Dearborn Prep: Tuesday Nights

For the past four weeks, my favorite day of the week has been Tuesday. You see, Tuesdays are like Mondays. You wake up like, and you're like, "Oh yeah, the week started." And you go through your weekday routine like you did on Monday, but it still feels new and fresh, like a brand new week is being broken in! And when the day wraps up, you feel a little tired, knowing that there are still a few days in the week to go, that you're not at the half-way point yet, but you're approaching it.

So for the past four weeks, every Tuesday I've arrived home in a mess, eager to sink down into my bed with Witness or play Mario Kart with Caleb. But for the past four weeks, every Tuesday, instead of kicking back and hunkering down until Wednesday, I've had to drag myself three miles down the road to church for Dearborn preparation meetings.

To quote Maxwell Smart, I have been tired "and LOVING IT." I'm always excessively punchy during the meetings, overly giggly and talkative, but I pull myself together long enough to get drawn into the curriculum. We went through Fouad Masri's series called "Bridges" put out by the Crescent Project. I thought I knew a decent amount about Islam after Understanding the Times and Muslims, Christians, and Jesus, but the series still blew my mind with how much Muslims had in common with Christians. And, it makes me afraid for how much I still have to learn about Isalm. Astafirallah! It can only be all about Jesus.

The magic of Tuesday nights is how mixed they are, with the youth team meeting with the adult team. New church members and old-timers. Youth group kids and college folks. There's a little talking, a lot of listening, loads of praying, and planning. Always planning. Head scarf wrapping demonstrations, craft outreach brainstorming, breakfast menu deliberations, sleeping bag distributions. There is a certain kind of intentionality about this trip that I've never experienced before. And laughing, so much laughing! I leave each night with enough energy to run home (which I don't actually do), and I am crestfallen each Wednesday morning when I realize how far away the next Tuesday night meeting is.

Our last meeting is in two days, and in just five days we're packing up the van and shipping out! (You can follow us @CCFD1TEAM on Twitter, if you're into that sort of thing.) Our leader asked us to keep a journal to track our preparation, and then the trip, and then our responses returning home, and that's kind of what these Dearborn posts are. Posterity. For the future.