Shared Experiences

It's amazing how sharing an 'experience' can bring us together.

Think of you closest friends, what is it that you remember that made you so close?

I imagine that in 90% of cases it was a shared experience.

I was at Delacombe for their youth group which they call JPSI (Jesus Per Square Inch). Last Friday was the first night that we opened it up to the grade 6's who will become a part of the JPSI crew next year when they go to High School.

I t was great night with lots of fun!

We started off the evening playing some table tennis and just hanging out while we waited for eveyone to turn up, then we went over to the local primary school oval where we had an awesome game of Watermelon rugby (imagine rugby played with a watermelon, a nice, juicy, watermelon). This went really well, everyone seemed to have a great time, if a little messy (I know at least 1 of my team was heading home to get their mum to bleach their white t-shirt clean again).

After this we switched to playing a game of Capture the Flag in the dark.

Each person playing wore a glowstick taped to their arm and had to capture a flipper with 2 glowsticks taped to it.

This went really well too.

I guess the main point I'm trying to make is that while we had heaps of fun, that wasn't what the night was about. The night was about connecting the youth who are in Grade 6 this year, and about to enter Highschool, with the youth of the JPSI crew and building relationships with them.

I believe that one of the best ways to build relationships with people is to share experiences with them. By playing these games where each individual is part of a team we began what I hope will be one of many shared experiences and in time we will grow closer becuase of these shared experiences.

The young people at JPSI may not realise it yet, but the plan is not just for them to have a bit of fun, but for them to have a shared experience of Jesus Christ one day, I pray that it will be soon!!