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It seems like ages ago now, but on the weekend before Easter (7th-9th April), a group of 50 of us went up to Halls Gap in the Grampians for our youth camp. Every two years we have one of these camps where the aim is to get all the different groups in our ministry together for a weekend of fun comunity building stuff based on a particular theme.

In 2002 we went to Bacchus Marsh for STORYTELLER. In 2004 it was DREAMGIVER. This year it was CREATOR.

For me, there is no better place to reflect on God as creator than in a bush setting. The Grampians National Park is one of my most favourite places in the world (not that I’ve seen that much of our planet!). I have lots of good memories from going there as a child with my family and have revisited many times since. This time it was nice to be able to share my ’special place’ with some of the young people I work with.

There was lots of the usual camp stuff - a great bus trip, good food, lots of games, plenty of jokes played on the pastor (what else is he for?) and some time set aside to think about some important life/faith stuff. We spoke about the result of a worldview that leaves God out of the picture as opposed to the purpose and meaning that comes with God IN the picture.

There were lots of highlights for me. But something that I found a little unexpected was how well received our walk/hike was on the Saturday morning. We walked from the campsite to the top of Boronia peak and back again. A round trip of four - five hours depending on which end of the ‘pack’ you were in. It was a relatively easy walk to start with, but there was some steep parts and a rock scramble at the end that finished with a spectacular view of the National Park. One of the young people commented when he reached the peak, “Now I know why this camp is called Creator!”. It was a spectacular view, made all the more interesting by the parts that had been blackened by the recent bush fires.

By the end of the walk, we were pretty tired and sore. I received a bit of light hearted abuse for making everyone work so hard on a camp, but the sense of achievement and the shared experience that the group felt made it worthwhile. Walking together, chatting about whatever for a few hours, through the beautiful Aussie bush brought us a little closer together. And hopefully it brought us a little closer to God too.

If you were on the camp and have some pics, send them to me so I can post them here. Particulalry the shots we took on top of the mountain.

Now to start planning for 2008…