Harvest Church Camp

We spent the weekend at the Peter Snell Youth Camp, up in Whangaparaoa - 27 acres, with 20 of those covered in bush. The weather couldn't make up its mind - it would go from brilliant sunshine to freezing cold and back again - a low of at least 12C thanks to the sou-westerly wind.

Picked up dinner on Friday night at a Roast Dinner place in Whangaparaoa village - very very yummy, with extra crackling. Once everyone had arrived, we made our way to the hall, where we had a bit of a worship session, then went outside to watch the fireworks. Once it was dark, and the littlies were in bed, they put on a movie - "Holy Roller" - truly dire Aussie production, with lots of kiwi actors. We decided it would be more fun to go to bed early and read.

Saturday started far too early - the ladies showers were right beside my bunk, on the other side of a paper-thin wall. We were also on breakfast-setup and serving. I looked at the food laid out and had a little cry - there was NOTHING I could safely eat - and then they brought out something that was alleged to be porridge. Ok. That would do. Not a happy pixie. Got a text from our neighbor – the dogs had done a runner. David went home to find them, and make sure the house was secure.

After breakfast I met up with Lindsay and we planned out what we were doing for the womens' devotional session. We'd both run out of time during the previous weeks, so I'd photocopied the workshop on Pressure from our Weekend to Remember/Family Life booklets. Everyone seemed to enjoy the devo, and it sounds like I did ok - sort of semi-nervous – worrying about my doggies didn’t help.

Lunch was good - wraps, so more choice. The staff at camp are a miserable bunch - I think they have an allergy to smiling. In the afternoon there were activities - climbing wall/abseiling, shooting with air rifles (yeah, I can still shoot! lots of fun) and they had their huge waterslide going. Some of the people going down actually got airborne.

Dinner … how do you make baked chicken legs soggy? Don’t know, but the spuds were nice – had 2 helpings. Best thing about dinner were the boiled spuds - the chicken legs looked like they'd been boiled. After dinner was "Camp Idol" - only 5 families had a skit - we were among the many who hadn't. They were all very good, very clever. The Brown's won, with a song written by Alistair. Played cards with Deb, Azariah and Julia – Deb and Azariah were far too good. I didn’t have a clue. Collapsed into my bunk exhausted.

Sunday we were up early. Managed to organize lyrics for Worship. It was a really awesome church meeting, hearing Marcia’s testimony. Felt a bit strange to be worshiping God in a building with a cross on the wall. So ready to go home – my back was hurting, and I was over people.

Doggies were pleased to see us, and cats were lining up to be fed.
I love going away, but I love coming home even more. Thank you Lord for all my blessings.

Numbering Our Days

This has been what I would call a ‘Spirit Inspired’ piece. I’ve been working on an essay for college on the function of prophecy from the Old Testament monarchial period (ie Saul and David), through to the New Testament, and its applications for today’s church.

The numbers 7 and 14 kept coming up as sacred and powerful. Then they started coming up in lessons at college, in sermons, on the radio. Then the phrase ‘numbering our days’ started popping up. When I googled that phrase, Psalm 139 was listed. Verses 7 and 14 of this psalm are:

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

Wow – OK. That works for me. My text didn’t go down well, then I nuked it with the torch, and forgot to put white silk paper underneath. I also put a fish on it. The fish was not an ‘inspired’ addition, and it looked out of place.

I scraped away the fish and the text, put down the silk paper and text again, and stopped. Prayed for inspiration.

Heard an interview with a songwriter/musician Debbie Shepherd for her new album 139 – from Psalm 139. Picked up a booklet by Derek Prince, “The Holy Spirit in You”. Opened it up to read:

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

Flipped back to the previous page, where it was talking about God’s spirit as being likened to a dove or an eagle … doves have always seemed to me more like dinner than something that can see into the depths … so, an EAGLE! Thank you Lord.

So tonight, with a bit of luck, I can get the harrier hawk laid down before we take off to Bible Study (doing Toxic Religion tonight!), and perhaps even upload a photo.