The way He meant it to be
One night during our Spring break trip to Yosemite with K1 and K2, we watched a movie titled Glory. Glory is a 1989 film which tells the story of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment during the American Civil War. This 54th regiment was the first formal unit of the U.S. Army to be made up entirely of African-Americans. It depicts their struggle to be recognized as a legitimate regiment ready for battle and they end up spearheading the attack on Fort Wagner, taking heavy losses.
I found myself being moved to tears as I watched these men not only growing into respectable and trained soldiers but also, slowly melding together under one purpose and love of fighting for the Union. Each of the main characters in the story is uniquely different from one another: educated and uneducated, a man with a chip on his shoulder who clashes with every person he speaks to and a composed older black man that acts as a peacemaker among the quarrelsome soldiers, and finally, a white colonel, who really had nothing in common in terms of experience and knowledge with the black regiment that he had to lead.
I got a chance to bond with many students that came on the trip. Each of them has their own story, history, quirks, personality, opinions about different topics, but we were able to enjoy being with each other through the many common experiences that we shared throughout the trip. These included preparing and eating late-night snacks and food for the hike and lunch, sharing life journeys in the car, doing a group talent show among the cars through the Talk About, sharing stories about interesting facts about ourselves, and arm wrestling and playing other silly games.
The highlight for many of the students was the outdoor prayer meeting that we had in Yosemite Valley, under a big Oak Tree in light rain. This was the last day of the trip and having seen the beauty of God's creation, it was such an appropriate thing that we were there to just marvel and praise God for who He is. We sang "How Great is Our God" with all our hearts, acknowledged God's vision and desire for us to be pure and beautiful as he designed nature, and repented and sought help to be delivered from our idols that mar God's original intent and design for us. After the prayer meeting was over, one student immediately said, "This was my favorite part." My heart just melted and I knew that this end of connecting people to God and for them to experience God's community was what life is all about, and anything less than that is a loss and not living life as God meant it to be lived.