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| Kedleston Gospel Camp |
I'd have to say this retreat was MUCH different compared to the one we went on to Cypress. If you read my 'Dark on me' blog posts you'll know what I mean - this retreat, even though it also had a camp feel to it, the atmosphere was compliant by the youth and less hostile and overwhelming. All of the youth were from one of three youth groups at this retreat... so maybe it had to do with familiar church functions the youth were used to, or perhaps there was less hostility amongst the youth, or maybe because I didn't find myself thrusted in so many leadership roles that I could breathe and relax a bit - could also be all of the above.
On Friday we had registration, dinner, announcements, a service, and a night game.
The day before we had 23 people registered, on the day of registration, 49 youth showed up.
Apparently some of the Kedleston staff were paying for around that number of youth to come... well, their prayer was answered and we almost didn't have enough staff for all of them, but we managed to make it through the weekend without much difficulty.
Our speaker for the weekend was non other than the Ken Moser. For the first night, he spoke on John 10:10, of Jesus coming so that we can have life to the full, and opened with a story form his past that he related to coming to know Jesus and following him.
When we sang songs of worship after the service, I remember standing and stopping to hear the youth sing. They sang louder than the worship band and what I believe to be with sincerity... because I started to tear up, and it would not be the last time I would cry that weekend.
During the night game, the northern lights were moving dimly across the sky and for some of the youth, it was their first time seeing them.
On Saturday, we had our full day of breakfast, 1st service, prayer stations, lunch, skill 1, skill 2, free time, dinner, game, 2nd service, and bonfire with snack (and night game was scheduled but things changed)
So, I didn't really get any sleep friday night... like maybe 2 hours at most for the night. So, I was up early and taking some pictures of the sunrise on the lake.
I don't regret being up that early... But the lack of sleep I do.
Around 8am, we had a staff meeting before breakfast and I asked our Youth Pastor if he would forgo the game if we all were to tired by then. He said it would be considered but at the time it seemed like they would do it anyways.
I got to have breakfast with Ken at my table with the girls whom I was cabin leading, and he (knowing I am an introvert) was seeing if I was doing okay and thinking of ways an introvert could function well in a camp setting. I suggested if I had another leader I could "tag out" with so that I knew my girls or skill teaching was looked after then I could go off and get some alone time, and Ken thought that an introvert having their own cabin would be ideal.
After breakfast, we had a time of worship. And then Ken gave a talk.
Ken related the talk from the night before about 'having life' and things the youth (and all of us) ought to do if we in order to keep our faith alive and active.
These were his main points:
- Go to Church - Church isn't just for you, its also being a presence for your friends, family, other church goers so see and know you are there.
- Read your Bible - God has revealed Himself through Scripture because we are so forgetful and so by having it written down we can constantly remember Him and what He has done for us.
- Pray - Everyday we need to be saying, 'God I am yours,' because our hearts want to do selfish things and not God honouring and loving things.
After lunch I was supposed to be on the kneeboarding boat to do spotting... but something else happened. On of my girls got stung by something after putting her hand in her jacket pocket, right on her thumb knuckle. At first it was just her thumb that was swollen... but then she began to break out into hives and her breathing was a little off. The Camp director, my youth girl, and I sat in the office as we waited for a nurse to come and keep the girl calm. She was panicky and jittery and I was doing everything I could to keep from panicking myself. THANK THE LORD she had brought her own benadryl and had taken it not long after her hives broke out. When the nurse came she made sure to check that her breathing was good and the girl found that she was breathing easier and her hives were less bothersome.
We all decided that she would take more medicine later and the nurse would make sure to see how she was doing physically.
In all of this I ended up not doing any boat spotting and hung out outside our cabin where the youth girl was resting and played my guitar. even during the second skill she was out of bed and seeing if she could go on the boat at least for a ride.
During free time, I got to swim in the lake... funny enough it was almost as cold as the ocean back at home... but no salt.
Ken made an appearance during that time to do a little kayaking and also again made sure how my introvert levels were. Also, the girl who got stung around that time was tubing with her friends.
After supper we played a game called 'prisoners base' which is similar to 'gold mine' (a game I played at Camp Homewood and youth group in BC), and that lasted us till the service.
During this talk Ken spoke about the topic of pain and looked at Psalm 88 - which Martin Marty described it as "a wintery landscape of unrelieved bleakness."
He asked the boys what do they tend to do when they are upset - to which a few said, "don't show it," or "get violent."
He asked the girls the same thing and the first thing one of the girls said was, "cry;" a few other things were suggested like "shopping," "eating," and Ken added that some tend to internalize it or they seek love and acceptance from the opposite sex.
He concluded the talk by saying the Christian life is tough and sometimes painful (for some more that others) and we should not fall away from the faith when it happens, but in Scripture we see people (like Job) who are faithful and go through painful situations; but know that God still brings us life.
We ended the night with a bonfire on the beach with hot dogs and s'mores and (thanks be to God and our youth pastor's mercy) we decided to not do the night game and get some sleep.
Sunday, our final day, we had breakfast, Ken's final talk, lunch, cleanup/departure.
For the final talk, Ken focused on what he found to be our youth's problem both in Vancouver and in Saskatchewan, and that is fear. In the Bible, one of the most REPEATED commands is to not be afraid, and the reason why is because humanity always is. Ken noted that in one of his chapels for guys, they all said they were afraid of "failure, females, and the future."
-This is my own speculation is this point, but I believe that most of sins and sinful responses is derived from either pride or fear; which is why Christians stand out (or that is they should be standing out) because of their faith in Jesus and their love for God and the presence of the Holy Spirit in them. God is love, perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4), this is why we don't need to fear -
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| The opened door represented looking and seeing God's work in the past. |
What we need to do is look back on our lives in order to remind ourselves and see where God has been working and know that we do not be afraid because God is there, and He is with us in the present, and He knows and will be with us in the future.
After lunch, and clean up, David, Ken and I left Kedleston for Moose Jaw and got there around 3:15pm.
When I got home. I slept. Seriously. That's all my body was capable of doing after that weekend of lack of sleep due to my own stupidity, emotional rides, and fun in the sun. 14 hours worth of sleep.
Anyway, that's the shortened version of what went on that weekend. Hopefully I did some justice in remembering/narrowing down the main points in Ken's talk.
Also shout out to Ken for making sure I was doing okay as an introvert! Really appreciated that and it meant a lot to know that you cared.
Now to prepare more of the talk for my youth group this week and be ready for my job and meeting with people!
~To God be the glory
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