Gauntlet Departure

All nervous for the excitement to come, it was going to be the first church camp I had ever gone to and this wasn't going to be any normal church trip. At seven o'clock Sunday night, June 10th I packed the last minute items necessary for a nine hour bus ride.
Our minds racing, bodies shaking, and hearts beating rapidly we realized that in only four short hours over four hundred ecstatic middle and high school students would be on their way to Panama City Beach, Florida. My mom drove Rachel and me to church that night. We were so excited that we screamed all night until we arrived. The one thing that silenced us was the sight of how many people were already there! At least three hundred people, kids and adults, were already trying to fight through the chaos. My anxious stomach was doing flips like never before.
After checking in and making my way through the thick crowd to load luggage our brief instructions were to drop our belongings at our buses and meet in the sanctuary so the leaders could get everything in order. As we found our friends, roommates and leaders we didn't stop talking. Everything from seeing long lost friends to screaming at the ones we'd been with all night was a routine for everyone. Brad Cooper, in his traveling clothes, was obviously just as excited all the rest of us. After what had seemed like three days almost everyone was settled in the sanctuary. Brad, now calm and collected, took a moment to lead all five hundred of us in prayer for the trip and also for the emotional story of the Caler's. Through every bit of excitement we were all just so thankful for everything we were able to do at that moment. As we remembered the accident a few nights before we were so thankful just for life itself. As Brad wrapped up prayer the flips my stomach was doing got even worse; it was like this for everyone! One of the most exciting parts was the roaring buses in our ears and finding our ways through the cloudy diesel exhaust.
"Bus Two!" Brad and Aldin yelled together.
Running wildly from their seats, the middle school students boarded their bus. It was exhilarating to watch young teenagers get this excited for a church trip.
Finally I heard, "BUS SIX!" I was so excited! My friends and I along with many other students made our way to the bus. As we all found our seats and we awaited departure I realized that I had never met the leader I was assigned to live with for a week. This seemed like a pretty important part of the trip so I decided to call her over and let her meet her new girls, anxious to introduce myself.
"Hey are you Kristina because if so I'll be living with you for the next five days!" I think my excitement showed as the words all came out together so quick; I had made my first impression.
Kristina smiled laughingly and said she was excited to get to meet us and that she couldn't wait to worship with us all week. From this, she seemed like a nice person but the only thing I was thinking through the conversation was that she didn't seem as happy about it as us. The first thing her attitude said to me was that she would be strict and no fun. I assumed that we wouldn't get along... at all.
The rest of the night was fun and relaxing at the same time. The boys on the bus entertained while the girls talked and laughed. We ate, talked, sang, played games, sang, talked and most of us got a couple hours of sleep. This continued until we arrived at our first destination at eight o'clock. We had stopped in the Home Depot parking lot to eat over six hundred Chick-fil-A biscuits! We continued to forget about Brad's warning of staying up all night until we finally got to our final destination. At nine o'clock AM Saturday, June 11 over six hundred people flooded onto Panama City Beach's 'The Majestic' to learn about our eventful week ahead. Needless to say, everyone of us were dead tired and slightly regretted not taking our only advantage of good sleep on those buses. Every part including the sun beaming down, Saturday's message, games and every minute we had off were exhausting. Kristina turned out to be the sweetest, most caring and most trustworthy leader anyone could have asked for. My assumptions were thankfully, wrong. Since that trip Kristina has become my leader, mentor and best friend. I will never forget the excitement, worries and frustration that carried through the air onto nine charter buses full of restless teenagers. The Gauntlet 2007 is a memory I will never forget.