We just got back from our annual CBSM Ski Trip, so I just wanted to quickly think back through it for those of you who might be interested…or reminisce with me if you went!

 We shoved off with 62 people filling our charter bus and 15 packer van at about 8am on Monday morning.  On the ride up, God was really working in my heart concerning what to preach on for the trip’s worship services.  Two years ago, I had spoken on loving each other.  Last year, I had a guest speaker go on the trip with us.  I was thinking through speaking on things like 1 John, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, Fellowship, Philippians 3, etc.  God settled my heart on fellowship because of how much He used our ski trips in the past to develop deep fellowship between our students.  I’ve seen students grow closer together, students get connected into our student ministry, and students become an active participant at CBSM through our ski trips in the past.  

 Once I learned that we didn’t get our conference room scheduled in time and our worship services would have to be at 10 – 11pm on Monday and Tuesday nights…I started to think how nearly useless our worship services would be that late on such an exhausting trip.  So God totally changed things up, and we decided to do student-led Bible studies.  We matched up some of our junior and senior guys with our middle school guys, did the same thing with the girls, and we let our students study the Word for itself.  Why do I think God wanted us to have small group, student-led Bible studies instead of worship services?  I believe its because God wanted us to PRACTICE and EXPERIENCE fellowship rather than only PREACH on it.  So Monday night I had the students talk about 1 John 1 in terms of fellowship in their small groups (4 – 6 students).  On Tuesday night, I had them talk about Acts 2:42-47 in terms of fellowship.  I stayed out of the way, and apparently they had great discussions and conversations just digging deep in the Word together.  I’m so thankful for older students who can lead a Bible study at the drop of a hat, and younger students who respect the older ones, and who are able to answer their discussion questions!  The last night, we did have a worship service.  Our music was led by our CBSM worship leader and one of our faithful seniors who is always willing to both serve and lead.  We sang one song (My Redeemer Lives), I preached on 1 John 1 just to make sure everyone understood the ins and outs of fellowship, and then we sang two last songs (Nothing But the Blood and O Praise Him).

 The skiing part was pretty good, too.  You thought I forgot about that part, didn’t you?  We took first-time skiers who picked it up really quick, we had snowboarders who were carving the mountainside, we had returning skiers and snowboarders who did better than they ever had before.  We had some serious blowups…when you lose all your skis and poles from a crash.  We had one kid blow-up so bad that a group of people gave him a round of applause as they were watching on.  Another one of our skiiers blew-up so bad that he landed on his face, and back bent all the way over so that his feet ended up over his head (that looked painful).  We had some crazy bombs…when you ski straight down the hill without turning (black diamonds or greens…don’t matter).  One of our guys (James) is absolutely fearless because he rarely turns but just goes straight-up daredevil down the mountain full-speed.

 I’m so thankful for Bill who set everything up administratively for our trip.  I’m thankful for Ron who led our trip administratively.  I’m thankful for Andrew who designed our t-shirts and filmed us on the mountain to make a sweet ski trip video.  I’m thankful for Jason who leads us in worship in pretty much everything we do.  I’m thankful for great adults and parents who go on our trips to serve, lead, help, and supervise.  I’m thankful for amazing students who love Jesus, love each other, play hard, and humbly follow.  Most of all, I’m thankful for Jesus who made mountains, snow, and people…and of course who died for us, raised us from the dead, and made fellowship with God and other Christians possible!