One of the things I enjoy the most is teaching at a camp or retreat, and it looks like I’m going to get to do another one this fall. Mark Silen, the Jr. High Pastor at Crossroads Christian Church is taking his group through a series called “Road Trip” this fall and they are studying the book of Acts. I’ve seen his outline and schedule for the Fall and it looks really neat.

The retreat theme fits with the entire fall theme: Necessary Detours. We are going to talk about times when you need to turn off the main path and take a necessary detour. In our first conversation about the weekend, we already talked about two neat metaphors.

1. Stop to go pee

On every roadtrip, one of the only reasons why you *have* to stop is to take a bathroom break. This is a stop to get rid of the impurities, to dump off the yuck, and to come out clean and free. Sounds a lot like repentance, doesn’t it? Repentance is all about leaving behind the things that bring you down, the things that really set out to kill you if not dealt with.

2. Stop to fill up

Whether it is gas in the engine or coffee and slim jims in your belly, you need to pull over and fill up at some point or you’ll be forced to pull over where you won’t be able to get filled up very easily. These kinds of detours don’t happen on accident, but you have to think them through. I remember one rest stop on the way to Colorado that had so many services and so many options that we wrote it down and planned on stopping there as we drove back to Indiana. You have to make these stops part of your journey or you’ll be stuck hitching a ride with whoever will pull over to rescue you.

I’ll be posting more on this topic, of course, as I prepare for the weekend. Until then please pray for the Jr. High kids that I’ll be speaking to and their leaders.