st ever youth retreat. Here’s a monster post testifying to the goodness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.- All 16 youth showed up to depart from Los Angeles at 4 pm on Saturday and after stopping at In-N-Out Burger on the way, we arrived at camp as planned at 7:30 pm.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name!
- Throughout the weekend God kept us safe and healthy. The four cars made it up and down the mountains without incident. 16 youth, adrenaline pumping through their veins (the first morning, more than ½ the kids got up at 5:30 to sign up at the book store for activities), played paintball, flew down a zip line, fired arrows from bows, dove and cannon-balled into the swimming pool and kicked butt in human foosball SAFELY. In fact, I might have had the worst injury of the weekend after tripping and scraping my knee in paint ball.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not his benefits,
- God prevailed over two incidents that Satan could have used to really make the weekend difficult.
In the first, rain came pouring down during lunch on Saturday and threatened to cancel all of the afternoon activity time. The youth were clearly sad, some borderline angry a
nd resentful that they had even come. I felt terrible that their chance to play outside in the mountains might not come. I feared that bitterness might harden their hearts.But even as the rain and thunder continued, something miraculously shifted. The activities still cancelled, all 16 youth headed out together and made their own fun – taking over the sandy human foosball court with glee. They kicked and scored, whooped and hollered for nearly an hour as rain fell and thunder rolled.
It was a miracle that their joy was not stolen by the Devil and perhaps another miracle that a single activity could hold the interest of 16 youth, boys and girls, 12 year olds and 18 year olds, latino and black. I almost cried when I saw it.
Who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,
- During the human foosball game an innocent incident turned ugly. One boy harmlessly kicked sand at another. The other responded by playfully throwing a fistful of sand back. The first boy was then enraged, attacking the other throwing punches. It was a shockingly rapid escalation to violence.
We talked to both boys individually. One seemed remorseful, but the other, the one who had thrown the punches was not. He said he didn’t want to be at camp anymore. That he wanted to go home. That he didn’t care if everyone was playing paintball later. That there was no way he was going to apologize to the other. This was the same boy whose mother once told me, “yeah, I tell him to hit back. He’s got to be a man.”
Two hours later, the boys had reconciled. Apologized and forgiven, face to face. And let me just say this is a rare thing in our world and an even rarer thing in the inner-city. To admit that you were wrong, to apologize, to forgive – these were miracles of God rooting out further
bitterness and violence. Later in the day, these same two boys waited for one another so they could go out to paintball together. In the evening as they prepared for bed the two boys playfully and good naturedly engaged in a bed farting war. Forgiveness, Friendship and Farts – the gospel of Jesus.Who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
- God worked powerfully through our speaker, Alberto Oros. His life growing up resonated with many of our youth and his story of first encountering Jesus really opened their eyes. Several of them commented in amazement that they didn’t know Jesus could be so real. God kept their hearts soft and open to receive God’s word through Alberto on Saturday afternoon despite their fatigue and disappointment with the outdoor activities. (In the end, the weather cleared up for the last hour of activities so paintball, swimming and zip line were enjoyed by the youth).
Later that evening we asked the youth to reflect about Alberto’s story. In doing so several of our less outspoken youth shared stories with the entire group about Jesus.
o Jose shared about Jesus NOT answering his prayer and protecting him through that.
o Joseph shared about Jesus healing his mother who had complications in her recent pregnancy
o Flor shared of Jesus caring for her and miraculously discovering a defect in her heart that she will have surgery for shortly.
o Our three younges
t girls Gladis, Sarah and Karina shared a desire for Jesus to heal others in their family. They want to see Jesus come through in a real way.o Gerson shared of Jesus’ protection and provision on a bus ride home where he became stranded and a complete stranger gave him bus fare to get home.
One of our youth commented afterwards – “wow, that was intense. I was really touched by that.” Our youth not only received from Alberto, but also received from each other.
who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
- God gave the adult staff enough to love, pastor, play and serve the youth over the weekend. We are undoubtedly exhausted (getting woken up at 5 am and staying up until 1 am will do that) but it seems a contented, satisfied exhaustion. It was joy to partner with one another
!Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul!
Thank you for your prayers and partnership – they were deeply and intensely felt over the course of the weekend. Please continue to pray in particular for the next month or so for our youth. I find myself concerned for their well being post-retreat but know that our God is faithful and good.
In August we ar
e partnering with Street Lamp Studios for “When Justice and Peace Kiss” and appreciate your prayers for this project. The youth have created some amazing art in the past and it’s my prayer that this will lead to deeper faith in Jesus for them.Grace and Peace,
Elliot
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