We began & ended each day on the ski trip with a time of Praise & Worship and a group Bible Study. It was fun to get the whole gang together and recap or plan our day and it was inspiring to hear their thoughts about following God and how it impacts their day 2 day living.
Tom led the songs with Will Rutland and Raymond Middleswarth on guitars. Acoustic guitar, majestic mountains, cozy log cabin..... you can't beat that.
Pastor Billy was teaching from The Tough Sayings of Jesus, by Michael Kelley, a young writer and editor for Lifeway. The study was "in your face" tough, a daring look at Jesus' sayings that addresses the tough questions we often leave unasked. We wanted the kids the know that faith doesn't mean not asking questions. The study also included the historical and cultural aspects that surrounded the people Jesus interacted with. It was interesting to see the parallels to our lives today.
The Bible study time and the spiritual atmosphere laced throughout the whole trip is really the whole point of the trip. It's spiritually refreshing to get away from the normal pace of life, away from our peers, away from the tv and electronic games. I think we all came back refreshed, pumped, challenged. It is such a blessing to watch the youth grow and to hear them speak up and share their lives.
Here's a video of some of our singing. I think the praise time was a little weak because we didn't have the written lyrics. Be sure to check out Grayson at the very end of the video. He was really getting into it.
