OUR WEEK AT CROOKED CREEK RANCH

This week 56 Young Life kids and leaders traveled by charter bus to Fraser, CO to experience "the best week of their lives" at Crooked Creek Ranch. We are a little past the half-way point of the week. 

Cy Martin, one of our volunteer leaders, shares some of his experience so far with his guys:

After just one day, all I could say was that Crooked Creek Camp in Colorado was amazing already! I love being at Young Life camp and my guys are loving it too. None of them have ever been to a camp like this before. The first club was outrageous! Tons of enthusiasm and laughter. The talk was great and set us up for a solid first cabin time. None of my guys are Christians, and none of them have anything spiritual going in their life. They are nice and not against God, but they didn't grow up in church or Christian homes and just haven't been exposed to the gospel before. 

I asked each one in cabin time why they came to camp. Each one said they came because they were pursued and because their friends were coming. They know that we're going to talk about God this week, but they haven't really thought about it past that. They have tough lives, and they have experienced life without God for 16-17 years so far. I think they are primed and ready to experience God in a huge way this week.

Day 2 was awesome. I got up at 7:00 to beautiful sunshine coming over the mountains. This was a packed day, full of activities, from a wacky sand volleyball tournament to a mountain bike ride to a "rodeo" of fun, all inclusive games, yet with lots of time to spend with some of the guys just hanging out. A BBQ dinner followed after that in the valley over the ridge from camp at the base of the continental divide 

Club was once again awesome. We sang some Justin Bieber and rapped the Ludacris part like champs. The upfront game on stage was musical guys, and the girls have to fight for them. Emily Yurwitz from our group won and we all died laughing. Steve, the camp speaker, did a great job telling the story about Jesus turning water into wine. Just like how the master of the ceremony told the bridegroom that they had saved the best for last, Steve pointed out that it took the faith of the servants to take the dirty pots used for ceremonial cleaning and follow Jesus instruction. Fill them to the brim, and then dip some out and take it to the master of the ceremony (aka your boss). Sounds easy, but put yourself in the servants' place. It takes some faith to believe that Jesus can take dirty pots and make the best wine ever in them. 

Cabin time went very well. We talked about what it feels like to get rejected, and then we talked about whether or not we've rejected God and why. God is doing great things in their hearts. I can tell that the Holy Spirit has been hard at work, because each one of them is willing to listen and be real. That's a huge praise!

The week is continuing to unfold in unexpected and amazing ways.We had a ride before breakfast on the "Claim Jumper" which is a huge swing like at a theme park. It swings way out over the valley so it's really high off the ground. At the very top where we start the cables are parallel to the ground. Several of the guys were afraid of heights and so it was a big deal for them to do it. The same guys have been having trouble letting the walls that protect their hearts down. It was a great accomplishment for them and it really helped them be open in cabin time last night. 

Steve, the camp speaker, explained at club how we keep trying to fill the void in our hearts. He has a 30 gallon fish tank on stage with him. He took a pitcher with a hole in it and scooped one of the fish out. The fish represents us, and as the water ran out of the pitcher he kept filling it up with more water. Just like in our lives we keep trying to fill our life with more and more stuff to try and have enough to keep so that we don't run out. It's just like our spiritual lives. We keep filling it up with stuff to try to compensate for the huge hole we have, and we've become really good at it. 

My guys really opened up last night. Really tough stuff in their lives that they shared. It was by far the most serious and emotional thing I've ever been a part of. It was totally heartbreaking. 

At the next club, Steve talked about our "condition." He took 1 oz of dye and said that it represented sin. Then he said "a little sin is ok right? It's not like it will affect other parts of my life." Then he poured the dye into the fish tank and the entire tank turned black. The fish can do nothing to get rid of the black, and we are just like the fish.... there is nothing we can do to get rid of sin on our own.

We've done a lot of activity since the sin talk--the ropes course (which was great for he guys to conquer their fear), a carnival, a big dance, a hike up to 10,000 ft! But the best part is coming... In club, the story of how and why Jesus died on the cross is coming. My guys are very anxious to know what comes next in the story. They don't like the idea of being helpless with sin. 

I can't wait to see what God does Days 5-7 of camp!

In Him,

Cy

Work Week 2013

Work Week at Sharptop Cove started off bright and early as 17 of us began the 14-hour journey to Jasper, Georgia. Work Week happens every year at Young Life camps around the country. College students and adults come together to prepare the property for the hundreds of kids who will be coming to camp and are introduced to Jesus Christ every summer. Going into the week, I’m not exactly sure what I expected. I mean, we would be at a Young Life camp so I knew the property would be beautiful, the food would be plentiful and tasty, and the community would be amazing. But perhaps I missed the “work” part of Work Week. Of course I was expecting to work, but I think in my mind I thought I’d be doing dishes or paperwork for a few hours each day. I do know that clearing brush to make bike trails out of a full blown forest for the next 4 days was not in my plans. Something funny about God though is that He doesn’t follow my plans, but instead asks me to follow His. The other funny thing about God is that His plans are exactly what I need and this week was no exception.

