Marco Club Takes Over Camp!

What a weekend. We had the pleasure of bringing three boys and five girls to three days of crazy fun at Oakbridge Wyldlife camp. Along with a lot of fun and laughs we were lucky enough to engage in discussion about who Jesus is and what he's done for us.between the ping-pong and foosball and pool table and air hockey and skate park we definitely had our hands full but we took it all on and had a blast. Our Wyldlife camp is nestled in the hills of Ramona California just perfectly set the stage to let these kids our friends process life and questions about who Jesus is without any distractions that they would have at home. No phones, no computers, no TV, no Internet, just good old-fashioned fun.

D-MAR

Ladera Goes to Winter Camp

What a great crew... what a great weekend!

This weekend was Winter Camp! I can say that it was the best winter camp I have ever gone to, not only because the camp was great, the food was good, and the people running the program were amazing, but the kids and leaders we brought were the best! It was a weekend I won't soon forget!

Octoball got crazy!

Oakbridge is a very special place. It's not the typical semi-rugged youth camp... but more like "Club-med" for middle school kids! The place was built just for them, and everything, from the octoball court, to the skate-park, to the fields, to the room for club... everything was built just for them. 

The songs at club were awesome!!

For a lot of the kids, this was their first time at Oakbridge, and for some of them, it was their first time going to "club." Since we haven't been able to find a place big enough to host us in Ladera this year, we haven't been able to have "club," but we did at camp, and it was awesome! From the songs to the games, to the funny skit guys, to Sullivan teaching about Jesus' love, it was amazing! The program was seriously one of the best I have ever seen.

Taylor got to go mattress surfing!

Mackenzie and Jack chucking cheese puffs at a leader.

Club was awesome

The 6th graders got shacked

A part of what makes camp so special is that it gives kids a chance to get away from normal life, and out of their "comfort-zone" while making sure they are still safe, and even comfortable. They are treated like they matter, and they can tell that everyone at camp really cares about them.

Dog-pile Andy!!

Pic with Mrs Santa for scavenger hunt

The first night started with club, and then a pizza party at 10pm! After we got to go back to our cabins and talk about what Sullivan had shared in club about Jesus. These are called "cabin times" and they happen after every club. Its a time for leaders and kids to go back to their cabin and reflect on what they just heard at club. 

Group selfie at the archery range

The first night Sullivan talked about how we all come to camp with a picture of what Jesus is like. Some think of him as a Santa Jesus, others as a Police Jesus, others as their Homeboy Jesus, and others as a far away, distant Jesus. Sullivan talked about how Jesus was so much more than any of those, and how we can come and get to know him. She shared about Zacchaeus, and how even though everyone hated him because he was cheating them out of their money, Jesus sought him out and had dinner with him at his house. Jesus isn't like what we would expect, he is so much more, and when we have an encounter with him, it changes us... it makes us better us'.

Jail break... Brandon got into it!

Henry and Matthew thought the food was awesome!

The next club, Sullivan talked about the difference between "sins," or bad behavior, and "sin." So often this is something that people miss-understand, or as Sullivan talked about, miss-diagnose. Sin is separation from God. Its not trusting that God loves us and is taking care if us. Sins are a symptom of this, but if we just treat the behavior, or the symptoms, we don't get down to the root cause and nothing gets better.

Sullivan shared about getting diagnosed with Lyme Disease early this year, and how she had been sick for 8 years, but doctors kept treating her symptoms instead of looking for what was causing them and nothing got better... she just kept getting more sick. She compared this to the story of the "Bleeding Woman" in Mark 5:21-43. In this story Jesus is asked by a man who was extremely important to come and heal his daughter, as he was on his way to this guys house he got held up by a woman. This woman had been sick for 12 years, and spent all she had on doctors who were not able to figure out what was wrong with her. As soon as she touched Jesus, she was immediately healed. Jesus knew something happened and stopped to hear this woman's story. Even though he was on his way to do something important with someone important, he stopped for this woman that no one cared about and then took the time to listen to her story. That is what Jesus is like, and he does the same with us. He can heal the deep sickness that we have, and he can fill the longing that every human on earth has. We were created to long for a relationship with God, and we will never be completely satisfied until we are in it.

All camp tug-of-war!

The start of the messy games

It got crazy!

The next club Sullivan talked about God's rescue plan for us. It was awesome seeing kids respond to the fact that Jesus died on the cross for them because he loved them, and that he would have done it just for them. In the 6th grader cabin time that night, a few of the kids started talking about how they couldn't believe that Jesus loved them that much. They couldn't believe that Jesus stayed on the cross when he could have gotten off at any time.

