Traveling is one
of many passions of mine. So much so in fact, that I have made lists, studied
places, written, and dreamed about where life could take me next. One such
opportunity fell upon me during my 1-year Christian Internship. A good friend
and fellow intern Cody Hayslette offered a trip to his home town nearly
Raleigh, NC over winter break. One of my many travel goals is to set foot in
all 50 states. I was going on this trip and nothing was going to stop me…or so
I thought.
The trip wasn't happening until the
first week in January so I had to weeks to prepare. All I thought about then
was relaxing and doing a whole bunch of nothing when I got back to my
apartment…but then I got a text. It was from my sister and I had seen her only
a half an hour ago so I knew whatever it was it couldn't be good. My hunch
proved correct. A flashy piece of mail arrived that day at my parent’s house
summoning me for jury duty. But this wasn’t any common jury duty. It was in
fact a Grand Jury summons meaning larger cases and was near impossible to
avoid. My heart fell so fast and so hard that you could hear the thump in
Thailand. My state of being went from shear happiness to straight up depressed.
Not only was I almost guaranteed not to go to NC, but if I was selected for a
jury, I may have had my internship experience ruined.
If this had happened to me a number
of years ago, I would’ve thrown in the towel, called it quits, maybe even
kicked a bucket (with my foot…see what I did there?). However, I still had
hope. One of the first things I did was pray. Let me tell you this now. Prayer
can do wonders. With man impossibility lingers, waiting for its moment to
pounce, but with God, that word doesn’t even exist. Also keep in mind that God
knows what’s best for you and knows when to give you what you need. So if you
pray and don’t get a response right away, don’t give up or be discouraged,
because even the best things in life take time.
No one likes jury duty, but it is
one’s duty as a citizen of these United States. There is never good timing for
it, but there is the worst possible time it can occur. I was upset that the NC
trip may be gone, but I kept thinking about what would happen if I was actually
selected. I thought about all the time I would miss during the internship. I
couldn’t understand why the Lord would allow something like this to happen to
me. Maybe it was to amp up my prayer life, maybe it was to see His glory, or
maybe it was to show me that things like that in life don’t always come so
easy.
Here’s where hope came in. I asked a
leading brother in the church/coach of the internship to write a letter
describing what I was doing and why jury duty would severely interfere with
this internship. I also wrote a personal letter as well to provide my input
rather than having someone else do all my work for me. I preceded to fold the
letters, lick the envelope, place the stamp, and pray.
The week before we were supposed to
leave, I was in that frozen land up north that they call Canada for the first
few days and had no access to a phone, email, or snail mail for that matter.
Plus who knew when I was going to hear back from the Justice center? All I had
was faith.
The border always gives my nerves a
twitch. Even though I’ve done nothing wrong, the whole process just makes a guy
think he’s under the microscope. I sat there silent as a snowflake landing on a
windowsill. After another five torturous minutes, the border guard gave us back
our passports and we had safely returned to the good ole U.S.A. As soon as the
little “roaming” triangle on my phone disappeared, I accessed the internet and
checked my email. Lo and behold, out of the twenty or so Facebook notifications,
there in the heart of them all, was an email from the justice center. I opened
that email so fast I’m surprised my finger didn’t go right through the phone. I
had mentally prepared myself for this moment. I was braced to hold back the
Pacific Ocean if I had to. There were only two lines. What I saw made my jaw
hit the floor.
“Your request for dismissal from jury
service has been processed. You are no longer required to appear on…” I cannot
describe to you how great of a joy overwhelmed me and how my heart had been
flooded with mirth. This wasn’t just a get out of jail free card be a key to
complete freedom! This meant I didn’t get deferred to another date, but that my
name would be removed and tossed back into the pool for random selection later
on. I thanked the Lord right then and there. Prayer is powerful and the Lord is
merciful. I then called Mike and told him the good news followed by a text to
Cody telling him I was good to go. I was NC bound.
On the morning of Tuesday January 3rd,
Paul Mann, Peter Elhardt, Zane Biddle, Ben Carbrey, Kai Zhong, and I loaded
ourselves, our luggage, a cello, and a French horn into James Reinarz’s van
(which he so graciously lent us for the trip). Brenna Robinson was also tagging
along at least until we dropped her off in Charleston, WV.
