It's a bunch of teenagers...RETREAT!

We took the SWAT group away for the weekend. We went to Crief, which is south of the 401 near Guelph.

I love being a youth leader. And, it is especially easy when you have such a great group of kids. This group of teenagers are really good. They don't get into too much trouble, they listen to us when we talk to them or ask them to do something, and they let us have fun with them. It makes it so much easier when you don't get treated like you are so much older than them that they don't want to have anything to do with you. Don't get me wrong, they bring up the fact that I am almost 30, but they do it as a joke over the latest Coldplay or Metric CD. (It helps that I like a lot of the same music as them.)

I'll tell you though, as each year goes by and I get another year farther away from high school, I notice it more. I can't run around all day, then sit in from of the fire until 1am, then chat until 2:30am, then get up to cook breakfast at 7:30am and not seriously pay for it on Monday. I am hurting these first couple of days of the week.

We had campfires both nights. We played football, leaders and girls versus the guys. Our team cleaned up, but it may not have been too fair considering some of the girls play on the school flag football team. We played a "capture the flag" type game in the brush at night, leaders versus students. That was loads of fun, especially when I could hide behind a small tree in the pitch black of night then jump out at the kids when they came by me. Some of the reactions were priceless! We ate good food, (too much, too often it seemed.)

And, we spent four good chunks of time watching these Nooma videos that Rob Bell from the Mars Hill church down in the States put together, then discussing them in groups. We talked about such things as what we want and what God gives us, revenge and forgiveness, and if we really need to go to church on Sunday. I am continually amazed when working with youth at the depth of thoughts going through a teenager's mind, and the amount that I learn from them when it is supposed to be them doing the learning.

I love these guys, (and yes some of them read this and I don't care if they know it.) There is something about building into the lives of the young people in this world that just feels right. I'll keep doing this as long as I can and as long as they'll have me.

Lets just hope it doesn't kill me while I am still young...

All for now,
Kef...