Andy

Henry took some shaving creme to the face

Grace, Taylor and Natalie had a blast!

Aside from the club talks and cabin times, these kids got to be exposed to Jesus' love through their leaders, and the staff at Oakbridge. They got to do things, like through flour bombs and chicken feed at each other, and then watch their leaders be super silly.

Caitlin and Kailey got worked!

Tyler was into it

Matt and Riley came out clean as a whistle... or not.

Everyone had fun!

This pool looked so inviting... but it was about 50 degrees!

It didn't stop kids or Grant from going off the diving boards!

Mackenzie did a cannon ball off the high dive!

Frisbee golf was a huge hit

Hunting for rams.

Little sunset adventure

Sometime you just don't use your hands to eat dessert

At the end of the weekend they were given the chance to say "yes" to Jesus and begin a life-long relationship with him. Sullivan talked about how Jesus didn't stay dead, but came back to life. She also talked about how Jesus will love them no matter how they respond to him. Even if they say no, Jesus loves them the same and will never stop pursuing them.

Jade got to pie Grant in front of everyone!

Russian Ribbon Dancers... From Russia

This guy was awesome... especially when he would play Taylor Swift

Sullivan was amazing sharing Jesus with everyone

The girls' last cabin time

The 3 hour tour of San Clemente on the way back

Camp was such a blast this weekend. I can't wait for summer camp this year! Be sure to mark your calendars because we will be going back to Oakbridge this summer , June 24-29!

Can't wait for summer camp,  June 24-29

Ladera WyldLife: Truly Thankful

Nathan went to work on the Red Velvet cake!

I never know what the Friday before a long break will be like. I didn't know if we would have a smaller group today, if it would be the same, or if kids would be excited or tired or what... but today was awesome! 

Jack and Shane were super bummed they had to eat cake this morning... not!

We had a lot of amazing kids come out this morning, and there was so much energy... it could have had something to do with all the sugar, but who knows!! The game today was inspired by one of the 7th graders, Skylar. Last week Skylar was a little late and the doughnuts were all gone. When we asked him what his favorite doughnut was he told us it was "double fudge cake." Grant was inspired and suggested we play a game called, "Let them eat cake!"

Friday mornings are so great.

Basically, it goes like this: Kids, in groups of 10 or so, sit at a table with a cake in the middle. They are given a dice and when the game starts they must roll the dice. The keep rolling until they roll a 6, then the person who rolled the 6 starts eating the cake. They keep eating until the next person rolls a 6, then that person starts eating and the person eating before stops. 

The girls weren't scared!

The game continues until the cake is gone. Today, some of the cakes were giant, so there was for sure cake left over. I think the halls of LMRS might have some cake crumbs today! I think the 6th grade boys won; they demolished a homemade cake made with love by Grant.

Skylar, bottom left, was the inspiration for this game!

While this game was fun, today was all about being thankful. After the game we broke up into our typical small groups, and looked at several verses in the Bible that give us some things we can be thankful for. 

In a place like South Orange County, and almost anywhere, it can be so easy to see everything we don't have, or everything we want and lose focus on all that we have. I know I am like this often. I love getting into new hobbies, so there is always a laundry list of toys that I want, from new running shoes, to different surfboards and snowboards, I always have a list.

It goes deeper than that though. Often I find myself thinking about all the things I don't have that I think I should have, or that I think I need. More money, a bigger and better place to live, a better car, more for our kids, more time for Candice and I to spend with each other... more, and more, and more.

There was once a cake there.

Thinking too much about what I don't have or what I want is like allowing myself to get sucked into a black hole. It really doesn't do anyone any good, and I find that my attitude becomes worse the longer I think about it. Its natural to have desires and to want things, that's not wrong and I think God enjoys dreaming with us, but when it becomes compulsive, or leads to an overall feeling of entitlement or that what I don't have is more important than what I do have, it can become toxic for my heart.

Earlier this month I watched a movie called, "Ragamuffin," about the life of a singer/songwriter named Rich Mullins. The movie is super low-budget, but the story is wonderful. There was a part in the movie when Rich is being asked about a song he wrote for his wedding day. Rich never got married and the song was called, "Doubly Good to You." The guy asking the question said something to the effect, "How can you say God has been doubly good to you when you never got married?" Rich's said, almost without hesitation, "Well, God doesn't have to be good to me at all, but he is."

This is the amazing thing about God. He doesn't have to care for us, love us, give us gifts or anything else... but he does, and he always will!

