Crazy Times

This past weekend was our annual fall youth retreat. What a weekend! You almost don’t know what to expect when you get 20+ youth away from home for a few days. It’s a new adventure each time and this year was no exception.

It started with a new location, which was a great camp with decent facilities, and fantastic food. The drive was probably my least favourite part since normally I don’t drive when we go somewhere as a group. This year there weren’t enough vehicles or drivers to fit everyone so I had to drive. The corners and hills on the highway had me a bit tense, but the scenery was beautiful – fall colours, deer, sun peaking through the clouds. I wanted to stop and take pictures, but we were on a timeline at that point, plus we were cruising pretty quickly along the road.

From the beginning of “sock murder” right through to the end, kids were sneaky, conniving, and ruthless, killing each other, their leaders, even their parents without qualms. They were competitive in games, but sportsman-like as well, encouraging each other to participate and cheering others on. It seemed like we played almost non-stop – eating random things from cans, running from “bears”, racing canoes around, playing a fun tournament of volleyball, throwing a Frisbee around the field, hanging on to and stealing plungers and fish, finding bandanas and socks, etc. Talk about non-stop.

Of course we had some serious times as well, and some scares … a bear was possibly in the area, which only made our “bear” game that much funnier. The speaker (our pastor) challenged us to “Live a life worthy of the calling you have received” based on Ephesians. As we walk through life, how do we interact with others, how do we act when no one is looking, how do we portray Jesus to those around? It was challenging for everyone.

One of my highlights from the weekend was listening to kids pray for each other and us leaders on Saturday night. It’s been something we’ve done for the last few years, and it’s always neat to see the impact the youth have on each other as they pray. No one is ever left out, and everyone leaves the circle encouraged.

While the weekend was great, it's hard, if not impossible, to live life constantly in overdrive like that. So now it's back to the real world, living daily life as we have been called...