It was a beautiful Cleveland
morning. The sun was not shining, the air was not warm, and you couldn’t see 10
feet in front of you because of the blinding white crystals that seem to call
Cleveland their migratory home winter after winter. We were packed like
sardines and had a 9.5 hour drive ahead of us. This was going to be one long
road trip.
I guess the college conference
beforehand wiped us all out because most of us were zoning in and out of
consciousness within the first hour or two…but not I. For some reason I cannot
sleep in vehicles. It just does not happen. Plus Peter Elhardt was driving in
blinding snow. Now here’s the crazy thing about northern part of Ohio (mainly
Cleveland), the weather is horrible. It’ll be 65 degrees one day in the winter
and then 10 below and blinding snow the next. It also didn’t help that the
police were out everywhere because you can get a ticket for driving the speed
limit in bad conditions.
Finally, we had reached the southern
border of Ohio, and magically, the rouge blizzard was gone, there wasn’t a
single state cruiser in sight, and Bach’s compositions filled the van. That’s
another funny thing about Ohio; as soon as we crossed the border into West
Virginia, there were no officers in sight, even all the way to North Carolina.
I guess it’s both a blessing and a curse, depending how you look at it.
Entering WV is always a welcoming
sight. You leave behind the flat lands of Ohio and are welcomed by beautiful
mountains and a colorful sign above a bridge that reads “Welcome to West
Virginia, Wild and Wonderful.” I’ve been to West Virginia twice before. Both
times were so amazing that they’ll get their own section later on. This time we
were just passing through. Another hour and we reached Charleston. You could
tell by the huge golden dome of the capitol building that suddenly appears
beyond the mountains. It’s almost as if the city creeps up upon you and then
the mountains again conceal it. We got off the freeway and pulled into the
city. Happy to stretch our legs and take a much needed restroom break, we
stumbled out of the van, some literally as there was a patch of black ice on
the ground.
We had stopped at an office building
where a friend of Brenna’s worked who would take her back to Fayetteville, WV.
He was a really nice guy and showed us around his office which was pretty cool.
After our brief tour, we thanked him, said good-bye to Brenna and headed south
for North Carolina.
The sun had now set and we found
ourselves weaving down windy mountain roads until we saw the sign that said
“Welcome to Virginia.” Nothing exciting happened here seeing as it only took a
little over an hour to cross through the state. All the mountains faded into the
distance and the land became flat once again, but this time we were greeted by
a new force of nature…trees and lots of them. Now when most people think about
coastal, southern states, they think of beaches, water, open lands, etc. But
shockingly enough, North Carolina is covered with trees. I remember Ben Carbrey
saying as we got closer to Cody’s house, “Cody lives in the sticks!” Thankfully
we had a GPS because it was really dark now and all you could see were trees.
Ten hours total traveling time later,
we heard a joyous sound come from the GPS. “You have reached your destination.”
We pulled into the driveway of this huge house which, believe it or not, was in
a clearing with a house on either side with no trees blocking its view. We got
out of the van and stretched. I had texted Cody 10 min before, but there was no
one there to greet us when we arrived…or so I thought. A bright light was
coming from the back of the house, so I wandered over there and sure enough,
there was Cody, Sam Huoh, Thomas Brown, and Renee Berglund all in Cody’s giant
shed. Finally noticing our presence, they came and greeted us and then we all
wandered back to the shed.
Lying before me was a giant piece of
plastic tarp and rope. The four mentioned above were working on a “Project”
that would later be tested during the week. We inquired of them what this
project might be, but they were tight-lipped and would reveal that answer
later. After our brief tour of the back, we walked into the well-lit house
where we were warmly greeted by Cody’s parents.
You could feel the warmth and
hominess the minute you crossed the threshold. Cody’s parents were more than
happy to have us. There were going to be nine college kids in their house for a
week and they were already feeding us and telling us to help ourselves to
anything and everything. You know that saying “opposites attract”? That
statement couldn’t be truer with these two. Cody’s dad was a quiet,
soft-spoken, gentle fellow who seemed quite down to earth. His mother, on the
other hand, was a louder, fiery, want-to-feed-you-even-though-you’re-full,
person who could talk your ear off and had many priceless expressions as well
as sweet. She was the perfect example of southern hospitality. Another thing
about Cody’s family was that they were close to the point where I saw and met
all of them multiple times before the week was up. One example was his cousin
Kyle, who hung out with us the entire week. This guy was passionate. He broke
his fingers playing ultimate Frisbee and had to wear this removable cast-like
support, only to remove it to toss a disc later in the week. More on him and
other family members later.
