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Among the exciting things in my week, I had a call with my freckle. That’s what I call the student who’s planning to steal my identity when I die. She’s lovely. She’s the one who’s kindly meme’d my face into a whole folder worth of presentation material. It’s great.

She was asking me about my visit with the Bryans, and I shared how good it was for me to have my friends come visit here. I really do love that family, and it’s also wonderful to spend some quality time with people who have a decade of history with me. I just hit my two year mark, and one thing Chris needed to make sure of is that there are people here who are taking care of me. Emotionally.

While I still think emotions are gross to feel most of the time, I’m really grateful for the people in my life here who are willing to be friends with me and have coffee with me or take me to the airport at 3am. I have a range of needs, and I’m fortunate enough to have friends who are willing to spend some time walking behind me with my wheelchair while I take some cautious steps with my crutches or who will help me carry things from my office to youth group or give me rides home from youth group when it’s cold and dark out (even though it’s only three blocks to my house).

I’m so very aware that I can’t make it on my own, and I’m really grateful for the community I have around me. I also recognise that a very real enemy doesn’t want me to be successful personally or professionally in the work that I do. From TCK care calls to junior camp plans and everything in between, I know my job has battles in place that I need to face. I’m not alone as I gear up, and just like the line up with the Philistines, I know this is a serious business to do kingdom work. However, just like David who would defeat Goliath a few verses later, I know the real power comes when I have God on my side. David showed up and saw his brothers there lined up with the rest of the Israelites. “Jesse’s three oldest sons—Eliab, Abinadab, and Shimea—had already joined Saul’s army to fight the Philistines,” we read in 1 Samuel 17:13. They were ready to fight, but not quite… The story of David and Goliath reads somewhat individualistic in the most simplistic telling, but we do know that David was part of a wider team in the battle who led the conquest once God helped him defeat the giant.

This past Friday at youth group, I invited my friend Hannah along to share a message on forgiveness. It was a heavy challenge for our young people – and for each of the leaders who have committed to follow Jesus. It’s one of a series of hard messages I’ve planned out because I think it’s so important to share with young people especially how the Bible sets us up for success if we commit to follow God’s best for our lives. It’s not easy to live this God honouring life all the time, but it’s always better in the long run. I really hope each of my leaders and youth wrestle with that as we keep presenting these big ideas of how to be transformed by the Word of God.

Even when I sneak clues to junior camp games into blog posts and laugh with leaders about quiz night categories with information mined from my social media. As C. S. Lewis says, “Joy is the serious business of heaven.” I’ve got a lot of fun coming up on the weekend ahead, but I also have a lot of prayer needs for my body to make it through the camp weekend. We all know camp is brutal on my body in the best conditions, and the past few weeks have had a few rough days. Please do be praying for the major and minor miracles to keep my body at it’s best on camp so that I can be fully prepared for the battle I’m called to in pointing these young people to Jesus.