This weekend was great! I was able to spend the weekend on a youth retreat that was incredible. Always great to see God’s hand at work in the lives of youth.
- The theme was “The Masquerade: Unveiling the Life Under the Mask”. We had 5 sessions covering:
- Why We Wear Masks
- The Masks We Wear (Sessions 2 & 3)
- Performing a Mask-ectomy
- Unleashing the Life Behind the Mask
Chris gave a brief overview and then the youth counselors used the camp notebooks to lead discussion groups. After family group discussions we joined as one group to discuss our findings. Chris would tie this information together launching the idea that all of us wear masks, but only when we join our identity to Christ are we able to live authentically and attain the abundant life.
- We arrived Friday evening to a very wet and dark Asbury Hills Camp. Though the weather did not cooperate… the facilities were amazing! Earlier this year the United Methodist Conference South Carolina worked hard to bring the facilities up to date. We used the dining lodge for meals and the sessions, and slept in the Waccamaw, Trillium, and Santee cabins. The food was surprisingly good and even more surprising… healthy. If you’re in Upstate SC or Methodist and looking for a great camp you should contact A.H.
- Just off of highway 11, and not far from NC and Table Rock. Here is the route from Anderson:
- Thousand Foot Krutch released their newest cd Welcome to the Masquerade (irony?) on September 8. We used the title track as a countdown to launch the sessions. One of the great things about TFK are their well thought out lyrics:
I’m not afraid, I’m not ashamed
I’m not to blame
Welcome to the masquerade
I’m not ashamed, I’m not afraid
I’m not ok
Welcome to the masquerade
- It seems like the youth from The Rock get better as I get to know each of them.
- Special Happy Birthday to the one and only, Jason Williams.
After this weekend I realize that we all wear masks. Some of us may seem like we only wear one rarely, but everyone puts on a face every once in a while. The key is to accept Christ and allow the master surgeon to remove the mask… carefully. Sometimes the surgery and/or recovery time may be longer than we like, but in the end the results of removing the mask shows the beauty that God never meant for us to cover. Like Adam and Eve many of us are ashamed of what we have become. We never meant to end up in a state where we feel the need to hide from God and those closest to us, but in the end it’s the ones that are closest to us that will be waiting when we leave surgery. They are waiting in the room after our Mask-ectomy, and are there to help us get use to not wearing a mask… and to help us to not go back to wearing a mask.
And we all, who with unveiled faces reflect the Lord’s glory,
are being transformed into his image
with ever-increasing glory,
which comes from the Lord,
who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:18
