empty times, but not for lack of water -- only because I chose not to drink.

After running such a race, our bodies, minds, and souls desperately need a chance to drink, to breathe, to slow down. There are some simple - and some not-so-simple - ways to make this happen. The following may or may not closely resemble a to-do list, but I won't apologize for that. These things have certainly helped me, and I hope some of you may find them helpful as well.

SLEEP. By all means, sleep. You've done a number on your body with the hours you've kept this summer, and you've earned some quality time studying the backs of your eyelids.

DO NOTHING for a while. Give yourself permission. Trust me, it'll be okay.

PINCH YOURSELF. Yes friends, it may seem distant and surreal, but you did, in fact, spend your summer in a completely random place, hanging out with even more random people, doing things that might make some question your sanity (let's face it -- if people don't look at you funny when you tell them you slept on an air mattress on a school or church floor all summer, I might question their sanity). It may sound like bad reality TV, but it was reality. In fact, you probably came face-to-face with reality more often this summer than most people do in their "normal" lives. The past ten weeks were not a crazy dream, nor a nightmare, but simply another piece of your journey, appointed and anointed by our very gracious God.

PICK UP THE PHONE. Call someone who will get it -- someone from your staff or your area or around YouthWorks who will certainly understand how you're feeling. We've all just finished running a long hard race. Once you've done that, call someone who doesn't get it. Part of cooling down after a race is stretching. Stretch yourself here -- take the risk to share a bit of your summer with someone who may not understand or appreciate what you've experienced. You never know how a story you share might plant a thought or a question in someone's heart. This is an awesome opportunity to honor what the Lord has done this summer.

PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACHED. Remember how we all admonished junior and senior highers to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God? How we encouraged them to serve with willing hearts and to be like Jesus? Those words don't just apply to them, nor do they lose value or importance when we're not in "mission trip mode." This might be another one of those stretching exercises for you.

PRACTICE WHAT YOU PRAYED FOR. You prayed for your participants, that their experience wouldn't end on Friday morning, that their YouthWorks week wouldn't be about emotion but about real life-change, that they would take lessons home with them and put them into action. This was your honest hope and desire for them -- how is this happening in your own life?

Most importantly, no matter what you do or how relaxed you may be, let there be NO SPIRITUAL VACATION. What did Jesus do when He had a break from the crowds? He spent time alone with his Father. Satan would love to get a hold of you right now -- to make you neglect the disciplines of prayer and Bible reading you established this summer, to lull you into complacency and make you forget how God changed you and how real and alive and close he was this summer.

Know that God is as real and alive and present today as he was on any Thursday night this summer. He is just waiting for you to seek him out. As you do, ask him for what you need right now: help in processing this summer, guidance in preparing for what's next, wisdom for how to live today -- indeed, that's all you really need. Ask him for your daily bread, and come hungry.

Walk it off… that means you must keep moving forward. Stretch out, take a deep breath and a nice long drink, and when all is silent, listen for that still, small voice that will always be your best coach and your biggest fan.