This year, we enjoyed our biggest snow camp for high school teens yet!
It was so fun to watch the campers run to the door every time someone new arrived in order to greet them.
And yes, of course true friendship involves mashed potato art! In this case, another mashed potato duck.
After witnessing a variety of enthusiastic greetings, one of the leaders jumped on the band wagon and flung himself into Van Helsing’s arms when he arrived to lead chapel.
After a quick get-to-know-you game that involved a great deal of running, shouting, and some danger of broken chairs, it was time for the first chapel session!
Choco and Partake joined us to lead the worship, starting with some fun fast songs to get everyone’s hearts pumping!
It is so lovely to listen to teens sing together. Many of them have trained voices at this age and those who don’t sing with such vibrant enthusiasm. It is a joy to gather with these amazing campers to lift our songs before the Lord.
Van Helsing’s topic for the weekend was Your Brain on Faith!
Using the fascinating book The Other Half of Church: Christian Community, Brain Science, and Overcoming Spiritual Stagnation by Jim Wilder and Michael Hendricks, he addressed the tendency that we have to only connect with God in more left-brained logic types of ways like study and scheduled prayer times. However, if we ignore the part of our brain that thrives on making connections through emotions and shared experiences, we will miss out on so much of what God wants for us and how He relates to us as a loving rescuer not only a just master. Van Helsing took us through some right brained exercises to not just know who Jesus is but to draw closer to Him through a deeper connection to our Lord.
On the first night, we looked at John 14:23 and the joy we can have from following Jesus as our Lord. A Lord who loves us and makes His home with us.
During the next chapel, Van Helsing taught on the Hebrew word Hesed, or attachment. As followers of Christ, we don’t want to simply know a bunch of things about Him, we also want to form a deep attachment to our Lord. An attachment that changes who we are and directs the path our life takes in giant ways.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5 NIV
Next, we learned about making choices like Jesus as a group of believers and encouraging one another as we try to follow Him.
“The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters.” Matthew 10:24-25a NIV
Through all of these chapels, Van Helsing used Mega Mind’s journey from super villain to hero to illustrate how stretching our right-brain muscles can help us form the vital connections that give the strength for real change.
Just like that cartoon character, our life-changing moments are often sparked by vital connections with friends, family, and our sweet Jesus and His great love for us.
Campers got the chance to form lasting friendships as they played hockey, hiked to Inspiration Point to take in the views, and sang karaoke together!
Soaking up the beauty of nature is refreshing for sure, but it also gave each teen a glimpse in the heart of the Lord, Creator of all the beautiful majesty that surrounds us here at Camas Meadows Bible Camp.
The friendships these campers began earlier at home or at previous camps grew stronger through adding more shared experiences. Brand new friendships also began to form.
These boys went on an adventure hike with Scruffy after taking in the beauty of Inspiration Point.
Up and over the ridge, through the brush and rocky terrain, then down to the pond.
When was the last time you went on an adventure with Jesus?
Have you dared to put your Bible knowledge to good use by inviting Him into each tough situation knowing that your Lord listens, loves you, and can handle hearing about all the hard things you are facing.
Have you let Him be a part of your passion as well as your logic?
Have you let your Lord transform your creativity as well as who you are at work and in the church pew?
From charming crochet pineapples to lovely piano music, God made us to be complex and inspired by so many things.
It was amazing to learn about new ways to involve Jesus in our everyday lives. To give both our ability to analyze and decide and also our passions and love of connecting with others through stories and experiences to the Lord for His kingdom work.
God gave us both halves of our brains.
One is not “better” than the other, they are just better at doing different things.
Watching these teens grow friendships with one another was such a great reminder that I need to grow my friendship with Christ.
Use my whole head and whole heart in the effort and seek Him with knowledge, truth, and the companionship of a child running into the arms of her beloved Father.
If your passion for Christ has begun to face, pause and consider, are you only using a part of yourself to seek Him? Connect with Jesus, my friend. With all that you have. He wants each part of us and does beautiful things with our meager faith.
“And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” Luke 15:5-7
The Lord who seeks us when we are lost, who understands our weakness when we stray, who rejoices over us when we are found, and gives us the strength to be more like Him each day is our master. Rejoice in Him with all that you have, you are His beloved!