We (being the nine of us and Kyle)
spent the rest of the night pigging out on the snacks and ice cream that was
set out for us, playing risk, and chit chatting about how the week was going to
look. Finally, between two and three in the morning, we called it a night.
The sun came blaring through Cody’s
window at the early hour of 12:00PM. We stumbled and crawled out of our
respective lairs to the kitchen, where there was food prepared the night before
for us to chow down on. It was sooo good. We chilled around the house for a
while; some practiced their instruments, some caught up on their bible reading,
and some just took it all in.
Trying food was a must in NC and
what better way to experience it than the southern fast food franchise called
Bo Jangles. They are a fried chicken joint that makes some amazing biscuits and
killer sweet tea. If you ever visit the south, you have to make an effort to
stop in to one.
An hour later, we were off on our first
adventure of the week. Cody was taking us to a nearby athletic center where he
used to work so we could get a tour of the place and then go ice skating. I
enjoy ice skating, but don’t do it very often because my ankles can’t take that
kind of a beating. However, it was totally worth the trip.
We arrived in good time, laced up,
and got onto the ice. I was on roller blades since the age of four, so when I
got onto the ice, I began flying, not like the pros, but a lot better than half
of those on the ice. I began doing laps, pondering when I should try some
tricks, and as I made my first pass, one of the many lovely brothers who had
come on this trip was making short, quick, movements with his skates, trying
desperately not to fall. I went a few more laps then met up with the ones who
were taking a break on the wall.
There were not that many other
skaters there because the public schools had all returned from winter vacation.
There was, however, a group of daycare kids there that once they recognized
Cody, decided it would be fun to chase him. Cody entertained them for a while,
skating circles around them, eluding their T-rex arms, and laughing as the
horde refused to back down. Finally, once a few kids “caught” Cody. They
decided that their next victim would be Ben. Now Ben is a guy who doesn’t hold
back and is full of energy and excitement. He wouldn’t even give those kids a
chance. Ben flew all over the rink with a chain of children behind him. At one
point, the kids got smart enough to come at him from both sides. Ben being the
athletic guy that he is, charged the rink wall and leapt over it. I was a
little surprised he did that, but it didn’t faze the kids any. They clamored
over to the wall and tried to climb over to get at him. Sometimes you just have
to let your inner child loose amongst children because the truth is that kids
look up to you and that experience you give them will impact them for the rest
of their lives.
After our “cool” outing, we headed
back to Cody’s place the exercise our Second Amendment right as Americans; that
being the right to bear arms. For the first time in my life, I got to shoot a
gun. It wasn’t just any gun, but rather a semi-automatic shotgun. We were
shooting clay pigeons that were released off a foot launcher. The feeling of
holding an actual gun, pulling the trigger, feeling the kick, and hearing the
blast, was an interesting one. I felt like a true American, but at the same
time realized I was holding something very dangerous, especially if used
improperly.
The sun was setting, but our day was
far from over. We were all invited over to Cody’s cousin’s house for dinner
where we met a bigger portion of his family. There were 20+ people in that
house and a lot of…tacos! We had a lot of laughs, swapped stories, and enjoyed
each other’s company.
After dinner, we all congregated
into the family room, where Cody’s aunt was passing out hymnals and then
proceeded to sit herself in front of the piano. Now we had an ensemble of
musicians that had come on the trip so our harmonized singing of classic hymns
was a real treat. Cody’s family loved it and we had a blast. We said our
goodbyes and headed back to Cody’s house, but our night wasn’t over. Being
college kids, we had a habit of staying up until 1-2am playing Risk, Monopoly,
watching fail videos, weird Asian films, and eating junk food. Eventually we
called it quits, excited at what the next day would bring.
Day two began nearly the same as it
did on day one, but we had different plans this time. We hung around the house
a little longer this time and to shake off the restlessness, I decided to test
out Cody’s trampoline. Now I love trampolines and have a habit of letting
myself go when I encounter one. This one was on the smaller side, had no net,
no spring cover, and the weather had given the springs one heck of a beating.
