Thursday Afternoon, Hillhouse Retreat

What a lovely day we have! The sun is shining and the weather is warmer (light jacket and sweater weather). As I look out the window I see some of the guys in another "football" game, some girls are on the swings, Tess was taking pictures of the flowers, and others are just out enjoying the beautiful sunny afternoon.
Last night there was a great game of Capture the Flag. I was walking to my room to get something I left there, when one of the British kids asked me a question. He said, "What exactly are we supposed to be doing?" Somehow the main purpose of the game had not been understood. He had been running around for over an hour, chasing and being chased, but really did not know why. One of the girls this morning was asked by pastor Chris how the game was played. She replied, "I don't know really." Somehow, in the midst of explaining the details of the "jail", how to tag someone, take them to jail, and then break them out, some of them missed the point - to capture the flag and bring it back to their own team's home side.
This caused me to reflect on my own life. How often do we get side tracked with the details of ministry or life and forget to keep the "main thing" the "main thing"? What is the ultimate thing that we are to be doing?
When the British boy asked me what they were to be doing, I said to him to forget about chasing and catching others and FIND THE FLAG! Just get the flag and bring it back to your team without getting caught. - Now he understood and off he went!
For us as disciples of Jesus, we need to remember that our ultimate aim in life is to keep Jesus the main thing without getting caught up in the things of this life. Seek Him, find Him, and glorify Him. All of the other things are details that will fall in place as we glorify Him. Others will see HIM in our lives, and some will desire to know Him, and then we will be able to share with them the magnificent gift of life that only Jesus can give!
Please pray for all of our team, as well as the British teens who are here with us. Tonight it the time for making decisions about "trusting in the Lord". Some do not yet know Christ and some need to trust the Lord more completely. The "Everything" skit will be taking place, Jess H. will be giving her testimony, and the video "Luggage" will be shown. Please pray for this final evening that we will keep Jesus Christ at the center of all we do and the kids who are here will be able to hear and understand what they need to do as far as their relationship with Christ.
Tomorrow morning we are off to London. We will be debriefing and sharing testimonies tomorrow evening about what God has done in our ministry in England. I will try to update you as the weekend continues, but we are not sure when we will have access to a computer to do the update. So please do not worry, but just keep on praying for us. If we don't write again, we will look forward to seeing you on Monday evening!