This weekend God lead me to Pottsboro, Texas. I knew that He had big things planned for this weekend, but once again He blew me away with just how big. I arrived Friday already tired from a lack of sleep the night before.( I had been recording bass for GH's upcoming CD) But as soon as the kids started to get there I was miraculously full of energy. So, I picked up a basketball and shot around with a bunch of guys until everybody got there. Josh started assigning groups and my guys were the last to be assigned to anybody. It was kind of cool; they were already sitting next to each other, so it made it super easy to rally them together and go through introductions.

We wasted no time in getting back to the house and dive right into our sessions, after the food of course. Our host home this year was Jennifer and David Tidwell. They were AMAZING. It was actually my second year staying in their house and I was amazingly blessed by their gracious hospitality and willingness to serve the kids in anyway. We got our first few sessions done and normally at this point we would have started to get settled for bed, but not this DNOW. It was time for MIDNIGHT MADNESS!!! I had no idea what I was in for, because I missed it last year.(I was sick) Talk about amazing! Dodgeball, steal the bag of cement, diving on top of each other to stack as many guys as you can, and 4-way tug of war! It was sweet! My guys were champs! Who thought that 5 seventh grade guys could hang with high schoolers twice their size and number?! Needless to say, when we got back home everybody crashed pretty hard, but not before ensuring everybody had nick names.

The next morning we woke up bright and early to slam another session down before rec at the church. Rec was awesome, I could see my guys already growing from the day before. The way they encouraged each other and worked together was awesome and I was so impressed I could hardly believe that they were in the seventh grade. Then came the service projects... I was a little worried about this one because I didn't know how I was going to keep young guys with so much energy interested in working for 3 plus hours, but once again I was floored. They immediately went into overdrive and destroyed the tasks before them! Our service project was to clean out, organize and restore some storage closets in the children's area. They jumped right in with the heavy lifting and de-cluttering. I was, once again, amazed. To see guys so young get excited about serving made me think "What if all the kids in America where like this?!"

After service projects we headed back for dinner and worship. I found myself praying, asking God to move in my guys's life. My heart kept repeating their names and the struggles we had talked about in sessions to God asking Him to show Himself to my guys in a way that would change their lives. One thing that never ever ceases to amaze me is that our God is such an active God. He cares about us and loves to answer our prayers! Three of my guys were saved this weekend and as I was praying with them Saturday night I couldn't help but cry a little, out of joy as I saw these young men truly start to live. One on ones that night were a joy to me, as I got to sit down with some of my guys and talk about what God was doing in their hearts and lives. I asked God to show up, and He did more than I could have ever expected.

You know, I have been asked on several occasions what my favorite part of being in Glowing Heart is... and while worship and serving is great, watching people turn their lives to him is amazing and none of that ever gets old. Being in such a close family of people is amazing too, but by far my favorite part often happens on Saturday nights, like this weekend, when I am blessed beyond belief to hear the prayer of a new born Christian. Thank you Jesus.


Blogging Off,
Brandon "Buttered Toast" Clough