God used this week of manual labor to teach me that often times He just wants me to show up. I wish I could say this week was full of rainbows and butterflies and that every moment was fulfilling and joyful, despite the hard work. However, that was not my week. Although there were definitely times of joy, fun, and laughter, there were also lots of times of “my back hurts”, “what the heck do I know about trail blazing?” and “can’t I just take a nap?”

To be honest, that’s typically how my life seems to go. A lot of showing up, trudging along kind of moments and trying to seek God through this messy life. It’s definitely not easy and often times I fail to experience God. But when I do experience him, it’s a shining, overwhelmingly beautiful glimpse of Him. And those shining moments are so lovely and so personal that they make every blister worth it.  That’s what I see as I look back at my time at Work Week. I trusted that God would use my imperfect service to bless hundreds of kids who will come to Sharptop Cove this summer, and He ended up blessing me. As I give myself away, I experience more of Him and I am blessed.

That makes all the blisters worth it. From having the opportunity to sit on top of a mountain and pray for the kids who would use the trails we had just made to being surrounded by my Young Life family while we sang and laughed together. From sharing in worship with people from around the country to encouraging a fellow worker when we were getting tired, God used Work Week to share His love for me in a beautiful and personal way. And if I had chosen to nap instead of show up, I would have missed it.

Eva Rosberg

Young Life College Leader

YL Journey 2 Macedonia

Wow. Putting into words how incredible the time in Macedonia and Greece was seems almost as impossible as containing Christ's love in a single box. My words will never be sufficient, but I'm learning that the greatest things in this life are like that- impossible to accurately describe. So, I'm holding on hard to the images of soft, broken, desperate-to-be-loved little faces; the sweet sound of kids' laughs; the different words sung to the same tune when macedonian-speaking lips and english-speaking lips worshipped the same awesome God; the feeling of a little girl's hand clung tight to mine- despite the fact that she could hardly pronounce my name (I had even more trouble with her's). 

We had quite an itinerary this year: we did four Young Life clubs, in hopes of introducing local school's in and around Strumica and Skopje, Macedonia to what a Young Life club with their kids would look like. For those of you who haven't been to a Young Life club before- we played games with them, did a silly skit, and Martin (a local YL volunteer) gave a short Jesus-talk (or in school's where we weren't allowed to speak the name of Jesus Christ, a talk on God as creator, love, the value of community, etc.) in Macedonian. It was so so so fun. Kids laughed with us (or at us), and after, followed us all the way to our van with big smiles and waving hands, not ready to see their new American friends leave. How excited they were to be noticed, to be loved on. Even more important, directors and teachers of these school's (most of which are full of muslim or poverty-ridden families, or both) were EXCITED for their kids to be involved in this organization. Again, I'm at a loss for words to say how incredible this is. This is where the eternal impact begins, as Young Life is essentially given permission to pursue friendships with kids of these middle schools and high schools, bringing them to the love of Jesus. THAT is our goal, as leaders who only spend a matter of days each year on the ground- our hope was to help PLANT SEEDS and encourage local believers to get involved in Young Life so they will pursue kids year-round. 

We also visited a Roma village (if you aren't familiar with that term- the Roma people migrated from India- known as "gypsy's", and are very very poor). This was one of my favorite experiences of the whole trip. We played several games with them, despite their inability to understand english (duck-duck goose was a huge hit, and hide-and-go-seek turned out to be universal!!!) There was so much joy that day. Precious little girls wouldn't leave my side, and I delighted in every second their hands latched onto mine! They were simply desperate for love. I truly felt like we were the face of Jesus Christ in those hours spent laughing with them. It was an experience I will hold near and dear to my heart forever. 

A lot of time was spent getting to know local believers and sharing with them about Young Life's mission in their communities. Some of these believers included high school students from an International School's bible study, eager to evangelize among their peers. Others were local pastors, and elders of churches. One evening, we got to present Young Life to a congregation, sharing how this ministry had impacted the eight of us individually, and how we hoped to partner with them to impact the youth of their city. We also got to share a meal with some of the college students from Skopje we met last year. I was over-and-over overwhelmed by God's faithfulness to go before us and pave the way in every place we were in, and for every conversation we had. 

Our time in Greece the last two days was AMAZING. Needless to say, I fell in love with that country. We visited Thessaloniki and Phillipi. I walked the same grounds as Paul and some of the first-ever followers of Jesus Christ. Mind-blowing. We hiked to the acropolis of Phillipi, where Paul preached the grace and truth of Jesus Christ thousands of years ago. I must have had a thousand 'pinch-me-this-experience-is-too-incredible-to-be-true' moments that day. What a gift it was to see the words of the Bible come alive before my very eyes. 

If I had to pin all the Lord opened my eyes to during this into a single strand of words it would be this: His Love transcends ALL boundaries of culture, language, and ethnicity; He is desperate for his children in our own country and to the ends of the earth to know the riches of his glory. If we all live with that truth in our hearts, imagine the difference that would be made. 

Once again, this is just a glimpse into what this experience was and is to me and the rest of the team that went on this trip. We are so thankful to have had this opportunity, and hope you all feel apart of our Father's work across the world.

Lauren Bevan