What a day!  I stand in awe at what God can do.  We have had a wonderful time and we have enjoyed learning more about Jesus and spending time in worship and fellowship together.  

We started this morning off in Romans Chapter 12 and learned what it means to me a true Christian.  That we should have genuine love.  We should be hospitable to others, that we should not be lazy and hanging on the fence, but that we should completely commit ourselves to Christ and his will for our life. We learned to love our enemies and provide for them and to live a life of prayer and worship to deepen our faith in Jesus Christs.  We then learned to not conform to the world and to seek what is good, true and perfect.  God was stirring us and our morning worship was awesome!  I challenged them to let go of the world and to fully submit to Jesus and his will for their life. 

After a delicious lunch prepared by our cooks, Darryl and Rita, we headed to the beach for one last day of sun and fun!  We all went out into the ocean and jumped waves as we laughed and encouraged one another to jump outside of our comfort zone and jump a little higher, ride the waves, dive in head first and just enjoy God's creation.  

We came in to baked spaghetti and a taco bar for supper..  I tell you, our cooks have been phenomenal.  No one has gone without!!

We got cleaned up and headed out to Broadway at the Beach for some shopping.  It was fun to watch the kids as they walked around and spent time together, getting to know one another, growing stronger as a youth group.

We had a late worship tonight and I was worried that they would be too tired to truly participate, but boy was I wrong!!  Where Satan crept his doubt in, God took over and made our last night one to remember.  We started in 2 Timothy 2:22 and discussed how we should give up our youthful passions and should seek Jesus and what is good.  That we shouldn't get mixed up in small quarrels, but spend time growing in Christ.  We then reminded ourselves of what Romans 12:2 tells us about conforming to the world.  As I sat there and read this verse to them again, God pressed my heart to be open and honest with them.  In that moment, I looked at them and knew that I was called to do this to build God's kingdom, to build our future church leaders, to build Godly men and women and to do it in his name and to fully rely on him to use me to do his work.  I promised them that I would do everything I could to be the Godly leader that I was called to be and that I was passionate and sincere about leading them to have pure hearts and to seek what is good, righteous and perfect before God.  The world is so quick to grab them up and tell them that it has the best to offer, yet leave them feeling alone, confused and empty.  Satan is a LIAR!!  He comes to seek you and destroy you.  Our youth need the love of Jesus Christ in them and they need a faith that is unwavering and they need to commit to him and seek his will and plan for their life.  I pray that sometime this week he spoke to their hearts and has started a flame in their soul that will grow brighter with each passing day and the old, sinful part of them will fall away and a renewed person will stand before us.  I pray God uses them and molds them into future teachers and leaders.  They have already begun to show how they can be his hands and feet and how they can make their own impact on this world to build the kingdom of God. 

Parents, Your kids are amazing individuals and I thank you for allowing me to have this time with them.  It has been an awesome retreat and I am already planning for next year.  Thank you for your love, trust and support.  I love you!

​We will see you tomorrow.  Until next time... -Bekka

WOW!  It just keeps getting better and better.  Sweeter and Sweeter.  God is so good ya'll! 

This morning we started off with worship and learned about the fig tree and Jesus cursed it and it withered away.  We discussed how our faith can be like that of the fig tree.  When we are not spending time daily in worship and in prayer, then we cannot grow strong and bear fruit that shows others how good God is and how sweet salvation can be.  If we take up with the world, we become withered because we are not bearing the fruit that we should.  Our actions, our thoughts, our daily lives are not bearing the representation of Christ like they should. We also went a little deeper and discussed three types of faith that people can have: factual faith (they have to see it to believe it), temporary faith ( it comes only for a little while because it isn't deeply rooted in prayer and worship) and then the only type of faith we need, Saving Faith.  The type that is deeply rooted in our worship and prayer that should occur daily.  We keep our feet firmly planted on the ground and fight with all of our might to stay firm on God's word. It was an awesome morning!

We had lunch and jumped some more waves, then we got all shined up to go play a friendly game of putt-putt.  We had a great time and even had two visitors join us.  My mom and my sister, Brianna stopped by and joined in on the fun. 

After supper, I gave them some homework.  They were to spend the next hour getting to know at least 3 people on our retreat that they haven't really gotten to know yet.  Before the night worship, they came back and we went around the room and let them share what they had learned about their youth group members.  We laughed and laughed and the kids really enjoyed sharing what they had learned.  It was fun to see them ALL having a good time as a whole group and to just relax and join in on the fun. 

Tonight's lesson was on the woman who had been suffereing from a bleeding disease/disorder for 12 years and how she fought the crowd to just touch Jesus' garment because she had the faith that she knew he would cleanse her and make her whole!  This is the type of SAVING FAITH I told them about this morning.  She was fed up, broke from paying physicians and was tired of being in pain.  She was ready to reach out to Jesus for help..  We talked about how Jesus can do that same thing for us, if we just reach out for him.  He will make us whole through our faith in him. 

The kids are getting pretty tired after a long day.  We settled in for an earlier night than last night and some plan to go hunt shark teeth early in the morning before worship..  I can't believe tomorrow is our last full day here!

Please continue to pray that God will continue to move throughout each service, each time of fellowship and will work in these young peoples' lives!

​Till Next Time   -Bekka

Day one is almost in the books!  We had a great day of travel.  We left 30 minutes ahead of schedule, stopped once for a stretch break, then stopped to eat a nice lunch and made it to our check-in right at the time we needed to.  The air on the bus, along with the windows being open and God supplying us with a cool breeze, allowed our ride to be pretty comfortable.  You could feel the excitement throughout the bus with our veteran beach goers and our newbies, who were anxious to get down here for a week of fellowship and diving in to God's word. 

After getting settled in and having some pizza for dinner, we studied Luke Chapter 19.  We learned about Zacchaeus and how he climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Jesus coming through Jericho.  We discussed how Zacchaeus is an example of the lost who Jesus came to save and how we are like Zacchaeus before we ask Jesus into our hearts.  We hide in our sin afraid to be seen, just as Zacchaeus hid in that tree.   However, our God is a loving one who seeks the lost, therefore, he called out Zacchaeus and paid him a visit!  Just as he wants to visit with us and stay with us permanently!  When Jesus visited Zacchaeus, he gave him salvation and Zacchaeus was a changed man!  No longer a sinner, no longer a crook, who was giving up what he had to become a follower of Jesus and fully trust in him.  I really love the story of Zacchaeus and breaking it apart to see how the Power and Effect the Gospel can have on a sinner.  How it can change a person and completely turn them around for the better.  

My prayer is that these youth truly allow Jesus to come visit them, just as he did Zacchaeus and surrender to his will and live for him. 

We are tired and ready for bed.  We love you all and thank you for your continued prayers. 

​Till next time...  -Bekka