Challenge accepted. I immediately began doing flips, rolls, and twists. I then
decided to see how high I could get. Each time I hit the surface, I released
with more spring and beat my previous height each time. On the next bounce, I
exploded into the air with everything I had and then gravity did its job and
pulled me back to earth. My legs hit the jumping surface, ready to recoil
again, but suddenly they buckled, springs went flying, and I was standing on
green grass in the dead center of the trampoline. That’s right, I jumped
straight through it and stuck the landing. I walked back into the house and
with a sheepish grin told Cody to look outside and see the damage. They all had
a good laugh, jokingly said I needed to lay off the ice cream, and said “There
goes our safety net!” I will explain that comment later.
Around 2pm we met up with a brother
named Luke. He lived near Duke campus and took us on a tour. Duke has a huge
chapel that had some serious architecture including a giant organ above the
inside door. Our musically talented people thought it would be cool to
harmonize a hymn, testing the chapel’s acoustics. We sang How Great Thou Art to
and heard our voices echo throughout.
Next we went to the famous Duke
garden, but unfortunately it was winter time so hardly and flowers where in
bloom. Yet, the trees still had some life and we even saw a fearless raccoon
literally a foot away. A few of us decided to become pandas for the day and
climb bamboo plants. Then in our adventure took us to a mini outdoor theater.
We sat on the grass and watched as Ben performed backflips and then myself recite
Shakespeare’s 18th sonnet. Peter Elhardt, the non-Shakespeare fan
among us, threw his sandal at me, jokingly (I hope).
We eventually left Duke and went
over to Chapel Hill to take a brief tour of UNC and NC State. On UNC’s campus
there was a water fountain that claims that whoever takes a drink from it will
get straight A’s…yet to be proven. There is also an old, tall, crooked tree
that actually died, was hollowed out, and filled with concrete so it would
always stand. This tree was around at the founding of the campus. We made one
last stop at a random building on campus that Cody had climbed up onto when he
went there and tied a rag to a pole. The rag was still there.
The sun began to set so we headed
back to Luke’s house where we were joined by more of Cody’s family. Luke’s wife
made an awesome dinner consisting of authentic Chinese food as well as Mexican
food. It was “mad” good as those in Buffalo would put it. After dinner, we were
challenged by Luke’s sun Vincent to a game of ping-pong as well as some
foosball. Both games were intense. To end the evening, we played one giant game
of Pictionary while being feed a vast selection of delicious ice-cream and pop.
Day three was a treat for us
Clevelanders/Buffalonians because the weather hit 70 degrees in January, but in
Cleveland it was bone-chilling cold. So how did we spend it? Sleeping in for
starters (no surprise) then dressed in shorts and T-shirts we played some corn-hole
and threw a Frisbee. Then we got the bright idea to finally test the parachute
we were building. Four of us climbed onto the roof in preparation for the big
event. While waiting, Zane and I threw a Frisbee back and forth off the roof
because we could. Cody and Sam hoisted the punching bag with attached parachute
up a ladder to me and Kai on the roof. Now here’s the kicker. We wanted the max
flight time possible so we climbed up to the highest part of the roof. The
problem was that the highest point was also the steepest with no flat area to
stand. You had to straddle your legs over the roof.
Someone made sure Cody’s mom would
not miss this so they called her out and she started shouting that we were
going to kill ourselves, then hold still for a few pictures, then couldn’t
watch, then more pictures, then telling us to be careful. Finally, the four of
us managed to get the bag in launch position. We counted down to zero and as
soon as the desired number was reached, Cody and Sam let the bag fly while
trying not to fall. The parachute didn’t open properly, but when it finally did,
it caught a corner of the house, missed a window, broke free and hit the
ground. Total flight time: Five seconds. Total parachute time: Two seconds. No
one died, nothing was broken, and the parachute did open so I’d say it was a
success.
The parachute was far from the
highlight of the day. Cody’s sister and cousin had a full day planned for us.
They sent us into downtown Raleigh on a scavenger hunt. This adventure took us
into the science museum and the museum of natural history. I normally think
scavenger hunts are for little kids, but when a group of well-weathered college
people run around a museum acting like children, chaos turns into a brilliant
comedic act that leaves lasting impressions on my mind. Plus there were prizes
on the line!
My group consisted of Ben, Zane, and
Peter. I couldn’t ask for a more entertaining group, well minus Cody of course.
Some of the many hilarious challenges included hugging the sad woman,
high-fiving girl scouts on the wall, freaking out in front of a wild boar, being
spiritual by the praying mantis, milk the giant cow, and find as many NC’s as
you can (bonus points for funny expressions). It was intense and we spent the
entire afternoon completing many more silly challenges. Once our time was up we
headed back to Cody’s house to eat some more southern cooking and then judge
(and laugh) at all the pictures from the day’s events. We all were nearly in
tears from laughing so hard. In the end, our team came in third, but we had a
blast and got candy to boot.
