Prologue

Why was it so inviting?

• I'd be sleeping on a church floor for five days with nothing but the thin padding of my sleeping bag to comfort me.
• I had so much work to do for my marketing consulting and blogs to write for my UltimateWorkAtHomeDads.com website and wouldn't be near a computer to do it.
• I'd be surrounded with middle school kids, helping to guide them, lead them, drive them (and the more I drive the easier it is for me to fall asleep).
• I'd be away from my home, my wife, my bed, my air conditioning while cleaning driveways, feeding hungry people, walking around a rainy downtown area looking for "good" and stopping to pray.

Oh, sure… there were plenty of reasons to say NO, but still I was called to help, to lead, to grow, to be taught.

And so I went.

July 19 – July 25, 2009 (not getting to bed until 2:42 AM on Saturday – WAY after all the kids did, and I'll explain that in the Diary).

Here's what five seminary students can dream up to support Middle School students who are often left behind when it comes to service projects (because they aren't 16 years old, yet, and insurance won't allow them to handle the "heavy projects" seen in most mission trips).

Five churches (from near Atlanta, GA; Charlotte, NC; two near Nashville, TN; and Swarthmore, PA) gathering for service, fellowship, and meaningful lessons of faith.

So here it is… my personal video diary broken into 5 segments.

Do I expect you to watch it? Heck, NO.

Am I surprised that you are even HERE looking at this? For SURE!

Do I think you'll be MOVED if you get into the spirit and share the joys and tears I went through for this week? ABSOLUTELY.

When we make up our minds that it's time to change from "Success" to "Significance," we look for ways to pay back and pay forward.

In some small way this is one way I chose.

Best,

Charlie Seymour Jr
A Work At Home Dad since 1983, succeeding in this economy
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Charlie Seymour Jr – Learn More About Charlie at UltimateWorkAtHomeDads.com

Part 1. From Swarthmore To Nashville

• What are the lessons of the loaves and the fishes?
• How well can Middle School kids share their love with others?
• Why it was important for me to meet Janet Lytle Larner during our stop in Staunton, VA
• Why we go on trips like this to help the hungry, the poor, the homeless
• The lessons these kids can teach us as they take a week out of their vacations… lessons of service, caring, love, support
• Why an alarm clock is only a safety net for me, if I use it at all
• What the Widow's Mite story can teach us about giving, service, helping those disenfranchised

Part 2. Looking Ahead To
The Lessons Of The Week

• Secrets from the Prayer Garden behind the church
• Tuesday With Charlie – a preview of the day's activities
• What "washing feet" teaches us about serving others and how to do it
• Why we can't be the same after we serve others
• How to get people to know, like, and trust you
• From Success to Significance and why we turn inward at times like this
• What the "butterfly theory" can teach you
• The mysteries of seeing "it" in their eyes
• Why "pay it back; pay it forward" is so important
• The lessons of Second Harvest – HUGE warehouse of food, hope, spirit, need
• How the generosity of "business" helps
• Why you have to sit down when talking about immigration

Part 3. Wednesday's Preview

• Did the constant rain dampen our spirits?
• How Doug's lesson about helping touched my heart
• Why Quinton's outlook on life inspires
• What Nashville's Rescue Mission, Country Music Hall of Fame, and a Prayer Walk in the rain have in common

Part 4. Reflections on Wednesday

• The sun never came out – what did that do to our plans?
• How our "serving machine" was really "cooking" at the Nashville Rescue Mission
• What do the people we served look like and why were they there?
• Can this meal really feed the soul as well as the body?
• Why did Steven miss the Country Music Hall Of Fame?
• Does East Nashville, in the rain, have any beauty, hope, spirit?
• What do kids think about a Prayer Walk in the rain, and how do they express it in words and images?
• Will an experiment in Silence-For-An-Hour work? Will it speak loudly to our hearts?
• Can My Friends House get boys back on a clean path?
• What my Baby Boomer Bones were saying to me
• How powerful can touch be without any contact?

Part 5. Thoughts at 4:41 AM

• How many more circles under my eyes can I fit?
• What my sinuses were screaming to me
• Why the spirit of giving filled my head
• How My Friends House looked when we left – left it a bit nicer for the boys who find their right path there
• Could we really sweep up, wipe down, and display images on the walls?
• Small steps for food have big impact – how moving bus routes help feed the hungry
• Changing government to make gardening legal again
• The shifting problem of Dorrie's van – "I think I can, I think I can" might not be strong enough
• Combining worship, singing, the Lord's Supper to cap off the week
• How ONE sentence can uplift your neighbor as you put an arm on his/her shoulder

SO…

• What changed over the week?
• What impact on others did we have?
• How were everyone's eyes windows into their souls
• To where does our journey continue?

