By HANNAH WESNER
Horizon Christian School
September 19, 2007

Twenty-two high school kids sit in a blue bus, the words “Jonah Ministries” scrolled in big black letters across its side.

I am sitting next to a classmate that I don’t know yet, but by the end of this retreat we will be very well-acquainted.

I look at the rest of the students and I see a good handful of them with the tentacles of an iPod stuck into their ears.

Some just stare out the window, while still others chatter on until I am sure that their jaws will fall off.

The bus lurches to a stop and 22-plus students amble down the stairs.

A short hike through a dried-up creek bed, and then we see it: Almost the size of a classroom, it looks like an overcooked pancake smacked onto the field.

This year the mud pit will be the one responsible for breaking down barriers.

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When you have 22 high school kids swimming through 3 feet of mud, some interesting things can happen.

Watching kids dive into a pit of water and dirt is an experience that I will not soon forget. Hearing the screams of laughter and joining right in with them will be something etched into my memory forever.

Why is it that when people are covered in mud from head to toe everything else just seems immaterial?

You forget everything except the fact that you are covered in mud and so is the person next to you and the person next to them. Clothing, race, gender and size; none of that is visible. All that can be seen is what comes from the inside.