Even as I type, bodies are waking up, rooms are being packed up, and what once was a pristine keswick campus is being picked up and put back together after 150 different teenagers came together and lived as a community for a week. Words cannot begin to describe what this week has meant in the life of our ministry.

Last night we heard from Jason Mitchell one last time. He wrapped up the whole week with a great story. It’s a timeless question that we all need to answer. It’s a question that Jesus asked His closest followers. He asked this to those around Him who where His friends, those He loved. He asks His disciples this one very profound question. “Who do people say I am?”

Next question, even better, (I love this one) “WHO DO YOU SAY I AM?”

This is the question that each one of us in the room was faced with. Who do you say I am? Having learned about several different attributes of who Jesus is this week, we are faced with the reality that Jesus is indescirbable, our human language doesn’t contain enough words to begin to describe who Christ is. How do you answer that question? Who is Jesus to you?

We closed with communion. Very fitting if you ask me. We talked about who Jesus was all week. Now it was the time to remember Jesus in the way that He wanted to be remembered, with the 2 symbols. Bread, and Wine. He was broken, and poured out; as a student minstry, and as a youth pastor, I want nothing more than for this family that God has brought together to live a Jesus centered life. A life so broken and poured out that it absolutely infultrates their surroundings. That it changes you. That it changes my church. That it changes me even. I’m ready to see these students, this family, rise up and live in such a way that they are not Christian by name, but are Christian by what the way they live.

Last night we had an unbelievable time together. It was what sealed the whole week for our group. It wasn’t in a speaker, even though he was great. It wasn’t in a worship band, it wasn’t in anything programed. It was in a sharing time. God was working in the hearts of these students in a mighty way. I’m not even sure how to put words to what we shared last night.

I can’t say this one thing enough.

To those of you who have been praying this week for us. THANK YOU.

I know without a shadow of a doubt that God answered our prayers. If you were praying specifically, you know that I had asked for us to come together with unity and love for one another. Well we prayed, and God showed up in a big way. PRAISE GOD.

God is in the process of healing. He is bringing about restoration in so many different areas. We have a very bright future in store for our student ministry, and it is in part thank to each one of these students that came with us this week. They are incredible.

To God be the glory great things He has done, so loved he the world that He gave us His son, who yielded His life an atonement for sin, and opened the lifegate that all may go in.

PRAISE THE LORD, PRAISE THE LORD, LET THE EARTH HEAR HIS VOICE, PRAISE THE LORD, PRAISE THE LORD, LET HIS PEOPLE REJOICE, O COME TO THE FATHER THRU JESUS HIS SON, AND GIVE HIM THE GLORY GREAT THINGS HE HAS DONE!

~Peter

So, last night was an incredible night for our camp.  God was definitely at work.  The theme was Jesus as our Healer.  This had the potential to be absolutely amazing.  It was.  God used our speaker Jason Mitchell in a very powerful way.  There was a great drama of how God picks up the pieces of our life and puts them not only back together, but weaves our broken pieces into a beautiful stain glass window.  In our group alone, I already know of several stories of healed relationships, healed hearts, and changed lives.  The lines from an old hymn keep coming to mind, “To God be the glory for the great things that were done” last night!

Here is the breakdown… We started by looking at Genesis 1 how God took chaos and made something beautiful.  God looked down over the water and made something that He said is good.  God wants to take the chaos from our lives and make that into something good.  From there we jumped to John chapter 5 were we see Jesus asking a very important question.  It is a simple, yet profound question.  “Do you want to be made well?”  See, God isn’t the cosmic healer going around touching everyone just so that they are perfect.  Jason had a great thought last night, it was something like this, “Why do you keep sitting in the same brokeness that you’ve been experiencing for so long.”  When will you bring it to God?   From there we jumped over and looked at the story found in Mark 2 where we find several guys doing anything they could to get their friend in front of Jesus so that he could be healed.  What a stark contrast from what they had seen in John 5.  These guys were willing to “claw and scratch” their way to be before Jesus because they believed in their heart that only He could heal their friend.

God has a still small voice that is asking each one of us, “Do you want to be healed?”

So, here’s a lesson for all of you who aren’t at Keswick with us this week.  Let me ask you a question.  Are you guilty of trying to heal yourself of anything?  Or maybe let’s start with this question… Do you even want to be healed?

What do you need healing from?

What’s preventing you from being healed now?

To God Be the Glory,

~Peter

Day two was great!  We all had an absolute blast with one another.  Judging from our debriefing time together last night the messages are really resonating with our students.  They are saying things like, “It’s amazing that God loves me that much!”.  Or, “I can’t believe that the God of the whole universe who made all of that cares enough about some one so tiny and small to die on the cross for me!”  It was great to hear what they were thinking.  I can’t wait to hear how God works in their life today.  Everyday is a new adventure.

Yesterday we looked at Jesus as our friend, and as our master.

Jesus is our friend.  John 13:12…  Jason reminded us that the greatest thing that we could ever do for someone else is to give your life up for them.  To give the one non renewable resource that you own!  Your life is one of the only things that once you give it up, you can’t get another one.  How awesome is that thought?  Jesus gave his life for us.  This next quote really resonated with us, “High School is when we become professionals at lying to everyone & show off a side that we want people to see, and hide the side of us that we are afraid of.”  I would add, that high school is when we become professionals at it, and we have the rest of our lives to perfect it.  How does that quote resonate with you?

Here’s the awesome part!  God knows our good, our bad, and our ugly… and He is still your friend!

Jesus as our master…  We are in need of a master, someone to guide us through life, someone to give us hope and show us the way.  There is nothing which is out of God’s reach or God’s control.  God’s thoughts are higher and farther than ours, just as broad and deep and wide as our whole solar system is.  AMAZING!  So, if God’s ways are not our ways, and I can’t understand this master, I guess the question is will I trust Him?  Will we choose to trust our master?  What are times when you need to trust the master?

Keep on praying for us…  God wants to do great things here.

~Peter