The day didn’t end on that note, but
rather on one with a more divine tune. Justin Hayslette and his then
girlfriend, Alora, had come home to visit. It was so good to see Justin. I
really missed him. The weather outside was perfect for a game of manhunt and
since the neighbors were either not home nor had houses within earshot, we
could be as obnoxious as we wanted. We spent the next hour or so zipping all
over the Hayslette’s property and the neighbor’s as well.
One point during the game, I was lying on
the ground staring at the clear night sky, the millions of stars, and a full
moon. I began to let my thoughts wander and take in the beauty of it all. At
that point, I didn’t care whether I was found or not. I was enjoying the view
and reminiscing on the good times. I won’t forget that moment.
Now
here’s the comedic part of it all. Apparently, the owners of the next house
over weren’t home, but their daughter and her friends were. They were freaked
out by dark figures dressed in all black racing through their yard and kept
flipping the porch light on and off to try to catch a better look. I stopped
and revealed who we were. Their faces looked relieved.
We wrapped up our game and invited
them over to join us all around a fire that had been freshly made. Cody busted
out his guitar and was singing whatever he felt in the mood for. We joked,
laughed, swapped stories, and stuffed our faces with s’mores. Suddenly, I felt
a stirring inside me to say something to the neighbor girls who were chit-chatting
about things teenage girls talk about. Even though I was on a break from the
labor, that didn’t mean I was on a break from Christ. So I began asking them
about Jesus, this life, the future, etc. One of the girls said she was a
Christian and the other two were more difficult because anything I asked them
about God, the bible, or Jesus seemed to turn into a topic of friends, boys, or
shoes. After getting nowhere, I thought that was a bit of a waste, but it
wasn’t until Alora got my attention that my hope rose again. Apparently she had
been listening the whole time and began asking questions. Paul Mann and Cody
jumped in and all three of us preached the gospel and had a good conversation
with her. Eventually we had to agree to disagree, but you never know what the
Lord will do with what you give Him (Alora became saved a year later…that’s
another story).
Day four was less of the site-seeing
and more of some good old fashioned fun. We once again ventured from the
Hayslette’s humble abode and made our way to Adventure Landing. Here we found
ourselves zipping around in go-karts, putt-putting like pros, and trading in
our hard earned cash for tokens to win tickets for very cheap prizes. Kyle had
a knack for the spinning light game called “Cyclone.” You put in one token and
try to stop the revolving light on the jackpot spot. He kept feeding the
machine tokens and nailed the jackpot at least five times. With all the tickets
that were accumulated, we were able to split them among the group for prizes
bigger than just candy. I ended up with a giant pair of sunglasses.
Once our fun was had, we headed back
to Cody’s house for the weekly young people’s meeting. All the kids, teenagers,
and high school grads we met throughout the week and then some were there. We
enjoyed the food, the instruments, the singing, the young people, and
especially the Lord. The night ended with Cody’s mom wanting to kidnap us and
keep us because we were leaving tomorrow.
Our last day was Sunday morning. We
were privileged to meet with all the other saints in the area including a group
from Bangladesh. As part of the meeting, we shared our testimonies and enriched
the saints as they had enriched us. Before we left, we had a love feast
(southern style!) with plenty of delicious food. There were four long rows of
tables; two for main courses and two for dessert. Afterwards, we said our
good-byes and made our way back to New York and Ohio. The car ride home even
had a highlight or two. Zane convinced Peter to let him turn on the
Steelers/Broncos wild card playoff game featuring Tim Tebow. It kept cutting in
and out as we were driving through the West Virginia Mountains. At one point,
it cut back in right at the moment where Tebow connected with Demaryius Thomas
in OT for the game winning TD. Paul looked back at me and clenched his fist in
victory so Zane wouldn’t see it and Zane said ‘Wow…Well that’s that. Go Tebow!”
We also managed to make a 9.5 hour trip 8 hours total with a dinner stop
included.
I won’t ever forget this experience
I had with these people because it was honestly one of the best experiences of
my life. I saw the Lord move in ways I hadn’t before, met many awesome people,
experienced North Carolina, and now will have more stories to tell my children
and grandchildren. Here’s to the next adventure!
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