Come and relive parts of our Oasis Colorado 2011 trip this summer as we bring it to you in full Technicolor form this Sunday night, August 7 from 6-7pm at Grace Bible Church (398 Eggleston Ave, Elmhurst IL)!
We want to share with you not only the exciting events and activities we did, but also about the way that God challenged us and changed our lives. All of our friends and family are invited to come and hear more about our summer trip to Colorado and how God was at work.
Spread the word and invite your friends! It’ll be almost as fun as driving over Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park! (and hey, we’ll also have some amazing dessert and food afterwards to enjoy – who can resist that?)
Today’s post was written by Deane, Katie, Connor, and Meghan students who attend York High School. Enjoy our post and thanks for your continued prayers and support for our trip!
This past Friday, we completed our series ALIVE, focusing on the idea of God being Exalted through our lives. Jason, a teacher at Timberline, taught about not trying to please God but instead allowing ourselves to trust in Him based on our devotions in Romans 12. His words were extremely encouraging for often we find ourselves trying to gain acceptance with Christ on our own. This sense of self reliance is a hopeless pursuit, for man is incapable on his own power. It is God that we must put our whole faith into, trusting that his spirit will work to transform our hearts and point us to a Godly attitude. In doing this, God uses our lives to bring him glory, honor, and ultimately exalt him most high.
Later, we headed over to Liquid Descent for our white water rafting adventure. As we entered into a cavernous warehouse we were engulfed by the rustic scents of wet suits, hay, and dusty volumes. But, hidden behind these scents was an experience we would never forget. After getting our wetsuits, helmets and life jackets we headed over to Clear Water Creek to begin our expedition. We split up into smaller groups, climbed into our rafts and headed out into the rapids. Colorado had experienced record snowfall this year and the river was at twice its normal level. Nevertheless, we persevered, as our guides took us down the river and through tumultuous rapids. The two-hour tour turned into a thirty minute ride down an untamed class four rapid due to unusually high water levels. As we ventured down the creek, we hit multiple drops and rapids such as Dizzy Lizzy, Mister Twister, and Mountain Lion. At each turn our fearless guides commanded our every move as to ensure a safe yet exhilarating ride. Success!
We arrived back at Timberline and began our devotionals for the day. We reflected upon Romans 12 and what we have been learning this past week, reminding us that we are alive in Christ. This passage came alive during our white water rafting adventure as it was necessary to put our trust in our guides in order to come out of this experience unscathed. Similarly, in our Christian walks it is essential that we offer our trust to God in all aspects of life. Christ works through us to exemplify his character, exalting himself above us.
To end this exhilarating day we headed down to the bonfire pit for some quality fellowship and worship with the Timberline staff. We made delectable s’mores as we talked. In addition to the fun, we were also given the opportunity to commit our lives to Christ. For those who already had committed their lives, they were given the challenge to fully commit to being alive in Christ, as we had discussed throughout the week. Being alive in Christ entails the conviction that we are separated from God, that even though we are sinners God sent his son to die for our transgressions, demonstrating his love and satisfying his justice, that we are included in His death and resurrection, that we as Christians are to live victoriously through God, and finally, that God is exalted through our attitude and actions.
Enjoy our final daily highlight video with pictures from our rafting adventure and other fun experiences at Timberline! Click here if you aren’t able to view the video below.
Today’s post was written by Connor, one of our students who will be a Senior at York High School this fall. Thanks for your continued prayers and support for our trip!
Day 4: Victorious
This past Thursday we continued our study in the book of Romans, discussing the applications of being victorious in Christ. Dan, a Timberline Staff member, preached from Romans 8, examining how our faith in God sets us free from the fallacy of this world; the world of sin. It was so encouraging to learn that our trust in God truly brings Christ into our hearts with his grace making us righteous. Ultimately, as we put our whole trust in the Lord, we reign victorious over the flesh as the Holy Spirit points us to the Lord in this life, with the assurance of eternal life; a gift from God.
