I.F.'s Teen Camp Diary -- Saturday

I woke up early Saturday morning before everyone else in the condo. I quietly collected my Bible, my copy of Celtic Daily Prayer, and my notebook and made my way out onto the balcony. Sitting there overlooking Keuka Lake it was hard to believe that just 24 hours earlier I was rushing around like a madman in Jamestown. It seemed like a whole different life.

It's been a real struggle for me to center myself in prayer lately. An ongoing conflict at work keeps me distracted at all times. It's even the first thing on my mind when I wake up in the morning. I try to stay focused and make the best of it. The gist of Saturday's readings was God works in people's lives for good. I meditated on that, although I have to admit that at that moment I felt less than confident!

Lamont was in charge of the morning meeting, which went off flawlessly. Icebreakers, visual aides, and an easily remembered sermon -- the L Girl was in the house! She talked about, well, talking, which is a good topic for a generation of kids raised on sitcoms which portray put-downs as a normal part of family life.

I found that what I was most enjoying about the weekend was the collaboration with friends. Mr. X started this riff about an "extreme youth group" in a Southern Bible-belt type of delivery that eventually turned into a brainstorming session with Lamont, and A-- and S--, two women from our church who are working at camp for the summer. It evolved into a hilarious skit that they performed in the evening meeting to great success! It was so easy, and I wish we had time to do this kind of stuff at home!

I'm still trying to figure out what happened on Saturday night. It just seemed to me like the whole thing was lurching towards disaster:

• I got cold feet about my message and rewrote it an hour before the meeting.
• Due to a miscommunication error, the order of service changed a few times right before it started.
• I had a technical problem right at the beginning of my talk -- a song that I was supposed to be referring to in the opening lines wasn't playing.

All of this stuff just threw me off, and I didn't feel like anything I said was connecting with the teens. I think the premise was good: We can't change the past, the future isn't here, all we can do is make the best of our lives in the present. But the hastily rewritten sermon was all backwards -- serious at the front and funny at the rear... It sucked...

I muddled through to the end and mentioned that we were going to be having a time of prayer, and that if they wanted, they could come down to the altar for prayer. While Mending Point came on stage to play a song, I sat down on the edge of the stage and prayed for the kids. I was supposed to take the mic at the end of the band's song and close the meeting in prayer, but the band just kept on playing. I looked up and there were dozens of kids lining the altar and the surrounding floor. Some kids were crying out their hurts, some were deep in prayer, some had a look of deep serenity about them that only God can impart. Needless to say, the meeting went a little longer that night than planned...

I guess my point is that even in a roomful of distracted teenagers, God works for the good of people despite the shortcomings of his messengers.