The passion for the Lord that I witnessed amongst that youth group was absolutely incredible. They danced and sang and praised and worshiped the Lord with unrelenting and unashamed spirits.
As our one night drew to a close, the guys were getting ready for bed on the bottom floor of our retreat house, and the girls were getting ready for bed on the top floor. Yet the time for worshiping the Lord was not over. So, at 1:20am, the music was turned on and the dance party began.
After the dancing there was solitary prayer, there was group prayer, and there was more prayer. The youth rallied around one another, shared their burdens with each other, and prayed each other’s burdens away. Spiritual warfare was taking place in many of the youth, but their friends simply rallied around them with love, support, and the name of Jesus. It was awe-inspiring.
At 4:30am, the bedtime call was made. I was positioned in the middle of two mattresses on the floor, surrounded by some of my best friends from that youth group. I woke up to yelling, running, cooking, a shining sun and chants of “dormilón! dormilón!” which means big sleepy head (more or less). I felt worthless for having slept so long, until I asked what time it was . . . 7:10am.
I’m still not certain if that day had just begun or if the previous day had never ended, because more than half the members of the retreat didn’t get even a wink of sleep. And they still praised the Lord all day at the retreat house and then attended a church service until 6:00pm that night.
The Tico youth are nuts. I love ‘em.
I'm now going to be spending every Saturday night with the Llano Grande youth. Last weekend I shared a message and then led a foot-washing ceremony in remembrance of Jesus. It was incredibly moving, to say the least.
No comments:
Post a Comment