I love youth group retreats. Truly, they are one of my favorite activities we ever do. And it usually marks the end of my manic depression for the fall... you see as a youth minister, you get PSYCHED because of all the amazing stuff that happens in the summer. You really do live on a constant spiritual high. Then school starts... the youth group kids start forgetting all they've committed to do and be for God and with God. They get involved in football, fall baseball, cheerleading, band or go get a part-time job. They shift their priorities from having God be number one, to Him being, say, third or fourth.
There used to be an old country song called, "One Step Forward & Two Steps Back"... seems applicable in this situation. Many times teens (and even us youth workers) will rededicate our lives to God at a camp or on a mission trip, but then later make our own interests above what God wants for us. They'll quickly forget the incredible experience they've had, that was able to break through their hardened exteriors to get to where it can make a difference... a decision to change their lives.
I continue to pray for every kid that I work with to make a decision to truly live their life for Jesus. God will bless our retreat this weekend.
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Rick,
Nice blog...and I should be checking it frequently. When you talked about teens forgetting what they experienced, I thought about an experience from our retreat. We were doing a ropes course, and our group did the thing where you get in a circle, grab someone's hand, and then try and untangle yourself. Our group was WAY too tangled. It took us over an hour to get untangled (only like 17 people), and took the longest that the leaders had ever seen anyone work at getting untangled. I was just proud that we did get untangled...although there were MANY people wanting to give up. But, you know what? Hours, days, weeks after they were released they forgot how tough it was! What?!? You thought it was the end of the world and now it is only a distant memory.
But, there are many things we teach teens that they won't forget. Did you ever have a "mentor" that influenced you? I did. Several. Now the role is reversed. We help teens and don't get any feedback...hince the depression. Then you see the ones that you were concerned for go to college or whatever and you see them focus their lives on what you had been pointing to all along...God. Great feeling.
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