Growing With God In The Swamp
I spent this weekend on a retreat with the youth group from my church. I have been volunteering with the youth for about a month now, so I decided at the last minute that I was going to go along on this camping retreat with them. I didn't really know most of these high schoolers very well before the trip, so I figured this would be a good time to get to know them. I expected to just go hang out in the woods all weekend and maybe play some games and sing some songs, but it turned out to be so much more than I could have ever imagined.
We stayed at an old girl scout camp about thirty miles south of Jacksonville on Black Creek. Our campsite was was literally in the middle of a swamp. We parked our cars and had to load up all of our stuff on carts and push it down a long path, then down a really long narrow boardwalk through the swamp. The campsite was a bunch of little "treehouse" cabins with a bathhouse, a fire pit, and a dining hall. We were seriously out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by gators, wild hogs, deer, and wild turkeys. It was pretty awesome being that separated from the real world.
My experience with youth group trips growing up was fun weekends with lots of activities and very little substance or weekends where young people were introduced to who Jesus is and given a chance to make a decision to follow Him. This trip was a little different. All of these high schoolers had already given their lives to Jesus and while we had a lot of fun activities to do, there was also a lot of substance and these kids were hungry for what they learned. So was I.
The topic of conversation for the weekend was the Holy Spirit. There was a talk Friday night after dinner on who the Holy Spirit is and how the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead was living in them. They were told how when Jesus ascended into Heaven to be seated at the right hand of the Father, He left us the Holy Spirit to live in us so that we could carry on the work Jesus had started. When the talk was over, we put on some worship music and the leaders went around and prayed for the students. Then we went to the fire pit and made s'mores and played some games and everybody went to bed.
Saturday morning after breakfast, one of the leaders gave a talk on the gifts of the Holy Spirit and how as believers we all have the power in us to use these gifts. This is where the weekend started getting interesting. We played a game with them where half of them stood against a wall with their eyes closed and prayed for the Holy Spirit to give them a word or a picture. While their eyes were closed, each of the other students picked somebody and stood right in front of them. Then the students with their eyes closed were told to open their eyes and tell their word or picture the whoever was standing in front of them. The students who had received the word switched and had a turn to close their eyes and pray for a word for whoever they saw when they opened their eyes. They did this back and forth a few times and were blown away when some of the words were immediately relevant to things going on in their lives. If they had no idea what the words they had gotten meant, they were told not to worry. Sometimes God gives us words that we have no Idea what they mean until they pop up somewhere down the line. The kids had a good time and got to see how we all have the same spirit and how anyone who has the Holy Spirit also has the gifts and can do radical things in the name of Jesus.
Next we had some lunch and played some games and hung out for a while. Later Saturday afternoon, the worship leaders from our church came out to the campsite and gave a talk on worship. They answered some questions the kids had about worship and told them how the Holy Spirit ministers to our hearts while we are worshipping God. They even brought a guitar and this weird drum and played some worship songs. By this point, the kids seemed to really be opening up to how cool God is and how He wants us to do radical things to bring glory to His kingdom.
After dinner there was a final talk and prayer ministry time. Worship music was playing and the kids were encouraged to pray for each other while the leaders were praying. The kids prayed over each other and spoke prophetic words to each other. You could physically feel the presence of God in that room. It was really cool to see these kids who were scared to pray for each other the day before walking around and fearlessly laying hands on each other and asking God for everything from healing to miracles to prophetic words. We went out to the fire pit again for more s'mores and games before going to bed a little earlier so we could make it back to the church for Sunday worship.
This morning when we were back at church and I could focus on worshipping God myself without having to keep one eye on the kids, I felt an incredible closeness to the Father. I realized that while I had gone on this trip to get to know the kids and maybe help them to grow stronger in their relationship with God, I had inadvertently grown closer and bolder and more radical in my own relationship with Him. By spending time focusing on others, I was doing more for myself than I could have ever imagined. As always, thank you for taking the time to read my blog. Love Y'all!!!
