S.O.S. Prep: I Refuse

Counting the days down to my trip to Ghana and sharing the experience leading up to it was a great way for me to focus my attention on the mission trip/opportunity ahead of me.  As we lead up to Caleb's S.O.S. trip, less than a month away I find myself in a different seat for this experience, but one equally exciting.  I am the sending party in this mission trip and as a result have different and new ideas, concerns, and thoughts about the experience.

This will be Caleb's first short-term mission trip.  I'm not quite certain he is really prepared for the manual labor that awaits for him, but I want him to be very aware of the support he has from family and friends in his decision to go and serve in this way.

As his Dad, I feel the responsibility to help him prepare spiritually for the trip.  I know the youth group at church is doing their prep work each Sunday leading up to it, but I have felt compelled to make sure Caleb understands that his mom and I are his partners in this journey and his work for this mission trip has already started as his intentional preparation is equally important as his service during the trip.

I've struggled, however, in HOW TO communicate such a serious topic to the typical attention span challenged 12 year old that is my son.  If I get too serious with him, he would likely just shut down. If I make it too light, he may not understand what I want to convey to him.  I've found myself feeling rather anxious about this issue of communication over the past few weeks, but what I was reminded about during a sermon a couple weeks ago is that I should be lifting this entire process up in prayer and trusting that God will work in both Caleb and I through this process.  No matter how much I want to control it, I can't dictate how much Caleb absorbs of what I have to share or that he even processes and applies the information exactly as I envision.  The reality is that I really shouldn't try to dictate how he applies any lessons learned.  My prayer is that through our studies and conversations in preparation leading up to the trip, Caleb would be 'armed' with knowledge and the spirit to face whatever God has in store for him on the trip.

Caleb, like most kids his age, loves to listen to music.  So, as mission prep work, we have decided to meet each Saturday leading up to the trip for breakfast and together we listen to a song (one that I've pre-selected) and discuss the message of the song and how it applies to different aspects of mission work.  I'm trying to focus on themes of Attitude, Surrender, Prayer, and Love.  We met for the first time last Saturday and had a great breakfast and discussion on Attitude as we listened to and discussed Josh Wilson's song I Refuse as well as some corresponding scripture.

I know there are a number of other parents doing similar or other types of prep work with their kids and I would love to hear about their ideas, thoughts, and experiences.