The first verse we looked at today was Psalm 136:1-3. The Psalms were prayers and songs that Israel would sing,. They are beautiful and can be a great way for us to interact with God even today. This Psalm goes like this, "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever." No matter what is happening in our lives, we can be thankful for God's love. While love is often thought of in relation to an emotion or desire, this is talking about something deeper. This is talking about a self-sacrificing love that works for the other person's interest. This is the love God has for each of us. It is an active love that is never-ending and extremely powerful.

The second selection of verses came from the book of Psalms again. It was from a Psalm that has been speaking to my heart for a few weeks now, Psalm 139. If you have a chance, I suggest you read it. If you don't have a Bible, you can just click here Psalm 139 or google it. The whole thing is about how deeply God knows us, and how we are made on purpose. The section we looked at dealt with how God is always close, and there is nowhere we can run from him. That God is a God who pursues, always, that he never leaves us, and will follow us even as we walk aways from him... that is something to be thankful for! Its hard to imagine that kind of God, most of us have never known a relationship with another like that, but that is the truth about God. He will never leave, and we can't run from him. Even when it feels as if we are in the dark and God is nowhere to be found, he is right there... even if we start getting angry and doubting him or trying to push him away, he is right there, actively loving us as we are.

So with this in mind some of the groups read Hebrews 13:5, "Keep you lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, 'Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.'" Why is it so hard to be content sometimes? I know I am not always content, and at times it seems that it isn't possible to be content. At times it seems like being content would be foolish... but what I have to be content in isn't the "stuff" I have, or related to wealth or lack of it, but God's presence and love. That, I have more than I will ever need. 

I don't know how this is hitting you right now, maybe this seems like some sort of "pie in the sky" positive thinking deal. Maybe you don't believe God is loving, that he cares for you personally, or that he even exists. Maybe you are having a really tough year, and it seems what you have lost is leaving such a hole that life seems unmanageable. Or maybe you just really like having nice things and lots of toys... I don't know, but I do know that there isn't enough stuff or things or even people on this planet to truly fulfill a human's desire. We are wired to desire something so great that only the creator of all of creation can fulfill it... and he loves doing so. 

So, if you find yourself ungrateful right now, I hope you don't feel guilty. That is where you are, and God loves you just the same. I would encourage you to try to think about one or two things that you can be thankful for. Being ungrateful is like a prison, it keeps us from experiencing life, but it doesn't take much to escape that prison. Thinking of one thing to be thankful for can change the course, and often lead to other things to be thankful for... and this will lead to a freer way of living, one that feels lighter.

I pray you do come to know and trust the love of God for you this season. I pray you can be thankful that God knows you, loves you like crazy, and will never leave you no matter what. I pray that if you haven't experienced this you open to the possibility that you were made to be in a loving relationship with a Another so much greater than you.

Finally, if you want to talk with your kid about WyldLife this morning, ask them about the cake game, and how much cake they ate, and then ask them about what we talked about being thankful for. I pray and hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and that you come to be truly thankful for all that you have.

Giving thanks.

Ladera Ranch WyldLife: Bigger or Better

From a penny, to a dog ramp, to a snowboard...

Bigger or Better was so much fun last night! We had about 40 kids join us at Founders and then broke up into teams of 5-8 kids and spread out through Ladera. It was such a good night on so many different levels.

Matt Wright got a new bike... he was amped!

Having the group split up into smaller groups, each with at least one leader, gave us the opportunity to get to know kids better. The team I was with were kids that I hadn't gotten the chance to hang out with a lot before this. 

We traded a chocolate Christmas tree ornament for this iPod!

We were also able to have conversations with different people in the community about what WyldLife was and what we were doing at their door. So many of the people we talked with were excited to know that something like WyldLife was happening in Ladera Ranch. Most of them were excited about finding something funny for the game.

Rolling in the golf cart

It was pretty incredible to see what some of the teams came back with! One team came back with a fully functional bike, a scooter, and a toddler bike. Another team came back with a mattress, a dog house, and a hockey stick. The 6th grade boys team were able to snag a whole case of snack-packs and a plastic candy cane that there were super excited about. The all girls team were able to somehow get a golf cart (I'm thinking it might have been a pre-made deal)! The 8th grade boys team got a really nice baseball bat, a ton of candy, and a giant lacrosse goal. My team came back with a complete snowboard and a fully functional iPod.

It was great seeing everyone have so much fun last night

On a whole, the night was blast, kids and leaders got to know each other much better, and we were able to do more work in earning the right to speak into their lives with the truth and love of Jesus. These events go so far in getting into these kids' lives. As we show them we enjoy doing fun things, and letting them do things they haven't done before, we earn their trust, and end up getting the opportunity to help them make better choices in life and share the love of Jesus with them as we go. 

The 6th graders were so psyched on this case of pudding!