Back to the Bayou

Going to New Orleans was definitely an adventure I will never forget. The small travels in New Orleans were even quests that tested our endurance and ability to obey our leaders. My church’s student choir, which consists of about one hundred fifteen students (including chaperones), left Vaughn Forest at 5:30 in the morning. It was still dark and yet our entire group was definitely ready to travel into our dark and evil world. We knew we wouldn’t leave New Orleans without putting up a fight with our true enemy, the devil.
Getting ready to leave ‘The Heart of Dixie’ wasn’t a simple task. The entire student choir practiced together every Sunday afternoon at 3:00… We couldn’t be late. If one of the students didn’t attend practice for three weeks (or three days), that person was not allowed to go on the trip. Our group practiced hour after hour. Week after week. Month after month. Our director, Big J, gave us partners to pray with for the trip. We also were allowed to pick two extra people to pray with us and for us. My partners were phenomenal. What's more, Claire Garner, Evan Holder, Ashley Hostetter, and I were all paired up to do a VBS class together. When the ‘one week’ mark until the trip rolled by, we decided to go ahead and find out who we were teaching….. We were teaching my true enemies, first and second graders.
The trip to New Orleans wasn’t really eventful. We loaded up at 5:30 am and headed for Mobile. We sang our first concert and at Tillman’s Corner Baptist Church. They adored our singing. The crowd was mostly older people but we still enjoyed the worship time. We sang for two services and I have to say, we relaxed the second time. After eating lunch, we loaded up into our fifty feet long buses and drove to the University of New Orleans. That night, when we all got to the university, me and my roommate, Danielle Hendricks, settled into our room and unpacked. She said she was going to take a break and went to the restroom. She yelled from the bathroom,
“Michael!!!!!! (That is my whole name according to her) There is no toilet paper!!!”
I replied, “ Danielle!!!! Don’t scare me like that!!!! I’ll go downstairs and get some!!!”
So on that note, I walked down three flights of stairs just to ask the lady at the desk for some toilet paper. The lady at the desk also said, “You’ll need this,” handing me a shower curtain. That night was eventful in the same way for everyone staying in the dorms. The next day would bring all new challenges none of us had ever faced, but with God’s help, we knew we could conquer anything.
When the first day of VBS came, the class was definitely larger than expected, yet not very large at all. But the kids were still very hard to control. On the second day, the church members moved one of our kids, Drake to a different classroom. To our surprise, that day went by with nothing out of the ordinary. The kids were wonderful and treated us (the student leaders) with respect. We just decided that Drake was the problem the whole time. On the third day, we counted heads. We were dealing with THIRTY first and second graders. Just because of that ridiculous head count, we jinxed ourselves and had an absolutely horrible day. The kids were horrible, we were nervous, we lost a kid, another kid got sent to the church office, and our junior high minister got horribly mad at Drake (sadly, he was moved again into my group’s class). Every student in every class had to teach a lesson. My lesson was about Jeremiah and Baruch. I would say the things that I learned from this story, but I had never heard it before. So I want to tell the story of Jeremiah and Baruch.
God sent a message to Jeremiah,
"Get a scroll and write down everything I've told you about Israel and Judah and all the other nations from the time I first started speaking to you in Josiah's reign right up to the present day. Maybe the community of Judah will finally understand the disaster that I'm planning for them, turn back from their bad lives, and let me forgive their sin."
So Jeremiah called Baruch. Jeremiah dictated and Baruch wrote down on a scroll everything that God had said to him.
Then Jeremiah told Baruch, his assistant, "I'm restricted from the temple. You will have to take my place and go for me. Go to the temple and read what you have written down on the scroll. Wait for a day of fasting when everyone is there and they will hear you. And make sure that all the people who come from the villages in Judah hear you. Maybe the people will pray to God in this serious time. God has certainly let them know how angry he is!"
Baruch did everything Jeremiah told him to do. In the temple he read the scroll.
All the people of Jerusalem, along with all the people from the Judean
villages, were there in Jerusalem to observe a fast to God. Baruch took the scroll to the temple and read out publicly the words of Jeremiah. He read from the meeting room of the secretary of state, which was in the upper court. Everyone could hear him.
The moment Micaiah heard what was being read from the scroll he went straight to the palace and to the chambers of the secretary of state where all the government officials were holding a meeting. Micaiah reported everything he had heard Baruch read from the scroll as the officials listened.
Immediately they dispatched Jehudi, ordering him, "Take the scroll that you have read to the people and bring it here." So Baruch went and retrieved the scroll.
The officials told him, "Sit down. Read it to us, please." Baruch read it.
When they had heard it all, they were upset. They talked it over. "We've got to tell the king all this."
They asked Baruch, "Was it at Jeremiah's dictation?"