I can answer SOME of that… but YOU have to answer the rest.

Thanks for visiting. I hope you've gotten something out of this.

I know I have.

For a number of years our church has had 8th graders confirmed into full membership after a series of classes they share with our associate pastor and several adult lay leaders.

And each of the students asks an adult in the church to be his or her friend-in-faith so that the student has at least one more adult friend in the community. We aren't there to tell them what to think and not even really to ASK them what they think: we're there to share fellowship with them and by being good people, leading by example. (Not "perfect people" – none of us has reached that level, just good: good to them and sharing God's goodness wherever we can.)

Tonight, each of the 21 students (well, one was absent – she was in Sound of Music at Young People's Theatre Workshop where my daughter, Liz, is a choreographer and director) was introduced by his or her friend-in-faith and then he or she read the faith statement prepared by him or her during their 'journey' in the class.

My friend-in-faith did great! Spoke clearly, was self-assured, and showed everyone what a great, upbeat young guy he is.

I want to shift from my friend-in-faith to the faith message delivered by one of the other students. I've known her for years, directed her in the annual student in-church-service cantata, and have become friends with her parents.

Her faith statement was so good I wanted to share it with you. Remember, she's an 8th grader, and here's what she wrote about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit:

"The trinity is an ecosystem. The many parts keep others alive. Without one, everything else does not exist.

"God is like a tree. God is like the biggest, tallest, strongest tree in the forest that has ever been and will ever be. He cradles people like a tree cradles birds, and shelters us. With his grace, we as birds can take flight. Even when we stray from God's protective shade, we fly home again and God accepts us. God's love extends not only to the birds who preach his word, but the mother and father birds, the brother and sister birds, the flightless birds and the song birds. Furthermore, God's love does not only extend to the birds of his tree, but all the other animals that seek shelter and hope under his branches. God loves us all equally as the creatures he created, and will continue to love us, no matter how far we fly from him.

"Jesus is like the river. He is the living water, flowing through the ecosystem. He is something we can touch, fully ordinary, and yet water has indescribable power that can shape rocks and move mountains. Jesus give us life, the way water gives us life. Not only does Jesus give us life, but he gave his life for us. Without Jesus, as without water, we could not survive. Unlike God, Jesus is fully human as well as fully divine. Humans have our flaws, like a river can have currents, bumps and droughts. Jesus asked, "Why Father?" for even Jesus questions God's work. But when a rock is thrown into the river, it will eventually return to its glassy form.

The Holy Spirit is like the sky. You know the sky is vast, and is always with you. Even if we stray from the tree, walk from the river, the sky is still above your head. The sky provides for us and gives us rain and light, no matter where we are in life. No matter cloudy or sunny, during the day or at night, the sky is always there."

Powerful, insightful, great analogy with the earth.

To say this is "well-grounded" gives the real meaning to the words: from the Earth: well-grounded.

Thank you, Katie, for such inspired words. And thanks to your Mom as well, for agreeing with you and me to let your words appear here.

Katie's own blog is here!

A little girl walked to and from school daily.

Though the weather that morning was questionable and clouds were forming, she made her daily trek to the elementary school.

As the afternoon progressed, the winds whipped up, along with lightning.

The mother of the little girl felt concerned that her daughter would be frightened as she walked home from school and she feared the electrical storm might harm her child.

Full of concern, the mother quickly got into her car and drove along the route to her child's school. As she did, she saw her little girl walking along.

At each flash of lightning, the child would stop, look up, and smile.

Another and another flash of lighting followed quickly and with each, the little girl would look at the streak of light and smile.
When the mother's car drew up beside the child, she lowered the window and called to her:

'What are you doing?'

The child answered, 'I am trying to look pretty because God keeps taking my picture.'

May God take YOUR picture so that you will keep smiling too.

We finished setting up the guestroom where Liz had had a bedroom for about 10 years, and I decided to head out for a bit of Christmas shopping (or at least Christmas "window" shopping).

I stopped by the recycling center – no problem. I headed for my local Wawa for a turkey hoagie (for those not around here: Wawa is a terrific quick-stop convenience store chain started in the Philadelphia, PA USA area – many now are pretty large, dispensing gasoline too. And "hoagie" is a sub sandwich) but the parking lot was so full I drove on.

