Preparation.

We just finished up with another winter meltdown retreat. All of us were able to enjoy a day's rest after the retreat and now are back to work getting ready for the next retreat. As always we have been hard at work cleaning the facilities so that each retreat that comes here can feel at home and comfortable. Last night the ranch got a couple inches of snow that gently covered the ground. As we woke up this morning, the sun was already starting to rise and warm up the ground. We began our day in fellowship and prayer and then proceeded to finish the cleaning of the ranch. Throughout the day, it began to get warmer and warmer and the snow that had fallen the previous evening began to melt away. As I sat there thinking about the snow melting away it got me thinking about the winter meltdown retreats. These retreats are a glimpse of summer to the kids who come here. They are excited and thrilled to be away from school and to have the opportunity to have an adventure. Their time at the ranch brings them joy and excitement which you can see in their smiles and enthusiasm that they have all weekend long. It reminds me why we do the things we do during the week, like cleaning toilets and vacuuming the carpets. It is so that those kids can have the opportunity to experience Christ in a way that they may have not before. During these retreats we are given the honor and privilege of seeing these kids start to grow much like the grass does soon after winter has ended. So we may simply be cleaning and getting last minute details around the ranch ready, we do it for a purpose and that purpose is to help kids enter a new season of their spiritual life, one full of growth and maturity where they can become passionate for the Gospel and make a difference in their world.