Every year, my youth group joins another youth group and have a fall retreat and this year is no exception. And this year we had it at Camp Kawkawa. We had loads of fun playing games and learning about God.
On Friday night, we arrived there and started out with some icebreaker games. I won one of it which was a sort-M&M’s-by-color-into-cups game. Then we had a campfire, and some of my worship team and I led worship, doing songs like Blessed Be Your Name and My Redeemer Lives. Then it was cage-ball time!
Cage-ball, also known and gaga-ball, is a very intense, fast-paced, free-for-all game of agility, strategy, (eh…maybe not so much), and, in many cases, luck. Players stand against the boards of an wooden, octagon rink, and a ball is thrown roughly in the middle. Once the ball bounces twice, the game begins. The object of the game is to be the last man standing. You can hit the ball with your hands, but if you get hit by the ball anywhere else or you hit the ball out of the rink, you are out and exit the rink. I really enjoyed the game (I think it should become an official team sport 🙂 ). Strategies range from passively sitting on the boards before striking, to playing the ninja in the middle. I personally prefer a hybrid of these strategies. Unless only a few people are playing, I start by staying on the boards until about 25% of the players have been knocked out. Then I jump in the middle. And then, there’s a choice of tactics between dodging and blocking. I personally prefer a blocking style, and so I stay as low as I can to block low shots. Very fun game, and it’s soooooooooooo addicting. I have never officially won a game.
Saturday started off with some cage-ball and nine-squares-in-the-air which is a pretty cool game. Nine-squares-in-the-air is a hybrid of Four Squares and Volleyball. A 3 x 3 PVC pipe grid, suspended 7 feet in the air, is set up and players start in each box. The middle is the “sweet spot” and the person is the King (or Queen, obviously). That person starts with the ball and serves it to another player. One must not allow the ball to touch the ground in your squares or hit the ball out of the grid. One can only hit the ball once, and if you get out, you go back to the line up and the players in previous squares move ahead one. The primary objective is to get to the middle and stay there as long as possible.
Next, we had a wide game, and I thought this was very interesting. Players are divided into 3 teams, and I volunteered to be captain of Team Flamingo Pink. 🙂 Then the team is further divided into runners, a canoe team (consisting of a gunner and two paddlers), and a water balloon filler-upper team. Runners must go about the entire camp searching for gold (aka rocks spray painted gold), while the water balloon filler-upper team fills up water balloons, which are ammo for the gunner. All around, except for base camp areas, are monkeys (aka the leaders equipped with stockings filled with flour). If they hit you with their “tails,” you are out and have to go to jail where another team-mate can try to rescue you. In the meantime, the captain is given a list of things that the team has to buy to equip a full camp (i.e. tents, food, water, medic kit, sleeping bags, and tarp). Once enough gold has been gathered, the captain may decided to send of the gold with the canoe team to canoes. These designated paddlers will take the gold and paddle out to a “barge” in the lake and there acquire the “goods.” Three pirates (aka leaders on kayaks equipped with water balloons) roam the lake and will try to hit you with the balloons. If the canoe, paddles, or any member of the team, one of them is knocked out and cannot do anything more. Once all three members are knocked out (or two if the canoe team decides that the two paddlers dies first), they have to return to the beach and start over. The gunner’s job is to fight back. Equipped with water balloons for the water-balloon-filler-upper team, they can try to hit the pirates. If they do, the pirate hit will give the canoe 20 seconds of breathing space. This game is slightly strategic and athletic-focused. Strong paddlers, fast runners, and good-aim gunners are needed.
Finally that night we had a night game. The object of the game is for players to hunt down a friendly agent hiding out in the camp and retrieve a code from him while avoiding enemies equipped with flashlights. Being spotted results in death and players have to return to the start to respawn. I love night games, but like all others, it was extremely difficult and dangerous. 🙂 No one won the game. After that we had another campfire and we did more songs and the two youth pastors taught some things about identity, which was the main topic of the weekend.
So, here’s what we learnt. Identity. We were created by God, like God (in His image), and for God. We all have a purpose, no matter how much the people around us dislike us or look down on us. Because we are God’s creation, we are loved and valued by Him. And that is very good news!! Then we learnt that while we were created very good by God, sin has tainted us. Sin has stained us black and we are born naturally sinful. We have a evil nature. But God loved us so much that He sent His Son to die for us, sinful, evil people, so that we may become His children! Not only are our sins washed away, God declares that whoever believes in Him becomes His son or daughter. We have the privilege to call Him Daddy and we become co-heirs with Jesus Christ. And that is VERY good news!! We are all cherished and loved by God. This topic is a really good reminder to me of who I am, what my identity is. I am a child of God.
So Sunday is the last day and we ended with some (surprise, surprise,) cageball!! Believe me, it’s one of the greatest games in the world. It was a blast this weekend; I loved it! God is good. 🙂
Before I end, there was an illustration given to us by the other church’s youth pastor. He told us to put a small pebble in our shoes to represent sin. It’s annoying and hurts. And when we are set free from it, we rejoice and are happy. But I also thought about something, as the day went by, I noticed that I no longer was bother so much by the pebble. And sin can be like that. It can hurt and we can feel guilty in the beginning. But we can become so callous and hardened against it that we no longer notice it. But once set free from it, we realize what freedom from sin really feels like and how much Christ did for us.
Lunar Eagle 