Often at this time of the year I head for Walmart. Something about strolling around a huge place like the one a few miles from my home lets me stay in touch with what is being sold in various departments AND stay in touch with lots of types of people. Walmart seems to attract people across so many different lines (economic, racial and ethnic, etc) and I learn something every time I'm there. (One of my marketing gurus, Dan Kennedy, used to watch Roseanne and Jerry Springer just to stay in touch with "real Americans" and my trips to Walmart does a similar thing for me.)

Since I couldn't stop for a turkey hoagie in my usual Wawa, I stopped at the Wawa close to the Walmart.

The woman (with her young son) in checkout line ahead of me used a card I hadn't seen before. I could plainly read ACCESS on the card when the cashier took it to another machine to process it.

"Oh, you can use this for that sandwich… it's been toasted. You have to use cash for that."

Then I figured it out: ACCESS is the way, at least in Pennsylvania, USA, that the state gives money for what people used to call Food Stamps. No longer are "stamps" sent through the mail; people use these special cards to access their "accounts" when they need to purchase items.

"I'm sorry… that's just the way the system is set up," said the cashier, helpless to do anything to help the woman and her son (who wanted the sandwich).

"Ma'am," I said to the cashier, "I'll pay for that sandwich." The little boy's eyes opened wider as he looked at me.

I just kept thinking that the woman had made a mistake, one she didn't even know she was making. And I kept wondering: "Just because something is toasted, does the state not feel that is food? Or, are they only supposed to use cards like this for staples to take home?"

I'd like to think I would do something like this even if it WEREN'T this holiday season. And all I could say to the woman and her son, when she turned to say, "Thank you very much," was "Merry Christmas."

Was my usual Wawa's parking lot full SO THAT I would meet this woman and her son? Did I decide to go in the direction of Walmart SO THAT I'd meet this woman and her son? Was the feeling I had inside and the lesson I learned (about being open to those around me) what led me today.

Probably so.

Amazing what the energy around us will do for us when we are open to it…

.

Faith, a smile, and a happy heart – we used all three during our Sunday – Friday journey with Middle School students, gathering from churches from near Philadelphia; outside Washington, DC; Nashville, TN; and Davidson, NC.

We stopped over night to pick up some more students, pastors, and parents to begin our caravan to North Carolina.

When lunch time approached, and our gas tanks were emptying, we stopped at a Chick fil A. Our kids really enjoy the freedom to roam around a bit and fill their stomachs.

There was another group of kids in the restaurant when we arrived. All neatly scrubbed and wearing similar t-shirts, these 7-11 year olds were busily chowing down their sandwiches. I asked a chaperon about the kids and was told that it was a group of foster children.

I admit a lump grew in my throat.

Thinking I was speaking just to the counselor, I said, "awww… gee, I'd love to take one of them home with me."

"Please take me," said an 8-year old boy, jumping up from his place at the table.

My heart sank. I had been moved by the children but now had allowed my loud voice to carry to tender ears and get his hopes up.

I gave him a hug.

Then one by one other kids asked for hugs. I think I hugged 17 children before their counselor reminded them that they were on a schedule and had to keep eating or they'd miss their play time.

I offered my card and said if there were anything I could do to help publicize the great work that this group was doing, they should contact me here at RaisingGreatFamilies.com… but I haven't heard from them.

Back in our vehicles we poured and set out on the last leg of our journey.

Arriving in Davidson, our tired group was greeted by a lawn FILLED with plastic flamingos. It turns out the church had used these in a fund-raiser… any time someone in the community made a contribution, the flamingos started to populate their lawn. Soon the town had a whole flock of plastic flamingos all over! What a great way to show the success this campaign was having.

More about the fun and devotion we experienced… in my next episode.

Charlie Seymour Jr.
Please leave a comment below: I really DO read them all!

Charlie Seymour Jr is the founder of RaisingGreatFamilies.com, FathersAndTheDaughtersTheyLove.com, and ILearnedItAllFromMyKids.com. He is also working with his daughter, Liz, as she publishes her own website and releases her first solo CD: LizSeymour.com. Charlie is a Social Marketer and Community Builder and often consults about marketing through his site, GetThemOffTheRaftMarketing.com. He's a prolific writer, including blogs on each of these sites, his book Dream Inc (32 Philadelphia-area Entrepreneurs and their Million Dollar Secrets For Success), and articles about Social Marketing for national and regional publications including NSA Magazine (for the National Speakers Association) and Spotlight (for the American Association of Community Theatre). He's the father of two daughters and lives in Wallingford, PA with his wife, Pam.

