Return to Life

Ah, to be back home again. I was on the 12 am ferry this morning to return the real life after an amazing experience at the Young Life camp, Malibu, in British Columbia. We left on the 12:30 am ferry last Sunday earllllly morning for a long journey to camp. In addition to the Whidbey Island ferry, we had to drive up through Canada (about 3-4 hours) to take a ferry at Horseshoe Bay (about an hour outside of Vancouver, BC), which was about an hour across. Then, we drove 1 1/2 more hours to Egemont, BC to catch the Malibu Princess (about a 3 hour boat ride) just to get to camp. We arrived about 2pm Sunday afternoon.

It was just an incredible week. I did a zip line with all the girls where you climb up to this platform, get harnessed in and ziiiiiiip down about 50 feet across 500 feet and land in salt water. I also climbed a rock wall (part way), did a ropes course about 40-60 feet in the air in a harness (then we had to jump straight down 40 feet off a platform), attempted wake boarding, went caribeing (like tubing/banana boating), and many other exciting adventures. Part of being a leader meant that not only did I have to do everything, but that I also had to lead by example. It was so scary at times.

Spiritually, it was a tough week. The girls just had so many questions and it was so hard to show them that Christianity was not about rules and regulations, but about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I spent a lot of time discussion with them how it is okay to ask Jesus to be Lord of their lives even if they didn't have all their questions answered. I just told them how so much of a relationship with Jesus is a journey with continual questions. They had such a hard time understanding how Jesus was God even before He came to earth, yet God was the Father. It is something even I have hard time grasping it all. The cool thing about YL is that they have a very set system where the talks have a specific topic and order. The first night is an introduction, the second is about the Person of Jesus, the third is Man's Need, the fourth is then Sin Talk, the fifth is the Cross Talk, the sixth is Say So, and the last day kind of sum's everything up. It is really geared towards a non-churched crowd. The day of Say So (meaning they declare their decision), pretty much all the girls said that they were not ready to begin a relationship with Christ because they didn't understand it, but that night we had an all camp quiet and afterward 2 of them said that they had decided to give Christianity a go. I was happy, but I knew that a few more needed Jesus so I continued to pray. They flipped out when I told them that they should stand up and declare their relationship, but the same 2 stood up. Then afterwards, their was this new beginning walk and FIVE of them (there were a total of 7, 6 of them non-believers), went on the walk. Afterwards, I talked to most of them and they said that they realized that it wasn't about getting all their questions answered, but that they wanted that personal relationship with Christ and they were tired of doing it on their own. I just wanted to jump up and down cheering because this is what we had been emphasizing from day one.

For me, I just was forced to grow in Christ so much this week because the girls continually challenged me to step up to the next level so that I could lead them. That last night the tears just streamed down my face as I saw them proclaim Jesus. I was so exhausted physically, emotionally, and spiritually and I just cried because I would do it all over again. I could not have survived that horribly rainy, wet week without the strength of Jesus. It was just amazing. Now the plan is that I will lead a Campaigners group (more intense than a regular YL club meeting) to lead these girls to a deeper relationship with Christ. I just want all your prayers as these girls have a difficult challenge going back to real life!