MAYC Challenge Weekend
First
day of February half term I had to get up at the same time as on a school morning.
At eight we
left the house, amazingly on time for once, in turn we picked up Alison, Ian,
Pippa and Nathan from around the Circuit. Eventually, after a short drive down
the motorway, we found our destination St Christopher's C of E High School in Accrington. Here we entered the competition and the day's activities.
First we did some team games in the hall, such as Popping which involved balloons (and too many loud noises) and then reading sign language! Next our team, Super Sheep! took part in such rounds as the Pub Quiz (General Knowledge), Blankety Blank (Bible style) and Hyper Music (trying to figure out what a piece of music was from a speeded up or slowed down version).
Around half twelve we had our lunch. Unfortunately, Dad had forgotten we had turned vegetarian for Lent and so had to eat meat for a day! After lunch we took part in some more activities, including Bible Charades, Lead Me (having to pretend to be blind and prepare breakfast for yourself) and a sketch on the lost sheep!
Around five-thirty we had our tea, Lancashire Hot Pot, so consequently broke my promise again! After that we had a few more games, then Craig Priestly did a worship workshop and we all chilled out.
At eight the night really started. Firstly there was music
from a DJ (and his decks!), Pippa, Alison and I all danced away, with little
enthusiasm from Nathan and Ian. Then a local Christian band came on; Standby
Hero, who were absolutely amazing. Their music just clicked with me. They played
some songs and we saw different video clips that were meant to challenge us
.
One example of this really touched me. Its theme was on the choices we make in life. It said that Jesus made the decision to go to the cross; there were short clips of bits of his crucifixion. Next there were clips of everyday choices, such as changing the radio station, it told us that we make 16,000 choices a day and each one affects us however big or small. At the end of this montage it showed a clip from The Matrix (film starring Keanu Reeves, which has a sub-genre of faith), this was when Morpheus gives Neo the choice to take the blue pill and forget it all, or take the red pill and see how deep the rabbit hole goes. This incorporated my favourite book and film. I felt that somehow this clip was meant as a sign to me. I felt that God was talking to me; I guess you could call it a spiritual experience. He was there then and it was the strongest I had ever felt His presence.
I asked Standby Hero afterwards if they had made a CD, I got told yes, but they didn't have any at the moment but shortly they were creating a website where you can order it. One of the band members used to live in Ashton! Ian and I only went for the Saturday due to the pantomime, but we found out later on Sunday that the team had come eighth out of twelve.
