Jr. High Camp - Monday

Just a few pictures from today. We arrived safely to Beulah Beach camp today just a little after 3 pm. We got settled in to our cabins and took a group picture. Afterwards we spent a moment to focus before splitting up for our Time Alone With God.

Tonight students were challenged to Brace Themselves to Be Moved By God.

Think about when you ride a rollercoaster . . . a big one. When you get on and your going up the hill are you the person who raises your arms in the air just before the big fall or are you the person gripping on for dear life? Although the greatest thrill comes when we throw our hands up in the air, as we start that big drop or things start looking scary, we start thinking that we have to take control. However, when we do this we can miss out on the true experience that we're suppposed to have and in some cases even cause ourselves more pain.

Tonight as we spent our time together, students were challenged to look at how they truly trust God. Do they only trust in God when things are going good or do they stand firm when things are going very wrong? We took a look at the life of Job which was a great example of this. Do we turn down allowing God to move in us because it may cause us pain or cost us something that we love dearly? Are we holding on too tightly to that? This week we must release them to Him if we truly want to be moved by God and go deeper with Him.

Pray that students continue the journey this week with hands and hearts surrendered to Him to allow Him to do all that He needs to do.

Day 1 - Judged by Appearance

Take time to read 1 Samuel 16.

This is the story of when David is anointed to be the new king of Israel. When we see David in this story he is in his Jr. High years. He was a small kid. He worked out in the pastures with his family's sheep probably being picked on by his brothers and bullied around to pick up after their sheep. He probably had the stench of sheep all over him. Not the picture of perfection by any means let alone a stand out pick to be the next king.

We see G0d's servant Samuel coming to anoint the new king. He looks at Eliab, David's brother and things that by his appearance (probably tall, handsome and muscular) that he must be God's pick. However we read in verse 7 that God rejected him because "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

What does that statement mean to you?

How does it make you feel that God looks at your heart, who you truly are?

God shows us in this passage that while many thought David was meant for the pastures God knew he was meant for the Palace. He chose to use David when others would have passed him over because they judged him by his appearance. God developed David into an amazing leader, king, warrior and man of God because he allowed God to change and develop him into who God knew He could be. Will you let Him do the same with you?

What do you feel God asking you to do?

What do you hear Him saying to you?

What is He challenging you with?

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Looking forward to a great journey together over the next 30 days and am excited to see how God is going to challenge us all.

Monday Snapshot

What an awesome day. After breakfast we had an opportunity to spend some time alone with God. Afterwards we split out into seperate youth groups for some individual time to talk about what God is doing individually. Students were very open during the group time sharing what God has already been teaching them and some shared steps they need to take to get closer to God.

After lunch we had times for paintball, horseback riding, cross country skiing, broomball, gym time . . . pretty much just about anything. We had four hours of amazing fun times together to laugh and get connected.

The big moment last night was during our session. As Drew shared about how sin can really cause an infection in our heart caused by sin. He challenged students to identify what sin they have been struggling or what things they have been doing that have been causing them to sin. They were challenged to release those things to Christ and allow him to cleanse them. We celebrated together in worship together. They're have been some great discussions during our dorm times of what students have released to God.

For our final activity together we pulled together in the gym for a time of community dodgeball. There is no better way to bring a group together than to throw rubber balls at one another. Guy or girl, leader or student, this was an awesome way to end the night together in fun.

Continue to pray for God's move in the lives of the students as the next few days go on and continued safety. Pray also for our time together after TAWG this morning in about an hour and a half.

We'll be posting some pictures this afternoon so you can see first hand what we've been up to. Until then . . .