For The Love of Junior High: Are you "SAD"?

Question? How can you cure the Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) so commonly associated with those who live in the Northern Hemisphere? Answer: you hitch up the ole yellow bus and head out on a little winter retreat to Camp Shamineau!!! Shamineau is a favorite winter time destination for our students and every year it comes around at the precise moment when the "blues" are hitting the hardest. So, here's the treatment plan to shake off cabin fever=

-First, fill a yellow school bus to almost max capacity with 63 highly caffeineted junior high students!
-Then, tube down a hill in a chair fixed on two sleds!?

-Next, throw foam balls at each other, then play a little broomball and when your tired of doing that play knockout!

-Finally, eat a double decker campfire doughnut that was fried in canola oil and dipped in a bucket filled with cinnamon and sugar! (best doughnut I've ever put in my mouth!)

Seriously, it worked (the only side effect was a raised cholesterol level...thank you doughnuts) and I felt much better by the end of the weekend and so did our junior high crew. :) You know I would be lying if I said this was the real fix for treating the depressing mood of winter. It's not and it won't last!! The only way to counter the affects of a heavy heart is to turn to the one who can do spiritual heart surgery. Jesus said "It's not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick" (Matt 9:12). I've always viewed our ministry as twofold: a hospital and a military outpost. The hospital serves as a place for the sick to come and find healing and the military outpost is to get equipped with the proper gear to fight in the battle!! This year's winter retreat definitely served as a hospital. We had some young people come forward asking for help with some serious stuff: addictions, home issues, relationship problems......etc. The problems our teens are dealing with are for real and they can seem large and daunting!! Thank goodness we serve an all powerful God who is bigger than any problem we might face and He can provide forgivness for any sin we've commited!!

So, what did we do at the end of our weekend together? We asked our young people to bring their "junk" to the foot of the cross and then we had them sign a purity card. The commitment card was significant because we are calling our teens to a level of purity that is above and beyond the shallow measures of this world. We want to strive for purity because the God who has called us into relationship with Him is "Holy"!! Therefore may we be holy in all of our relationships present and future!! By His Grace, I pray this retreat will be a memory maker for all our students and may they never forget their first love in life!!!