Our activity for Thursday was that of hiking in the beautiful landscape of Rocky Mountain National Park. It is pretty safe to say that our group witnessed some of the most awesome sights any of us have seen. To get to the park we journeyed and drove up above the tree line to an altitude of over 12,000 feet. We had an amazing time following herds of elk, sliding down snowy mountains, and simply enjoying that fantastic view. After the mountain top experience we finished our drive to Rocky Mountain Park. Once we arrived, we split up into two hiking groups: a difficult trail and an easier one. However, as the hike progressed, the groups chaotically merged and split, yet all enjoying the constant displays of God’s creation. Eventually, all our group reached the beauty within Emerald Lake. The view was staggering as the towering mountains rested over the calm waters. All around the lake lay huge boulders which our group found much amusement in. The time in Emerald Lake was a wonderful experience, for God’s glory and power had never shown so clearly. Our return trip stood equally exciting as a raging snowball fight crazy fun; especially for July! To top off the whole hiking experience, some students decided to plunge into the frigid waters of the rockies. Just another memory to add to such a memorable day. Truly, it was a blessing from God to be able to hike in the Rocky Mountains with such great friends.
To finish off the day we spent some time eating and shopping in Estes Park, before heading home. Undoubtedly it was a day to remember. The opportunity to witness first hand God’s mighty power and beauty will not soon leave the minds of this group. It was a perfect parallel to the discussion we had had with Dan about being victorious with Jesus. It is because of God’s capabilities, and not ours, that we remain victorious. Only God, who created the mountains and waterfalls, could take a sinful humanity and redeem us as righteous.
Click here to watch the movie (if you can’t view below)
Today’s post was written by Sophia, one of our students who just graduated from York High School. Thanks for your continued prayers and support for our trip!
Day 3: Included
Yesterday, the word in the acrostic was “Included”. During the morning, we found out that we were going to Columbine High School to see the memorial from the 1999 shootings. When I first heard that we were going to Columbine, I found my self unexcited about the idea. As you may imagine, I thought it would be a time of sadness and little growth. As God does, he opened our eyes and allowed us to see Him through this experience.
When we arrived at the memorial we split into groups. Some of us walked through the memorial and others walked by the high school to see the area where the shootings began. The memorial consisted of beautiful stone walls with quotes from teachers, students, and family members through the community. In the center was a circle of granite slabs. Each slab was dedicated to a person who lost their life in the shooting and their family wrote about their child and who they were. When looking at the quotes from community, one stood out to me. It said, “Those of us who are people of faith in this community turned to God, found He was there, and found He was not silent”. After reading this quote, God changed my perspective on the whole day. I think everyone was very affected by this quote because it changed our attitudes and led us to realize that God had used this event for good.
While the Devil had influenced the young men that committed the murders, God overcame the Devil by using the massacre for good. Reading about the students and their lives made us see how many of them had deep relationships with Christ. One girl wrote, “God is in the wind. I can feel Him”. While most of us were afraid that only sadness could come from this day we realized that these people had moved on to Heaven with God. Through their death, God was glorified. The memorial was truly a testament to His glory and His plan for every person. There is no denial that every person who walked through the memorial felt God’s presence.
Through their death, the students were included in Christ. In Romans 6:7, it says “Anyone who has died has been freed from sin”. The people that lost their lives were included in God’s plan and through their faith, they are now with Him eternally.
I apologize for how quiet our updates have been the past few days. We’ve been extremely busy and have had little time to pause and post some updates. We are trying our best to get you caught up on how the week has been going, so please keep checking back often!
Day 2: Loved
Our first full day here at Timberline (Tuesday) was full of a lot of adventure, challenge, and exploring more about what it means to be ALIVE in Christ.
Have you ever been placed in a situation where you need to put your trust in a rope? Tuesday morning we all piled into the vans and drove through the beautiful Colorado Rockies to a spot where we were challenged to experience just that – rock climbing! For almost 3 hours we took turns on different areas of the rock face attempting to scale it and make it to the top. Every muscle strained as we began to climb. With encouragement and support from the climbing guides and one another, we faced our fears, persevered, and conquered the wall. As the climbing guides belayed us down the mountain we had to sit back, release our grip on the rock, and trust that the rope would carry us down. What a great picture of how we need to release our grip on control and believe that God is trustworthy.
We quickly piled back in the van because of a quick rain shower then headed back to Timberline for dinner and our evening meeting where we focused on the theme LOVED – our next letter in our ALIVE acrostic.
During this week, we’ve chosen to use the word “ALIVE” as an acrostic to describe for us the full Gospel message and the challenge it presents for each of us as believers. Each day we are taking one of these words, highlighting a key passage of Scripture from Romans, and unpacking it in more detail in different formats – our individual journal time, large group teaching, small groups discussions, testimonies, and more.
