Grade 12 students at Smithville Christian High led chapel
this week, encouraging their fellow students to "love on everyone," to "talk to God" and to "let
God shine through you."
The senior students led worship and then took turns
describing various aspects of their recent three-day retreat at Silver Lake
Camp.
One of the activities of the trip was a small group discussion,
in which the students were asked to answer a series of questions about their
previous life experiences. Each group then picked their favourite topics and
shared them with the rest of the class.
"Our table answered whether we had ever been in a
life-saving situation," said Wes. Scott once had to direct an ambulance to
an emergency, and Wes said he and Aydan once befriended a troubled young man named
Ryan at a youth convention. At the end of the weekend, they exchanged phone
numbers in order to keep in contact with him, he said, and shortly after that
Ryan texted to say he was grateful for their friendship.
"He said 'thank you so much for being my friend this
weekend,' " Wes related. " 'You don't know this, but I had planned to
kill myself this weekend. You and Aydan showed such love to me that I felt
God's presence.'"
"You don't know people's situation," Wes told
students and guests at chapel. "So just love on everyone and be a friend
to everyone. You don't know but just a simple smile or 'hello' could save
someone's life."
Megan said her group shared their answer to the question of
whether they had ever initiated a time of prayer with someone. She said when students
from this class were in Grade 9, Smithville Christian alumna Chelsea Feddema
was killed in a tragic accident, which made many of the students wonder
"why God would do something like that?"
"Some of us who knew her and her family were feeling so
down, we skipped class and we were crying in the Grade 9 bathroom," Megan
said.
"Then Hope said 'why don't we pray about this?' and so
there we were, sitting on the bathroom floor where you don't think you could
see God, but God was there," Megan said.
"You could be in class, you could be having a bad day,
but when you talk to God, he listens," she said. "Talk to God, pray
with your friends, because it changes your relationship with your friends and
it changes your relationship to God."
Julianna talked about her experience of being the only
Christian in her group of roommates during a summer French immersion trip, and
hearing at the end that she had changed her roomie's impression of "what I
think a Christian is like — because you are not judgmental."
Mitchell told about his summer trip to Africa to visit his
brother, and the encounter the pair had with a woman who had AIDS and who asked
them why they were Christians. "I don't remember what we said but before
we left, she asked us to pray for her, and she said it changed her life,"
Mitchell said.
Tyler said he also had the chance to share the gospel during
a summer job as a house painter, working with an older man who asked him many
questions about his faith and his walk with God. His co-worker concluded that
he wasn't interested in going to church "because it's a waste of
time" but Tyler said he still felt God had used him to share an important
message.
"We think we're young and we can't touch the world in
any way, but be open and let God shine through you," Tyler said. "If
you let the Holy Spirit work through you, you can do awesome things."
Shannon said the retreat focused on this year's spiritual
life theme, which is "going deeper with God."
She described an
activity the students did during one of the evening chapel times, led by
spiritual life director Gord Park. They divided into pairs and did a drawing
exercise three times, once based only on answers to questions, the second time based on an oral description
and the third time through a two-way conversation. Not surprisingly, it was the
third drawing that turned out best, and Shannon said the three types of
drawings represent three different ways of connecting with God.
Sometimes we just present God with a list of requests or
questions, sometimes we expect God to lead us, and sometimes we engage God in
full conversation — both talking and listening.
"In a full conversation you pray and you leave space
for God to talk to you," she said. "Then we were challenged to tell
our discussion partner where we were in our relationship with God.
"A lot of growth can happen when you are willing to let
people in," she said. She said Mr. Park encouraged students to let God in
— into the sports, activities and details of their daily lives, instead of just
keeping God "at the surface."
Ben described the recreational activities, the food and the
sleep (or lack thereof) at the camp. He said the students also did a series of trust-building
activities, in addition to playing board games and cards, inventing a game they
called "sting-pong," archery, geo-caching, and waterfront activities,
including sailboats, canoes and kayaks. The students were also proud to say
they beat the teachers at the annual game of Mission Impossible, he said. "Ha-ha."
During the retreat, the students took turns leading
devotions, and Jessica and Megan described a devotion they led one morning.
"Today I just encourage you guys to love, love,
love," Megan said. "You never know what someone could be going
through."
The students then closed the chapel with a prayer led by
John, and the singing of Oceans (Where Feet May Fail).
Here's a video of the students leading in worship with "My Redeemer Lives" featuring a drum duet by Tyler and Wes!
See the Smithville Christian High School Facebook page for
more pictures from the retreat.