If every great adventure starts with a single step, this Mission Trip to Davidson, NC started with a LONG stop before we were really underway.

One of our vehicles overheated. Quickly and definitely (all over the windshield and engine!).

Strangely enough, one of the parents had smelled something odd with Dorrie's van but since Dorrie had it in for servicing and had just driven it to the church without noticing any problem, she didn't really think twice about the parent's comment about the smell.

But I-95 can be a tough partner in a trip to the south, and we weren't on our way more than 10 minutes when the call came in to the Rev John who was driving the church's van. (I'll leave last names off for children and adults – they can always come here to make comments if they want their last names mentioned.)

[By the way, what did caravan trips like this ever do before Cell Phones? We would have been lost, in so many ways.]

So… Dorrie had already pulled off the highway and so John and the rest of us in the church van pulled off too. We waited for a short while for a report about how Dorrie was doing.

Or maybe we waited one exit away from Dorrie because some of the kids had already started a card game and John quickly joined them.

But when it looked like Dorrie's vehicle wasn't getting any better, we took off to join her.

Right across from where Dorrie found a gas station (that was ill-equipped to help her) was a Subway sandwich shop where we took the kids while waiting for AAA to arrive (45 minutes had been the estimate).

I suggested that we call some of the kids' parents to see if someone could lend us a vehicle, just in case AAA couldn't get Dorrie's to work.

After a quick dinner and the report from AAA that Dorrie's van needed to be towed for repairs, one of the families came to our rescue and loaned us their Honda Pilot. (Sweet, clean, smooth riding Pilot – no food or drink was allowed in THIS vehicle ESPECIALLY since the family was to take off for vacation the day after we were to arrive home.)

The Pilot held one fewer person than Dorrie's van and its roof rack held a bit less too… so our church van was now loaded with kids and gear.

Back on the road to Maryland to pick up two more church groups and spend the night, we had already spent 3 hours on our "journey" that would require faith, a smile, and a happy heart.

We used all three over the Sunday – Friday journey… more in my next "episode."

Charlie Seymour Jr.
Please leave a comment below: I really DO read them all!

Charlie Seymour Jr is the founder of RaisingGreatFamilies.com, FathersAndTheDaughtersTheyLove.com, and ILearnedItAllFromMyKids.com. He is also working with his daughter, Liz, as she publishes her own website and releases her first solo CD: LizSeymour.com. Charlie is a Social Marketer and Community Builder and often consults about marketing through his site, GetThemOffTheRaftMarketing.com. He's a prolific writer, including blogs on each of these sites, his book Dream Inc (32 Philadelphia-area Entrepreneurs and their Million Dollar Secrets For Success), and articles about Social Marketing for national and regional publications including NSA Magazine (for the National Speakers Association) and Spotlight (for the American Association of Community Theatre). He's the father of two daughters and lives in Wallingford, PA with his wife, Pam.

The experience I had on a church mission trip with middle school students from 5 Presbyterian Churches (one in PA, two in MD, one in TN, and one in NC) was quite remarkable.

I'll take the next few blog post times in my schedule to write about what I learned.

A quick overview:

• We left on Sunday, July 20, 2008 from Swarthmore, PA USA and drove to Maryland where we spent the night in homes of church members there.
• The next day, our caravan of our 15 passenger church bus and three other vehicles (like Honda Pilots) traveled to Davidson, NC.
• Most of the kids from my own church I didn't know at all, some I had spoken with, and a few I had directed in in-church-service musicals over that past few years.

How all of us got along, what lessons we learned, and how some of the kids amazed me will be part of my blogs here over the next few weeks.

The lessons are revealing and delightful. And I'm forever changed.

Charlie Seymour Jr.
Please leave a comment below: I really DO read them all!

Charlie Seymour Jr is the founder of RaisingGreatFamilies.com, FathersAndTheDaughtersTheyLove.com, and ILearnedItAllFromMyKids.com. He is also working with his daughter, Liz, as she publishes her own website and releases her first solo CD: LizSeymour.com. Charlie is a Social Marketer and Community Builder and often consults about marketing through his site, GetThemOffTheRaftMarketing.com. He's a prolific writer, including blogs on each of these sites, his book Dream Inc (32 Philadelphia-area Entrepreneurs and their Million Dollar Secrets For Success), and articles about Social Marketing for national and regional publications including NSA Magazine (for the National Speakers Association) and Spotlight (for the American Association of Community Theatre). He's the father of two daughters and lives in Wallingford, PA with his wife, Pam.