Today, our focus was on the theme of being LOVED. After seeing in Romans 1 how we are alienated from God because of our sin and are subject to God’s judgement and wrath because of it, we began to explore how today’s passage shows that God is both just and loving. How does he demonstrate both of these qualities? We learned that because God is just, sin requires the punishment of death. But because God is love, he willingly sent his son Jesus Christ to pay the price for sin by sacrificing himself on the cross in our place. Not only did this selfless act satisfy God’s justice, but also demonstrated God’s incredible love for us.
Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
The final result: we are the beneficiaries of God’s loving and sacrificial act, initiated by himself for the sole purpose of redeeming us to be in a relationship with Him.
This theme was presented during our evening session through some powerful skits and monologues that were led by some of the Timberline staff. One of them, entitled “This Is Not A Skit” expressed some of the staff’s personal struggles and burdens of their life on a large placard around their necks – drugs, idolatry, porn, depression. After they each shared their own story in a very powerful manner, a Christ-figure appeared and declared his love for these people and intent and desire to redeem them through his own sacrifice. One by one, each staff member responded to Christ’s sacrifice by putting their life burdens around the neck of Jesus and bowing down in worship of him. What a powerful challenge for us to do the same and respond in worship and adoration of God. We closed our night by singing “O How He Loves Us” – an appropriate response to the sacrificial love of God on our behalf.
Thank you all for your prayers and support! Our week continues tomorrow and we can’t wait to see what else God is going to challenge us with! Enjoy our highlight video and day in review! (click here if you can’t see the video below)
After another great day of driving from North Platte, NE, we arrived at Timberline Lodge in Fraser, CO in great spirits yesterday afternoon….and we couldn’t have been more excited!!
Before we arrived at Timberline, however, we stopped for lunch by a rushing river in Arapaho National Park. Before heading back on the road, we spent some time introducing our theme for the week (more to come later) and giving students a chance to read Scripture and begin journaling their thoughts and reflections. Being next to a river and surrounded by mountains was a great setting for our journal time, and really showed the amazing creation God has made. Once we arrived at Timberline Lodge, we had a brief orientation with their staff and then took on our first big team challenge with a game called “Manifest Destiny.” Using 8 different game stations all centered around a Western theme, we were challenged to complete various obstacles or challenges (some messier than others) in order to receive “gold coins” in our little coin satchel. Some of the highlights of the games included teams climbing up a large slip and slide covered with shaving cream and baby oil (using a rope, a lot of encouragement, and sheer strength). We also had to pan for gold (marbles and golf balls) in a mud pit, create a bridge across a stream using limited building resources, and army crawling through tubes partially embedded in mud.
After getting cleaned up and having a great western cook out for dinner, we had our main teaching time of the day. Monday’s focus was Romans 1:18-2:5, and how we are alienated by our sins. We dug into how God, though invisible, has been clearly revealed through his eternal power and divine nature. From there we talked about how although God has made himself known, we all have rejected him through our sin and by choosing to worship created things rather than our Creator. But God, being perfect in love, is also perfect in justice and must deal with our sin. As a result, we are alienated from God and bring judgement on ourselves. This day of teaching also set the stage for the rest of our week, as we continue to explore how we are loved by God, included in his lineage, victorious over sin because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, and exalted through life in the Spirit.
After the nights teaching session, we headed out to see the Winter Park fireworks show. Unfortunately, the show ended while we were still driving down the mountain. We pulled the bus over on an desolate dirt road, and had our own impromptu 4th of July party with glow sticks, songs, and a lot of crazy activity. (we had lots of energy to release!)
Once we got back to TImberline Lodge, we heard the testimony of Jim, who is our cook this week. Jim is from Downers Grove, attended Elmhurst College, and talked about his own life experience and being alienated from God. He gave the riveting story about how Jesus freed him from many of his addictions, and how we need to be extremely careful and conscious of the choices we make in everyday life.
Enjoy our highlight video from yesterday’s activities and events! We’re so glad to be here and thankful for the safety and prayers on our behalf! Special thanks to Ted Shank, Mel Baer, Carl Bjerga, and Tim Schonta for their willingness to drive us out here!
We just wanted to give you a quick update from the road to let you know we’ve arrived in North Platte, NE and are doing great!
We had a great send off yesterday morning at GBC where we had a quick breakfast, learned about which team we are on (using our colored prayer wrist-bands as an indicator), and said good-bye to our parents and family. Thank you to everyone who came out to see us off.
