Beach Reach

Stuff that's been said about Beach Reach by others aka for my own reference. I miss it!

"beach reach by Meredith Brooke Oliver Saturday, March 24, 2007 at 11:50pm

Oh man, I could not describe my spring break in one sentence even if I tried. I do know that God showed up and in a big way. For me, this trip probably started at the beginning of this semester when I thought that I needed to go but had no idea where the money would come from. I still owe my parents money for school and books from this semester. The trip cost $370 plus spending money. My church paid for $100 but I was left with the rest. After weeks of doubting, I finally got a direct deposit totalling to $316 from taxes. How great is our God!

If I went though the entire week, this would be so incredibly long but I'm going to talk about a few of the many amazing things that God did.

The first night and our first day together as a group, we bonded so quickly. It was full of laughter and good times. It was amazing how different our personalities were but how perfectly we all meshed together. It was amazing how we were all quick to encourage and pray for each other. I love you guys!!

One of my prayers for the week was that we could cling to His many promises. Oh man, God's word just totally jumped off the page for me last week. It wasn't just certain passages, it was everything I read in there.

At the beginning of the week as we walked around and rode in the vans making conversations with other spring breakers, I felt a lot of pressure to steer the conversation. By Thursday, I finally realized that God is big enough to handle my converastion and if He wants it to go there, then it will, and not forcefully so. The last night, I walked around with Chris (we seriously walked like 4 or 5 miles!) . For the first 30 minutes out on the street we just walked and talked, and trusted God to guide our footsteps and put us in the right place in the right time. We decided to walk to waffle house. After about 2 minutes of standing outside the waffle house, a guy walked up and we asked how he was doing. He said "still breathing." We wished him a good night and then watched him go in and sit down by himself. Chris and I ended up going over and sitting with him as he ate. His name was Adam. He was a local Christian who has been burned by the Church. We ended up talking to him for an hour and a half almost. It was amazing though that the conversation flowed almost naturally to Jesus.

Then, after our conversation ended, we headed in the opposite direction, we caught up with another guy named Chris. Chris was walking to a club about a mile and half down the strip in the direction we were walking so we walked and talked with him. We were allowed the opportunity to present the gospel to Chris. We actually ended up walking a mile past the club where he intended to go before we turned back. Chris seemed to understand Jesus and his grace but also felt unready to make any kind of decision. That was a great converstaion too.

There were many others that I met that night who tugged at my heart and I pray that God used me despite my weakness.

One of the highlights of the week was the night when I stayed back in the prayer room. So when my team left, I went over to the prayer room, where I found some of the leaders hanging out. I got to meet them and joke around. They asked what I was doing that night and told them that I'd be in the prayer room while my team went out to do rides/street teams. So they asked if I 'd like to enter the prayer requests onto the blogsite as they came in all night. So that was what I ended up doing for about 6 hours. It was AMAZING!! I got to listen in as the other people in the prayer room prayed aloud and agree with them as they prayed and as I typed in the prayer requests that showed up on the screen of the prayer room. I also typed in praises where God had answered prayer. God is faithful!! He continues to amaze me with his mercy and faithfulness!

As I return to a test to study for, and other worries and doubts and fears, I am refreshed and feel better equiped for having gone to Beach Reach in Panama City, not to mention a little bit sun burnt. :-) "

"Beach Reach Quotes!! by Julia Kannapell Saturday, March 24, 2007 at 4:43am

"Do you REALLY want to know??" - Beach Reach

"Who? MIKE JONES!" - Bryan Harris and me

"Who? MIKE WHALEN!" - Stephen Stegall

"You need a Man Friend!!" - Lance Butler

"Emily earned her beads!" - Bryan Harris

"You cold, Emily?" - Bryan Harris

"That is a Lance original!" - Lance Butler

"I passed a kidney stone, SON!" - Lance Butler

"If I don't have a 10 pound baby by the end of the night I'm gonna be disappointed!!" - Lance Butler

"Dad is great! Makes his chocolate cake!" - Chris Mize

"HERMAN!!" - Meredith Goolsby

"Calvin Johnson!!" - Juice

"All I remember is Pony on a stick!" - me

"That's exciting! I know more of the lyrics to Def Leppard than the drunk girl singing karaoke!" - me

"Cakes of the pan, devoid of cost!" - some Beach Reacher

"Sweet Action!" - Laurie

"I'm changing my shirt!" - Stephen Stegall

"Free Wife!" - Oliver Albrecht

"Everyone picks on the retard!" - Lance Butler

[said to Megan Smith] "Saucy Momma!" - Some drunk guy

Stegall - "It had two words and they both started with S... something Bomber..."
Me - "Bisquick Bomber?"
Stegall - "yeah!"
Me - "but neither of those start with S..."
Stegall - "Jerk"

"I met a high person!" - Meredith Goolsby

"Straight Up!" - Bryan Harris

"Foot Pansy!" - Chris Mize

"Pool Pansy!" - Chris Mize

"Hold it down like a fat kid on a seesaw!" - Lance Butler

Megan - "So are you an American citizen?"
Drunk German - "Not yet. Will you marry me?"

"Holy snap, crackle, pop!" - Lance Butler

Drunk guy - "Where the [heck] did you get the pony?"
Drunk German - "Don't ask me. Ask the pony, man!"

"That is a dude in a bra!" - Lance Butler

"Everyone lay a hand..." - Beach Reach

"We're NAKED!" - Brooke Oliver

"Who doesn't want to see an albino midget pop out of a cupcake?"
- Lance Butler

"Tell that vein in your forehead to chill out!"
- Lance Butler

"It was the perfect cup!"
- Lance Butler

"He loves Mexicans!"
- Jose from Morehead

"Just wait, when you get out, your nipples are gonna be harder than the SAT!"
- Bryan Harris

~This is all I could think of at the moment... if you remember something that I forgot, leave a comment and I'll add it! Thanks so much for making it an awesome trip guys!"