What I Learned from Holiday World…

Yesterday I was a day of firsts…. my first trip with the new youth group and my first trip to Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana.  It is on these two firsts that I want to reflect on in this post.

Allow me to first explain what Holiday World is.  Holiday World is an amusement park located in Santa Claus, Indiana.  Talk about a town that really knows how to capitalize on the name that it has been given! Wow… and Holiday World takes it to another level.  They include many of your favorite holidays in the theme of the park.  On top of that… free drinks and free sunscreen for the whole family… not to mention the food there was pretty tasty.

Here are some things that I learned yesterday at Holiday World… for what they are worth…

– Amusement Parks = confidence drain   &   Amusement Parks = confidence boost
 Here is what I mean by this… I took off my shirt… it was blazin hot out with a reported heat index reaching 124 degrees.  I’m not gonna lie… without my shirt on… well… let’s just say I won’t be posting any pictures to show you all how good I look. You can thank me in the comments. As soon as I took my shirt off some younger more buffer guy would walk by and I would think to myself… “I really need to hit the gym”.  My confidence was shot.

Then… how do I put this politely… a guy with less buff more fluff would walk by… and I would say to myself… “I’m not so bad off after all.”

Conclusion: I need to hit the gym.

– I’m getting old.
I know… I know… I’m only 31 years old and 30 is the new 20… whatever that means. But really… I’m getting old.  Here are a couple of reasons why:

-I don’t enjoy riding roller coasters like I used to.  Every roller coaster that Holiday World has is a wooden one… I hate wooden roller coasters… because “I don’t want to be sore tomorrow”.

– At one point I looked to my wife and said… “I will not allow our daughter to dress like some of these girls”.  I want to be clear… I was not talking about the girls in our youth group… I was talking about the girls that should’ve had more clothes on.  My wife turns to me and says… “You sound like your Dad.”  Sorry Pop… sounding like my dad = I’m getting old.

– After every ride I rode… I would say… “That ride was legit”.  Legit has become slang for “the real deal”… “well done”.  My wife once again says to me… “Would you stop saying legit?”. I guess I was trying to sound younger because I’m getting old.

Conclusion: Let nature take it’s course. Don’t try so hard.

– Thanksgiving is still my favorite holiday.
Did I mention it was hot yesterday?  It was… but we found refreshment… in the section of the park named after my favorite holiday… Thanksgiving.  It was a restaurant called “Plymouth Rock”… but unlike the real Plymouth Rock… this place was no joke.  The other restaurants that we went in the air conditioning couldn’t keep up because of the number of sweaty bodies… but this place wasn’t as busy so the AC was working great… plus it smelled like Thanksgiving… the only thing missing was the football.

A picture of Plymouth Rock

Conclusion: Enjoy Thanksgiving even more this November.

– Update GPS
Nothing says reality check like getting lost. Our trip back to our church was supposed to only take an hour… it took two.  Why?  Because I missed a turn.  You know… you really begin to appreciate that voice that says “Stay left”… or “turn a right in point 2 miles”… after you miss a turn.  How about the voice that says… “Recalculating… please make next legal U-turn”.  Thank you Mr.GPS for reminding me to obey the law. None the less… I did not have a GPS last night… and it was too late to even think about what direction I was heading… the result arriving back at the church at 12:30 am.  I made a rookie mistake as a youth pastor. Thank the good Lord for gracious parents.

Conclusion: Make 100% sure that you know where you are going before taking a trip with students… especially if it’s your first trip with them.

When you live for today… you learn from today.

What lessons has life taught you lately?  Please share.