TransAmerica Days 8-12

JonDavid (J.D.) here... sitting in a very comfortable-yet-inexpensive hotel, "The C'mon Inn" (I'm not kidding) in Billings, MT. Man, it's good to be back in civilization! For the past four days we have been living in the seclusion of the Canadian Rockies - a little-known camp called, "Camp Impeesa" near Pincher Creek, Alberta. There is absolutely no cell-phone service, no internet, no Starbucks... it's amazing we can even survive ;)




During the past four days, we have climbed Table Top Mountain, seen the Northern Lights, slept under the stars, rock climbed, rode mountain bikes, crawled through tunnels, climbed the canyon walls of Crypt Lake, slid down snow fields, skipped rocks across a glacial lake... It's been amazing, but its also been exhausting...




My personal favorite moments included sleeping on the top of Table Top Mountain, watching the celestial sphere above me slowly rotate with the night... and the worship! As many of you know, it is difficult to describe the kind of worship that touches the deepest parts of your soul. We sing out "Lord, listen to our hearts", knowing that we simply do not have the words to express our love, gratitude, awe for our Lord. There is no formula for dynamic worship, but when it comes, you seize it. Such was the case on Tuesday night, as we eventually summited Table Top Mountain, watched the Sun plop below the jagged horizon and began a mixture of star-gazing and devotional singing around a campfire. At one point, just before Josh Shields' devotional, Ali Newlin tapped me on the back and motioned toward the northern skyline, "Hey J.D. - what's that?"








At first glance, it appeared to be the glow of city light against a darkening sky... the only problem being that there wasn't a city near us within 100 miles. As the night grew darker, it became apparent that this was a very rare, unusual sight. Kelechi could barely contain himself (he had mentioned to me much earlier in the trip that he hoped to see the Northen Lights).

The excitement of the moment, coupled with the beauty of God's Creation and our praise in song led to one of the most uplifting, soul-searching times of worship that I will remember for years to come. Check out the pics below....



TransAmerica has been a blessing. It has been an incredible blessing to me personally - I watch each of these young, energetic, spiritually-charged people connect with each other, with Creation, with God, and with the world. I must admit... I have high hopes for our youth: It is my hope that they will remember this adventure and will rally around the unity, the cohesiveness of what they became, what they experienced these past two weeks. It is my hope that they will come together to assist the youth ministry, the church, the Kingdom of God. It is my hope that their imagination and zeal for God's people will cause them to become creative, pro-active, intuitive and sensitive to the need for the love of Jesus in a starving world.


Our youth are capable of so much. I look forward to this upcoming school year, waiting anxiously to see what new adventures, insights, discoveries and feats they will present and conquer.

-J.D. Partain



P.S.
Tomorrow (Saturday, Day 14) will include an 8-hour trip to Denver, where most of the TransAmericans will board a plane back to Atlanta. They will arrive in Atlanta at 10:15 pm, Saturday evening, aboard Delta.