Sunday, July 5, 2009

Thicker Than Blood...

Faith is something we can all relate to. Everyone has faith, you may not realise it, you may not put it into action, but we all have it. I know in my own life that I have realised that I do have faith, and that on occasion I have put it into action. But its odd that no one ever seems to talk about faith...

OK sure, big preacher guys get up and talk about it all the time. But no one ever seems to talk talk about faith. I mean, I've been a Christian for about 5 years now, and not once have I ever sat down and talked about faith to anyone...

I've just gotten back from Summer Madness...no, not the one in Belfast, the one in Wexford. Actually, its been called several things; Cat's, SM, The Madness, and my personal favorite, mainly because I came up with it, The Big One. However, unlike an Ovoca camp or any other big event like TeenStreet, this wasn't organised by a bunch of people I didn't know. The Big One was organised by a group, including myself and 4 other friends.

I'm struggling to find a word to describe the time we had down in Wexford... Awesome, fantastic, brilliant, super...you get the picture.

As with any of my other event posts, I'm going to give a run down of what happened during the week. But the run down of what happened isn't going to be the main focus of this post. I'll explain later.

So I arrived at Connolly in time for my train on Monday, and travelled down to Wexford with Mike and Lorcan. Man that train journey was...interesting...We arrived, got picked up by Cat, and made our way to her house. I'll say this now, Cat's house is huge. Granted it may not be as big as Ovoca Manor, but we were never stuck for space. We arrived, and were greeted by Jane and Fanny, Cat's French exchange student. We got the room in which we would hold the talks, and sleep in as well ready while the girls went to the shops. They returned shortly, and we settled down to a lovely roast prepared by Cat's mum. Afterwards, the rest of the evening was filled with watching the hilarious "Black Books," mini pool and general arsing about, as it was dubbed. It was then time to head off to bed.

Morning came, and everyone had a shower before having breakfast. We once again chilled out (we did this quite a lot, so I shan't mention any other occasions of this) while we waited for the rest of the "campers" to arrive. Once that happened, we ate dinner and then headed into our first talk, led by Mike, in which he layed out what we were going to try and accomplish; learn about faith, not just as individual, but also to share our faith with those around us. Evening activity was watching "Van Helsing" a very good movie, before heading off to bed once again.

Morning came, as did breakfast, and we once again headed into a meeting, this time lead by Lorcan on the disciples and their imperfect faith. Lunch came, and afterwards we continued to watch "Black Books" and take part in "sock puppet theatre," before having dinner and heading into our evening session, composed of a brilliant discussion led by Lorcan on different verses about faith, and we could take away from them, as well as a short talk. The main activity for the evening was a blind maze in which people were blind folded and were then directed to reach a goal by the other people. This turned out to be a great laugh. After that it was time for bed.

Thursday came, and it was the usual morning routine. The morning saw my first talk, on what Jesus Himself said about faith. After lunch, the MAP Team arrived (Missionary Apprenticeship Programme) and we then headed out into the town to begin a magazine dropped to help out the local church. We returned home and were treated to a fantastic meal prepared by the team. After dinner, it was time for my second talk, with a larger crowd than I had anticipated...just slightly...truth be told, I was quite frightened by the prospect...then a member of the team came up to give their testimony to us, and after that, we took part in some amazing worship. After that, we played some games out in the garage before heading off to bed...but not before making a cake for Fanny's birthday the following day!

Friday came and the usual morning routine ensued. Mike closed the camp just as he had started it. After a quick bite to eat, it was time to say good bye to the MAP team and some of our own friends. Dinner came, and after which, those who remained watched "Howl's Moving Castle," and took part in some heated discussions, and with that, we headed off to bed.

It was our final day, and after having breakfast and painting the Pulpit, we went our separate ways, with each of us taking away something special from the time together.

Normally I may have ended the blog there and then, but to me there was so much more to this camp. I myself really saw God moving, not just through my life, but through the lives of all who were there.

The time together was about faith, and after struggling with something that had been plaguing my mind for so long, I finally grasped what I needed to do; put my faith in God to take care of it. Thinking back on it now, the mornings that I got up early and prayed in the shower or else where were so special. I could really feel God's hand resting upon me as the week went by.

I also learned I'm a jealous and selfish guy. I know all people are like that at some stage, but it had never occurred to me that I was one of those people. It was such a relief to give this up to God and ask Him for healing in this area of my life...

I won't talk about the talks, because if I do, then I'll just end up writing them out again. I'll e-mail my notes to anyone who wishes to take a look. But here, I'll just talk about three things from the talks that astounded me.

The first thing is found in John 14 v 12;

"I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father..."

Those of you who were there at the camp know that I referred to this verse a lot when I was speaking. To me, when I first read this verse, it was like a atomic bomb went off in my head. If we have faith in Jesus, we'll be able to do great things than He did! That's incredible! It shows just how powerful faith can be if we put it in the person who gave it all. And the only way we can do that is by giving up our lives, our whole being to Him, and letting Him have His way.

The second thing that I found amazing was during the discussion that Lorcan led. When we came to Mathew 12 v 48-50, I could not help but be so encouraged by the thoughts of my friends;

"He replied to him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" Pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."

Its a verse that I've normally looked over, but in the context of faith, it is truly awe-inspiring. Here in this passage, Jesus says that when it comes to a relationship with Him, that blood does not matter. Rather, it is faith that proves to be the strongest bond. This is where "Thicker Than Blood" comes from.

Finally, one cannot talk about Jesus without at least referring to the Cross. In the context of faith, Jesus dying on the Cross gives us the greatest example of faith, that he had so much faith in His Father's Will that he gave His life to show us the perfect kind of faith. He gave it all up, as we should also;

"Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit."

Luke 23 v 46

It goes without saying that there must be a huge thank you to all involved. Firstly, thank you to all who came, 'cause if you didn't, then this wouldn't have happened.

Major thanks must go to the Hooper family, for even giving us the opportunity to use their home for this camp. Your hospitality has been such a blessing.

Thanks must go to the chef for the camp Jane. Thanks to her cooking, none of us caught salmonella :D Thank you so much for all the time and effort you put into preparing the meals.

Muchos gracias goes to Lorcan and Mike for preparing stellar talks. It is so clear that I couldn't have done this on my own, and even more clear that God used both of you mightily.

A big thank you goes to the MAP team for all the encouragement and enthusiasm when it came to the magazine drop, the games, and the general chilling out. I pray that God would continue to use you for His glory.

Finally to Author and Finisher of our faith, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Alpha and Omega. Beginning and End. The Lion and the Lamb. No words can describe the thankfulness that I have for your provision of strength, kindness, mercy, faith, hope, friendship, grace and love to me. It is you who I live for, now and for all my days, for there is none like you, my Jesus. Let your name be exalted on high, and may your glory touch the lives of others like it has touched mine. And may your voice, word and light be my guide for all my days. Thank you for what you did 2000 years ago, and continue to do everyday of our lives. May Christ be the centre of my life, and let all of us take up His challenge…Thank You…

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