I wasn't a timer at the track meet this afternoon, but I still had to show up because our kids were racing against Riverside and Fishers (the other two HSE Junior Highs). I got to see Lily, a Wyld Life kid, and my girls Lulu and Fudge. They all got PRs tonight and a new school record for the 4 x 8 relay!
.jpg)
Young Life Club tonight was a scavenger hunt-- something our kids get really excited about. Two years ago we did a photo scavenger hunt that took us all over town, including jumping in Geist Lake, but tonight we stuck to the barn.
At the start of the race Ryan told the kids to make a group of 6 friends and find a leader. I got to lead Kaelyn, Anne, Kegley, Morgan, Julia and Erin all over the barn as we checked off the tasks on the list...
Pose as a group with any framed photo on property of Lukas DeVoe and post it to Instagram, tagging @lukasdevoe and @hseyounglife.
Find a dead
reindeer and take a group selfie (grelfie) with it. Tweet the pic from one of your group members’
Twitter accounts. Tag @hseyounglife and
use #hseylscavengerhunt. Creative
captions are encouraged.
Find someone
wearing orange. Give them a hug and tell
them that they’re loved. The person you
hug must sign their name here: My
name is ________________ and I’m loved. (That's JD in our group hug.)
As a group, build a sweet fort with pillows in the lodge area upstairs. If pillows are unavailable, build an imaginary fort with imaginary pillows. Create rules for your secret tree fort meetings, designate officers and their responsibilities, and occasionally whisper “Shh, here they come!” Someone should tell a scary story. (Our rule is "No smoking." Officers include President, Vice President, Snack Bringer and Picture Taker. The scary story is, "Someone walked into the woods and then they died.")
Find another group and do the “We’ve got
spirit, yes we do, we’ve got spirit, how ‘bout you?” chant with them at
least 3 times back and forth. Then, line
up in two lines, high-5ing each other like at the end of a baseball game, and
tell each other “Good game.” Mean
it.
Make 5
successful free throws, shooting underhand (aka “Grandma style”). The 5 shots must be made by 5 different
people on your team. Cheer each other on
while shooting because it’s the right thing to do. Celebrate with glee and revelry as the last
basket is made.
Glee and revelry... Natty's group using her sweet selfie stick.
Sing a chorus
from one of your favorite worship songs from Campaigners with Ryan. (Bless the Lord oh my soul...)
Get a pic of
your whole team making the YL hand sign.
Tag @hseyounglife on Instagram.
Play a game of soccer as a team. Play to 3 goals. On the final goal, the entire group shall
shout “Gooooooooooaaaaaaaaaallllllllll!” until it collectively runs out
of breath.
Maybe you want to lift the player who scored the last goal on some people’s shoulders. That’s fine.
As a group, come up with 4 new flavors of ice
cream the world needs. Get creative. (Mac & Cheese, Potato Chips, BBQ, Chicken Nugget Chunk)
Be seated in a circle as a group and go through
everyone’s highs and lows of the past week.
When the group is done, someone must say “Wow. That was great, everyone. It warms my heart to hear what’s going on in
the lives of my friends. What do you all
say we finish the rest of this scavenger hunt?” The rest of the group must then exclaim, “That’d
be swell, (person’s name)!” The
group should then stand and exit the area while doing a coordinated dance
number. (For the record, we walked away doing the macarena.)
Write a
prayer with your teammates, have each person sign it, and clip it onto the
prayer wall in the side room. Your YL
leaders pray for you daily because we love you very much! (Prayers for Nepal.)
Sit on the front porch swings of the barn and tweet a picture of your team
pretending to discuss a riveting Campaigners lesson. Tag @hseyounglife and use #hseylscavengerhunt.
Have your team pose in front of the barn, making a Y and an L with their
bodies. Tag @hseyounglife and use #hseylscavengerhunt
on Instagram.
Find a leader
from another group, ask them to share one of their favorite Bible verses or
stories with you, and respond with “Thank you, (leader’s name). I find that incredibly insightful and speak
on behalf of my entire team when I say that we’re delighted to engage with you
in this conversation. Accept our best
wishes as you lead your team in the remainder of this scavenger hunt. We offer you our protection. Sincerely, (your full name).” (Jorge loves John 3:16)
Each member
of your group must take an individual selfie with the barn, pretending to: eat the barn like a delicious sub sandwich,
wear the barn as a hat, or have the barn serve as your unicorn horn. Text the picture to a family member without a
caption, then have fun with the conversation that follows.
Have someone from your group who is attending Castaway or Wilderness post a video to Instagram saying, “Hi, my name is ______ and I’m going to _______ this summer with Young Life. You should, too! Sign up at HSEYL.com today. After you do that, let me know and let’s go get some never-ending soup, salad, and breadsticks at Olive Garden together.” The other group members should be doing something random in the background. Tag @hseyounglife and use #hseylscavengerhunt.
Find leader Abby Back and tell her how much you appreciate her printing this scavenger list out for your team. Someone from your group should also tell Abby a knock-knock joke.
Have your
leader take a picture of your team riding in an imaginary car together on the
way to Young Life. Someone in the back
seat must be asking for the auxiliary cord to change the music OR making a
sweet airplane with their hand outside the window. Post the pic to Instagram, tagging
@hseyounglife with #hseylscavengerhunt and #imaginarycarride.
My team of sophomore girls definitely finished the scavenger hunt the fastest, though it's debateable if we were the official winners of tonight's race. We got to watch other teams finish their lists and help them out with bible verses and chanting of "We got spirit, yes we do."
JD shared truth tonight in the Club Talk in this laid back, sitting at a table, kind of setting. JD has such a heart for Jesus and for these kids and tonight he said that he's afraid that while he's eager to share grace and forgiveness, he can have a blind eye to other truths in the bible. He shared verse about being a lukewarm christian, about how our lives should look different because of what we believe and how showing up to see God isn't the same as knowing God.
We want our YL kids to not just know a lot about Jesus, but to have a relationship with him that will transform their life. Unless we're diving in to life with him we can't experience life to the full or receive all the fruits of the spirit and blessings that he has for us. I want girls like Hannah, Olivia, Julia, Natty and Katie to keep growing in their faith, to make sacrifices for God, to learn to be obedient to what he's calling them to.I don't want them to just be disciples, but to be women of faith that will point others to Christ.
Tonight was our last Club of the year for YL. Now we've only got two more Campaigners, two more Monday nights left together at the barn for these Seniors. I'm such a fan of this Senior group. It'll be sad to not have these Senior guys at YL or to not see them in the front row at HS sports. I just became friends with girls like Katie and Cass this year and wish we could have had so much more time together. Hannah has been with HSE YL since day 1 and has become such a great friend to me-- it'll be so sad to not have her here every step of the way. These kids will be missed.
Tonight I got to use a selfie stick for the very first time and oh my gosh I love it. I wish we could use our phones at Tecumseh so I could use one all summer. Thank you Natty B for letting me try yours tonight!
Tonight was awesome. Even with a massive thunderstorm pouring down outside, we were still able to make the scavenger hunt a success. I'm so thankful that I get to share life with these kids and leaders every week. If there was a way to be in two places at once I'd spend my whole summer doing both Tecumseh and Young Life kids.
*Honorable Blog Title
"I couldn't find animals so I sent pancakes."
