Joyful Nights

In a few hours, I'm beginning another new and exciting part of ministry- Night of Joy. If you want to find out about the event in particular, here's the website.

But let me tell you about my/our schedule. :) And this is really just to make all of you oooo and aaaaaah at my stamina. Hahaha.

Tomorrow at 3am, I'm waking up. Yes, 3am. (I've been gradually ruining my sleep schedule this week so that I'm pretty tired and will be going to bed soon, so I can wake up rested-ish around 3.)

At 4am I'm heading out to church. I have to stop at Walgreens to grab a few things and then it's on to the church. Around 4:45 I will get there and around 5am, the bus arrives. I check in with the bus driver, go over the itinerary and details again and then the kids start arriving. With copies of permission slips being made, collecting the rest of the money, getting kids on the bus, meeting with my chaperones and all the details of getting this many people on a charter bus, I'll be pretty busy. The hope is to leave as close to 6am as possible so if we get on the road by 630 I'll be leaping down the aisles with joy.

We'll all stop for lunch at some typical fast-food chain near Orlando and then around noon (we hope) we'll arrive at the Magic Kingdom!

At that point, the youth get split into groups and chaperones go with younger groups. They get to run around the park for most of the afternoon, checking in with me every few hours.

At 4 we reconvening and boarding a shuttle bus to Hollywood Studios for the actual Night of Joy event. There, the youth get to see tons of different bands at different times, all over the park. All Christian groups, some just starting out and some that are well established and have mass followings (me included for some!)

The check-ins continue throughout the night and at 1am we are meeting up and hopefully getting onto the bus by 2am. At 2 we start the drive home. We'll get back to church sometime around 6am I think.

Then, I get to wait around a few hours and then teach a class. Yes! I'm teaching a class to kids after not having slept in 30.5 hours! I should be done around 1230 and then going home.

So that's my weekend. It will, I am sure, be amazing and fun. It will also be exhausting and stressful. I have to be prepared for the good and the bad, which I hope I am.

Please, pray for all of us this weekend. For safety, for fun, for cooler heads to prevail, for good weather, for the joys of friendship and music and community.

I hope all of you have fun and less hectic weekends. May God bless you also!

PS If you live in Florida, check Night of Joy out for next year! It's an amazing deal! :)

Cheers,
Em