Loading hula hoops and soccer balls into the
trunk of my car, I prayed "for protection, for a fun time, and for honest
conversations" for the weekend. I watched as over 100 students 6th-12th
grade loaded onto two coach buses toting their sleeping bags and pillows. We
were heading out for my first ever Chame youth group retreat, and I knew we
were about to enter into a battle only God could win.
Thanks to Brennan's driving skills, with only
one mandatory stop at Quesos Chela, we arrived safe and sound to the Chame Palabra de Vida (Word of Life) campground.
I was amazed at the beauty of this part of Panama. I had been to the Palabra de
Vida grounds before and heard of God's ministry through the Delibasich family
and their volunteers. However, I had never stayed the night in the cabins or
really explored the campus.
Throughout the weekend, there were many sweet
and hilarious moments:
- Playing fun variations of
Capture the Flag
- 1. With a
Watermelon: When it broke, all the kids rushed to eat it!
- 2. At Night:
We used glow sticks to designate teams and a large glow stick inside a
clear, plastic soda bottle for the flags. It was mass chaos, as people
chased each other across the field, not knowing for sure if someone was
on their team, since many used "decoy" glow sticks to lure the
other team into a trap. It was pretty funny to not see anything, than
suddenly you see this floating, glowing bottle bobbing up and down the
field super fast, illuminating a leg here or there and hearing the shouts
of victory as the other team brought the "flag" successfully
across to their side. My team lost pretty badly, but it was a game to remember
for sure!
- Smashing "mystery
sauce" pies into kids' faces in the Yes/No Game
- Super
thankful to have some of the high school upperclassmen involved--they
made the game 10x more entertaining, because they would throw the
questions back at me or change the subject in a creative way. Even my
lovely assistant got pied!
- Having a conversation with a
leader who I thought had just gotten proposed to
- Turns out,
it was only her Quincenera ring worn on the left hand!
- Trying to balance and watching
others attempt to balance on Brennan's slackline
- one of my
friends was able to do it! impressive!
- Meeting leaders and students
from different churches in Panama City
- Amazing to be part of God's larger story for reaching the youth of Panama for Christ!
- Rally Games
- Part of the
sessions were a series of stations where each team (randomly chosen) had
15 minutes to complete a task
- Your team
had to do everything from running dipped sponges up the hill from the
pool to fill up a bucket to navigating a maze with your whole team tied
together. It was a privilege to watch as the team cheered each other on
and followed John's clear leadership. #go_green_team
- Bonfire time
- The Fogata
was so raging hot that no one wanted to get near to make the S'mores, so
we just passed out all the ingredients afterward and the students still
loved it!
- Had an
awesome, honest talk with a girl in my small group for the weekend, named
Nicole. She shared how she first came to know Christ when she was 9 years
old through attending a similar Chame retreat. This time, she was
recommitting her life to Him, to serve Him through thick and thin. Wow!
Zoom In
Unlike my talented brother and sister-in-law, I
don't have the gift for photography or even naturally spotting the details, but
I will do my best to capture some word pictures to allow you to see what the
retreat taught me.
1. Humility
Being a leader for the retreat, I had different
duties and responsibilities to fulfill during the weekend. It is easy for me to
get in "servant" mode, and not spend as much time with the students,
which is of FAR more importance in the long run. Well, this weekend, I got an
equal dose of both!
Whenever I went to prepare a game/activity or
help clean up something, there was a small crew of middle schoolers who came
over and asked if I needed help. And letting go of this control over the
activities/details, I felt more peace, could relax and enjoy just being with
them. Not only that, but we had a blast working together! We were able to laugh
at and with each other as we squirted strange-colored concoctions into tinfoil
to-go boxes for the Yes/No game or as we picked up trash off the field. Not to mention my small group girls (freshmen and sophomores) I was
extremely humbled and grateful to everyone who led by example and helped out
during the weekend.
2. Vulnerability/Tell your story!
One of the most beautiful parts of the weekend
was that my close friends, Danae and Paulo (engaged to be married: July 2015!),
were the retreat speakers. To know them both, is to know that they have
undergone incredible transformation and growth in Jesus in the past three years
of knowing each other. And, unlike, typical retreat speakers, they're willing
to admit publicly that they're not perfect.
Yes, the theme/message of the retreat was on the
Unity of the Church through loving God and loving people, but Paulo and Danae
shared with us much more than the cookie-cutter salvation message. They were
real, and they made the Truth real.
Paulo and Danae started off by saying something
to the effect of "We are a mess. In fact, everyone is. But God loves that
mess. He made you, and sees a masterpiece in you." After they said this, I
noticed a collective sense of relief pass through the students. These people are going to be honest. I can trust them.
Within the next three sessions, Paulo and Danae
each laid bare their soul and shared about their personal journeys with Jesus.
Their testimonies were raw, gripping, and vulnerable. It reminded me of God's
power to rescue us from desperate situations, anger, bitterness, perfectionism,
and self loathing.
Jesus rescues us from addictions to porn,
struggles with lust, and the need to bully others, and replaces them with a new
spirit, a new person. A person who is so consumed with Jesus that he gives his
thoughts over to Him, who is overcome with God's love and this pours out of his
soul to foster life-giving relationships, other-centered decisions, and an
ability to love fully, comfort others, and be merciful in all circumstances.
God rescues us from perfectionism, a striving to
achieve more and do better than everyone else. He rescues us from a competitive
nature that pushes us toward the World's temporary pleasures in order to feel
accepted and popular and rescues us from the need to feel in control of a life
that is slowly crumbling around us. A time when we stop eating, hating
ourselves, pushing outwards on the pillars of our life to hold them up, but the
pressure and the weight of the problem is increasing, and your arms no longer
have the strength.
Jesus rescues! He pulls us out from the rubble
and places us in a safe place with walls and a foundation that will neither
crumble nor fall. He replaces that desire to control with an unyielding trust
in Him. He replaces that fight to belong, that self-loathing and struggle with
comparison with the words, "You're mine." He replaces those temporary
pleasures with an enduring truth, a satisfaction that lasts.
Jesus affirms our true identity and destroys the
Deceiver's strongholds and lies!
Because.. He loves us.
And we are His Masterpiece.
Thank you so much Danae and Paulo for humbling
yourselves and sharing these truths with us this weekend! Thank you to George for the vision and for your leadership in uniting the youth groups of Panama City to share in this experience. For these messages
are truths that will last much longer than a day and a half retreat. These
truths and stories will transform lives!!
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