Youth Group by Mark with Lucy's pics

For the last few months Lucy and I have been leading a Refuge Ranch Youth Group. We don't really have a name for our group so we just call it youth group. Aaron, Joanna, Martita, Diana, and Angie are the youth of the group. We try to meet every Tuesday evening when the dishes are done. Sometimes about 7 or 7:30. Other times 8:00 or so. We try to have fun with games, Bible lessons, discussions, prayer, and of course... snacks. Lucy loves to make desserts and we love to eat them, so it works out very well.

On this particular evening, we met in the dark because the electricity went out. Maybe our lesson should have been about being the light of the world.

It seems that many of the photos of our games involve blindfolds. Here Angie is directing Diana out of our bathroom. They were partners guiding each other through an obstacle course. Our first series of lessons was about friendship and this was a lesson in trust.

Joanna waiting for direction from her friends.

A couple of weeks ago we were talking about the guiding voice of the Holy Spirit and the blind fold came back out. This time we each had to listen to our partner while every body else tried to distract us with other noise and shouting. Sometimes we are easily distracted by the world.

Joanna and Angie playing the mirror game.

Aaron ready with his Bible for a "Draw your Swords" Bible race. They all seem to enjoy racing and reading scripture.

The race is on. Diana and Angie searching for a Bible verse.

Aaron trying not to get "sin" on his size 15s. The goal was to walk the path without getting "sin" (foot powder) stuck on his feet. None of us made it. We all had at least a little sin.

After walking in sin we each put a nail in a cross and talked about what Jesus has done for us.

Diana crossing the "sin" via the cross as a bridge.

We started the youth group as a way to get to know each other better and have a time of Christian fellowship. There have been a few weeks when we did not have youth group and I think we all missed it. We have a lot of fun and learn something at the same time. I am impressed with the kids when it comes to sharing prayer concerns and time to pray. One of the things we had to do to keep the meetings from going too long, was to pray in pairs at the same time rather than going around the room for each person to pray. This is probably because of how emotionally and spiritually mature this group is and are becoming.

"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity." 1 Timothy 4:12