Baruch said, "That's right. Every word right from his
mouth. And I wrote it down, word for word.” The government officials told Baruch, "You need to get out of here. You and Jeremiah go into hiding and do not tell anyone where you are!"
The officials went to the court of the palace to report to the king, having put the scroll in safekeeping. The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. He brought it from the office of the secretary. Jehudi then read it to the king and the officials who were in the king's service.
It was December. The king was sitting in his winter quarters in front of a charcoal fire. After Jehudi would read three or four columns, the king would cut them off the scroll with his knife and throw them in the fire. He continued in this way until the entire scroll had been burned in the fire.
Neither the king nor any officials showed the slightest twinge of conscience as they listened to the messages read. Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah tried to convince the king not to burn the scroll, but he ignored them. He just plowed ahead and ordered Jerahameel, Seraiah, and Shelemiah to arrest Jeremiah the prophet and his secretary Baruch. But God had hidden them away.
After the king had burned the scroll that Baruch had written at Jeremiah's dictation, Jeremiah received this message from God: "Get another scroll and do it all over again. Write out everything that was in that first scroll that Jehoiakim burned.
"And send this personal message to Jehoiakim king of Judah: God says, you had the nerve to burn this scroll and then say, "What kind of nonsense is this written here—that the king of Babylon will come and destroy this land and kill everything in it? Well, do you want to know what God says about me? 'No descendant of his will ever rule from David's throne. His body will be thrown in the street and left unburied, exposed to the hot sun and the freezing night. I will punish him and his children and the officials in his government for their obvious sin. I'll let loose on them and everyone in Jerusalem the doomsday disaster of which I warned them but they spit at.'"
So Jeremiah went and got another scroll and gave it to Baruch, his secretary. At Jeremiah's dictation he again wrote down everything that king Jehoiakim had burned in the fire. There were also generous additions, but of the same sort.
-Jeremiah 36-


Through this story, I realized that a mighty earthly king is no match for our Mighty King. On the third day, I taught the lesson about Jeremiah and Baruch. Also on the third day, I started feeling like I had a bad case of the flu: bad headache, throat hurting terribly, I just felt awful. I went on my day until the third class. I couldn’t take it anymore. When I started thinking about home, I started crying my eyes out. I couldn’t stop crying. I sat out from VBS that day and later we sang in an eighth ward neighborhood. The power of God was overpowering. The entire group was bursting with the strongest influence that I have ever felt the people of that neighborhood were obviously in need of God’s word and so about fifteen students went out into groups of three or four to minister to the people who were not at the concert. The next day, we did VBS as usual and later, we did a concert at a church we were doing backyard a backyard Bible club at. I was not stationed at that church but we all went there often. We ate dinner with a group of older men and women. They were mesmerized by Jordan Luna’s magic tricks. They wanted more tricks but we needed to start our concert. We didn’t experience a lot of God’s power at that location because there were maybe ten or fifteen people there. Many students went around the neighborhood and made more progress of sharing the Gospel to people than the choir itself. The next day, we had VBS and did concerts in Jackson Square. VBS went of without a hitch. All of the kids were well-behaved and yet Drake was still in my class. We learned how to tame him. Directly afterwards VBS, we all loaded up and went back to UNO. We ate lunch provided by the fabulous Jennie Weller. It was the best meal we had all week, sub sandwiches. We had to chug down our sandwiches to get to our next destination on time. Our next appearance was at Jackson Square. We had a great time there. I was in a group with Sara Klucking, Drew Tanner, Jannah Weller, Katie Atkein, and Ryan Wolfe. The security guard we talked to was awesome!!! As it turned out, he had written a couple of Christian songs on his own. He wanted us to be praying for his children and grandchildren. He said he was having a tough time with them. After we gave him a sample of our singing, he let us into the Mardi Gras museum for free. We had to rush through because we were all afraid of the student ministers leaving us there, so we left early. We had two extra minutes at the meeting place, the mall. Of course all of the girls took advantage to this time. After we went back to UNO, we changed clothes and had “nap time.” About an hour later, all the girls in the student group started getting ready to go on the steamboat. We rode on the Natchez. It was great. Ryan (as I mentioned before), Sara, and I all snuck away and had an awesome “jog” around the deck.
The next day, Friday, we needed to pack up and load up. All the way home, hardly anyone talked. We were all so tired and those who weren’t reflected on the time we spent in New Orleans. It was hard for our kids to let go of us. We all cried when we were saying our goodbyes. I gave out my cell number an innumerous amount of girls. Even the male side of the student group had a hard time leaving. Jonathon Smart started crying. Leaving New Orleans was definitely one of those times where it’s a sweet moment and yet it is a little on the strange side.