This past summer I had the privilege to spend 28 days at Young Life’s Malibu Club in British Columbia.  I say privilege now, but that is not how I felt when I agreed to go.  My husband Ken, volunteers with Young Life and has for many years.  We met at Malibu 28 years ago and 2 kids, 2 dogs, 2 houses and 2 cats later he thought it would be a great idea to spend a month there volunteering.  My only saving thought was that our youngest daughter was coming with us.  Malibu is remote and there is no cell service, high speed internet, or any other form of technology for the “basic volunteer” to use!  The thought was terrifying and caused me great anxiety.  We have another daughter and 2 college students that were living with us that I felt responsible for.  And don’t forget the dog that I was sure someone was going to kill.  What was I thinking when I agreed to this?  I must have not been thinking.  Malibu is beautiful and I enjoy the occasional visit but lets not overstay!

So we packed up the house and took off on Ken’s adventure!  Little did I know what was in store for us!  The lessons I learned will be forever with me.  Here are just a few of my thoughts about the journey!

1.  I learned that when you remove all of the noise out of your life it is much easier to hear God’s voice.  Our lives are so “noisy”.  Our cell phones constantly make noise, we have vehicle noise, trains, sirens, TV and all kinds of other noise.  We become so used to the noise that sometimes it is easier to go to sleep with the TV on than off!  At first the silence made me anxious and nervous.  I had dreams that involved horn whistles and cars idling.  No joke!  When it is silent you might have to think about things and listen to God say things that you might not want to hear.  I found out that silence is okay.  I found that I could truly hear God’s voice when I was sitting on a log in the pouring down rain and all there was to hear was the waves.  
2. I learned that when you take away all forms of technology you make friends and relationships deepen quicker.  We are so used to sitting at a dinner table and having our cell phones handy just in case someone needs us.  We are so used to sending people texts with questions instead of asking them face to face.  My kids always give me a bad time about asking too many questions of people.  I want to know about peoples families, their pets, where they live, what college they are going to, etc.  When you take all the distractions away those are the kind of things you talk about.  You can spend an hour or 2 talking and getting to know somebody.  When was the last time you sat with someone and talked and the only thing you had to worry about was when your next meal was going to be?  I walked away knowing more about the people I met at Malibu than I know about some of my family.  It gave me hope that people can still form “old fashioned” relationships and not just have “Face Book” friends.
3. I learned that rules are meant to be broken!  I have to admit that at first there seemed to be a lot of “rules” to learn.  It seemed like there was rules for everything.  Don’t get me wrong, I love rules!  I like to know what the guidelines are and I like to follow them.  But, there was a lot to learn and it seemed that I felt that I couldn’t quite live up to all the rules.  I cried to Ken one night and told him I couldn’t do it anymore.  He told me to call Kenmore Air and go home.  Not exactly what I wanted to hear.  In his defense he was tired!  Then our area director sent an email to Ken and at the end it said “tell Dawnelle to break a rule”.  What?  That was strange!  Is she psychic?  Then things got even stranger and I walked down “main street”  when I wasn’t supposed to and the camp director said “hey Dawnelle, you are breaking the rules”.  What? Are they in cahoots?  Did they talk to each other?  For some reason that was a turning point and my attitude changed after that.  Nobody died because I “broke” a rule.  It was an honest mistake and I could get over it.  I learned that sometimes I create rules to help me feel better about succeeding.  I learned that sometimes I have done that with my faith and that I need to look at things differently and not be so legalistic.  Yes, some rules are meant to protect us or help us,  But that I need to stop being so critical of myself if life doesn’t always follow the rules.  Lighten up and enjoy life!
4. I learned that I am capable of doing way more things than I think I can and that I can say yes to God and go where ever he wants me to go.  I came away thinking that there is nothing that God could ask me to do that I am not capable of!  Our future is in God’s hands and where he wants to send us or direct our paths.   The safest place to be is in his plan.  God spoke to me so clearly while I was there that he controls our steps and that my job was to say yes and follow what he has in store!

What I discovered at the end of this journey is why we were there.  Not only are these lessons that I learned but it is lessons that all the Work Crew kids, Summer Staff kids, and campers were also learning right along with me.  They might not be able to break it down into a nice list like I have but they are learning these things with me.  And the ultimate goal is for them to be able to say YES to Christ before the end of their trip.  We watched lives change and many kids make decisions to follow Christ.  

Was it an easy journey?  No, not all the time.  There were some tears in the process.  There were many nights of being truly homesick.  Would I do it again?  YES!  Do I care where we go next summer?  NO!  And it was truly a privilege to serve there for 28 days!