T minus 10 Hrs.. and counting...

As many of you know, who know me or read my blog section "the FUN life of youth ministry." know that I'm a youth pastor. I absolutely love my job. I love Jr High and Sr High kids! They are so much fun to hang around (and i'm sure the fact that I act like both groups at times helps ;)
With the Sunday and Wednesday programs also comes the fun extra activities, and what would a New Years be without a LOCK-IN.. yes i said it, Lock-In..where you stick me in a church with 200+ students and say "good luck see ya in the AM" haha.
Monday evening starting at 9pm the doors of the church will lock and my body will start to panic trying to go into sleep mode around 10pm ;) Have I said yet that I love my job?? ;) For some reason, the older I get the more I just can't stay up all night. As I'm writing this blog, it's about 11pm and my eyes are struggling to stay awake. haha. When I do lock-in's I'm usually grumpy by morning, sleep deprived, and I look like death that just came up out of the grave. (great visual I know) :)
HOWEVER, with all that being said, IT'S NOT ABOUT ME :) it's about the students! And if they will have a blast and hear a message about the amazing gift of grace and forgiveness through a Lock-In, then bring on the Lock-In's. If there is only one person tomorrow night who hears the message of Salvation and comes to a relationship with Christ, then the whole night and sleep deprivation is totally worth it. :) I will be taking pictures throughout the evening and then on Jan 2nd or 3rd I will post the damage :)
Here is the start of the Lock-In Prep......

First off, we had to drive to Wichita to get some inflatables. (A fun road trip for the husband and I, AND we got a dinner with my family out of the deal.)

 A big Thanks to "Big Sky Party Rentals" for being so awesome. If you ever need inflatables for some event, they are the people to go through, they are wonderful and are so helpful. We rented a "obstacle  course" called the "Adrenalin rush" (i'll be needing that at 2AM) and we rented a "bungie run".

We had a great view of the Kansas sunset as we were driving. 

The music for the evening....

Our students are such a talented group of students. Main Event Praise Band will be leading us in worship a few times during the lock-in, and so today was practice day! They sound amazing!!! I'm so proud of each one of them. 

And here is the obstacle course AKA: Adrenalin Rush. I'm excited to try this one out !!! 

So that is our Pre-Lock-In prep. Monday morning and afternoon I am heading to Wal-Mart and SAMS for lots of fruit (to compensate for the loads of sugar that students will be intaking), granola bars, chips, soda, gatorade, and muffins, and more fruit for breakfast the next morning. It's going to be a long day, and I will make sure to take pictures of my adventure as I gather it all. Then at 8pm it's a meeting with my amazing leaders who signed up to either help all night or just for a few hrs. (either way they all are AWESOME!!) and then at 9pm It's LOCK-DOWN.. I mean, Lock-In :) haha

:) I do love youth events, and doing what I love,  we are going to have such a BLAST!!