Spring Youth Retreat

 Wet. That’s the first adjective that comes to mind when I think of how to describe this youth retreat weekend. The second one, following closely behind, is - cold. When Micah Parkerson stood up to speak during chapel on Saturday, he asked everyone, “How many of you think this is the fall retreat?” It did feel like a wet autumn weekend, but somehow the weather never seems to take the fun out of a weekend at camp. Youth retreats are always more or less memorable, but this one will become a part of history: “Remember that youth retreat that we all got flooded in at camp?”

Friday evening was really nice weather and after a hot dog roast and the chapel service that evening we all enjoyed a game of capture the flag in the dark. (Actually two games since one team captured all the flags in about 15 minutes the first game). When I went to bed on Friday, the mist was just starting to come down, and I don’t think it stopped misting and raining until sometime Sunday.

Saturday after a super breakfast of pancakes, baked oatmeal, and bacon, Keith Byler led us in a time of worship and Micah shared a message titled “You are here.” He challenged all the campers to look at where they were spiritually just like you look at a map at the mall with the big “x” showing where you are. Then after taking a good look at where you are, follow the example of Isaiah after God touched his tongue with a burning coal from the fire – say, “here I am, send me.” God has some really cool plans for us if we are just ready to follow him.

The rest of the day was filled with activities like making a Bible story video, playing basketball and volleyball in the rain, hiking through the woods, eating Bill’s wonderful pizza, making raffia baskets or a leather key fob in the craft room, archery and riflery, or seeing how high you could build a “water tower” out of 100 coffee stirrers and a roll of tape. One of the highlights for me (Roger) was a wet and muddy game of Ultimate Frisbee. Even though my team lost, I enjoyed the exercise and challenge of the game. Seth Showalter (son of Jon Showalter who lived here with his family in the 1960’s) was the high scorer on his team making some awesome catches in the end zone.

During the Saturday evening service the Big Rock Players entertained us with some poignant skits challenging us to be ready for Christ’s return and be involved in reaching people with the good news of God’s love and hope for salvation.

The hard rain hit Saturday night after midnight and like many of you, we woke up to high water in the creek. In our case we were completely blocked in and started calling parents to let them know that they wouldn’t be able to get here to pick up their kids like they had planned at 2:00 PM. (The water finally went down below the bridge around 6:30 PM). We had a super worship service Sunday morning. The worship time was awesome – we truly felt the presence of Jesus in our midst. As a response to the message, the kids were asked to write a letter to themselves which will be mailed to them in a month. The letter was their chance to write down some things they wanted to remind themselves to keep on doing after they leave camp and get back into the routine of life.

Our kitchen staff did an impressive job all weekend, but they had the added challenge of fixing a totally unplanned meal for everyone Sunday evening. They took what we had on hand and fixed a fine meal and I know none of us went hungry. We probably ate too much all weekend – what with 3 good meals a day and two times to buy stuff from the snack shop on Saturday we had more than we needed.

Looking back on the weekend it is amazing to me how much fun a group of kids can have. Rain may have changed some of the activities, and caused us to have to wash a few loads of clothes to keep the campers dry and warm, but the rain added a new element that made this spring retreat memorable. It seems we remember better the times when we are faced with a challenge and overcome it. Why in the world do we spend so much of our time trying to make ourselves comfortable when 50 years from now we will never remember the times we spent in an air-conditioned room watching television and drinking a pepsi.

Have a great week! -Roger & Ruthie