Our drive across the Midwest went very smoothly, and we had virtually no weather, traffic, or construction delays – imagine that! We eventually stopped outside of Des Moines, IA for our lunch and short stretch break. The trees became a quick point of interest, and we discovered how many monkeys we have in the group as they quickly ascended to the top (see picture above).
After another stop in NE for a pizza dinner at a local state park, we arrived in North Platte, NE around 8:30pm and quickly got settled at the church we are staying at. They have a gymnasium that gave us the chance to unwind and play some games, while a few others made a Wal-Mart run for some food and groceries for the group.
We’re off on the road again this morning, with another estimated 4-5 hours to Denver, where we will drop off our 4 drivers who volunteered to drive us out here (THANK YOU!). We’ll then start heading up the mountains where we’ll stop for a roadside lunch and begin our study into our theme for the week – being ALIVE in Christ. We can’t wait to get it started!
Thanks for praying and supporting us as we start our journey. If you haven’t yet, stop by church and pick up a colored prayer wrist-band as a reminder to pray for us and our trip. We value your support and prayers!
Just a quick team reminder as we are 2 days out from our trip:
Please make sure you bring all your luggage and bags to Grace Bible Church tomorrow afternoon (Saturday) between 4-5pm. Keep your “overnight” bag separate from your “Colorado” bag – they will be put in different trailers at the church. You can keep your sleeping bag & mat separate. Please make sure to label all your belongings!
Make sure you pack a bag lunch for lunch on Sunday! We will be stopping at a roadside rest/park area and not have access to restaurants! Don’t go hungry! We will provide dinner for the team that evening and lunch on Monday.
Bring your Nalgene/water bottles and pack them in your backpack/day pack you can bring on the van with you. You will need these water bottles for lunch and dinner! (fill them up before you come too!)
Pack your backpack/day pack with anything else you may need during the trip in the vans – your Bible, books, card games, etc.
Arrive at church no later than 5:30am on Sunday morning. We’ll have a little breakfast for you, review some trip details with you and your parents, load any last minute things, and head out.
We can’t wait to get the trip started!! See you tomorrow!
Our departure is only 5 days away! Keep checking this website as we post a number of different updates, details, and important information you will need to know before we leave on Sunday, July 3.
Of most importance – we will be meeting at Grace Bible Church on Sunday, July 3 at 5:30AM. (yes, that is “before noon”) Please arrive on time so we can get on the road quickly! We’ll have a full day of travel ahead of us as we travel to North Platte, NE (12+ hours). We’ll also have some light breakfast food there for you to eat, so just roll out of bed, throw your clothes on, and get yourself to church!
Since we are leaving so early on Sunday morning, we will be packing all our luggage the day before - Saturday, July 2 from 4-5pm. Please plan to drop off all your luggage and sleeping gear at the church to be packed. When packing, please remember to pack one bag with the essentials you will need for one overnight stay while we travel. This bag, along with your sleeping bag/mat/pillow will be stored in a separate trailer and will be the only bag you will have access to until we arrive in Colorado. (see here for packing list details)
We are 6 days away from the start of an amazing adventure in the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Are you getting excited yet?
As we adult leaders have been putting the final plans and details in place for our trip, we want to ask that you bring 2 additional things with you as we go to Colorado:
Messy Clothes: We are planning a time during the week where we will be taking part in some messy games and activities. Nothing too gross or nasty (don’t worry), just some down right messy fun that may spill over onto your clothes.
So, please pack a set of clothes you don’t mind getting messy……and possibly not bringing back home with you at the end of the week. We’ll let you know when to pull these clothes out, but we want to make sure you have them with you when the time is appropriate. <this could be an epic event, we don’t want you to miss out!>
Your Favorite Snacks: We’ll be having lots of time after our evening group times to hang out, relax, and enjoy time with one another. We’d love to have a great supply of snacks and fun food on hand to make the evenings more festive. Because, hey, who doesn’t like a good snack when you’re with your friends?
We’d like to ask that if possible, please bring your favorite snack to share with the group during our evening times. These can be your favorite chips, cookies, bars, candy, flavor of SPAM, or whatever you enjoy. This isn’t required, but we’d love to have a great supply to share with the group. You can put these snacks in disposable containers or bags (preferred), but if needed, label any containers you want to have returned home at the end of the trip. Please bring these snacks with you on Saturday evening when you drop off your luggage.
More updates and exciting details coming as the week goes on! Stay tuned!
