Day Six (Friday Jan 1)
 |
| The Whole Fairy Tale Gang |
Who would like pancakes for breakfast? Everybody would like
pancakes for breakfast on New Year’s Day and we enjoyed what had been prepared
for us. Which leads me to say that there has been plenty of food at this camp.
The staff have worked hard for us to make sure we have had plenty to eat at
each meal. However, I will add this. There might be more vegetarians among us
when we next visit Rawson Village. Those meals looked fantastic!!
Our morning session was our final worship session for this camp
(Yes, all of life is worship, but you know what I mean). A song that will be
stuck in our heads for a while to come is “Build your kingdom here” by Rend
Collective. We sang this with great enthusiasm partly because it’s a catchy
tune, but there are great words in here too. If your children were at Summer
Camp, play this at home and see if their faces light up.
Andrew preached “Be Patient in Suffering” from James 5:7-11,
a topic that is certainly relevant for Christians in other countries and will
likely become more relevant in the lives of these teenagers. We can be patient
because Jesus is coming. “Jesus is coming. So patiently keep living for him and
his kingdom.”
While we live in a society where almost everything is
instant – digital cameras, microwave ovens, etc, - we should not expect that we
will have everything from God now. Nor should we expect that we will have
everything from others now. And nor should we expect to live in a friendly
world now. But there is still a promise of such a world.
That led us into our next study where we opened our Bibles
to Revelation 21:1-8. In this passage we read about the society of the future –
God’s good and perfect society where everything is as it should be. As we
talked through the questions based on this passage, we were able to look into
the future and see just how different that society will be, a place where our
desires are different, where the hurts of the past are fully dealt with, and a
place where our deepest desire is Jesus himself. (O Lord, haste the day!)
I don’t often serve at camps as a study leader. But this
year it has been my delight and privilege to share the leadership of a study
group. Here I have heard young men talk about their faith and understanding of
Jesus. Some of these young men have been converted at this camp, so their faith
is young. And yet as I listened to them talk, I have no doubt it is solid. God
is still at work changing hearts and lives. I look forward to seeing what will
happen for these young men in the future.
 |
| Summer Camp Leadership Team |
After cleaning out our dorms and bedrooms and enjoying a
final meal together, we gathered for the final time in our sessions room. This
hour was a chance for us to say a huge “Thank you” to those who have worked so
hard to make this camp great. We also took some time to hear from YouthMETRO
Trainees about what they have learned over the intensive week. They have all
had some “Aha!” moments as they have listened, discussed, and read a lot over
these few days. They have also been busy putting their learning into action as
they have shared Jesus with the campers. It is through them that God has been
pleased to change many lives. Again, I look forward to how God will use these
new evangelists in their own communities and church families as they go home
from camp and continue their training.
 |
| Pastoral Care Team and some W.A Visitors. |
I want to record here a huge “Thank You” to our convener,
Kirsten, for the great team she brought together to prepare for camp. This team
has worked hard for many months to get things ready. I also want to say “Thank
You” to Lilly, PYV Administration Officer, who put in some long hours before
Christmas to make sure everything was in place. We are greatly blessed to have
skilled people working for Jesus in these ways.
There are too many others to thank – but a big thanks to
those who worked hard cleaning up after the camp. This always seems to take
longer than we hope, but we make sure we leave the campsite as clean as
possible.
Our God is a great God. And this camp has been a great camp.
It was great to be there and enjoy the fun and food and worship and everything
else. I come home from this camp, as I do from many others, exhausted and
exhilarated.
Glory to God.
For more camp photos, go here: https://www.facebook.com/Presbyterian.Youth.Victoria/
For more info on PYV, go here: www.pyv.org.au
My thanks to David Johnstone for the photos on this post.
#pyvsummercamp15 #onceuponapyvsummercamp
