Senior Camp Reunion

This year Senior Camp Reunion (run by the Irish RP Church) took place online on Saturday the 13th February. Rev. Gareth Burke was the speaker and the topic was ‘Dealing with Disappointment’. Five young people from the Scotish RP Church were able to attend – two from Glasgow and three from North Edinburgh. We asked them about Camp and here were some of their replies.

What was something you learned or that really impacted you from the talk?

“I learned that it’s okay to be disappointed by situations, while still recognising God’s sovereignty. The important thing is to remain steadfast in prayer and keep trusting God.” – Heather

“God reigns and He is always in control. Even in times of disappointment, it is all still in God’s plan for us.” – Grant

“In Gareth Burke’s talk I enjoyed the example of what a good Christian should do when dealing with a friend’s disappointment. Gareth showed us an example of what a Christian person had done and asked what we thought about it. The example was that a friend had found a job that she really wanted to do but when she didn’t get the job she went to the Christian friend and said that they were very upset. The Christian friend, I felt, did not handle the situation in a very good way, they said that it was obviously not meant to be, and that they could not talk because they had a prayer meeting to go to, and then sent her a Bible verse about not being disappointed. We then went into breakout rooms and talked about what we think that the friend should have done for the friend that was upset, and we all thought that the Christian friend should have invited her to the prayer meeting and could have spoken to her more and given her the chance to be upset about this sad situation.” – Kirsty

“Something that stood out for me in the talk was the point Gareth made that when we are disappointed, we are in good company – he pointed us to how both Moses and Jesus in the Bible experienced disappointment, Moses when he was not allowed to enter the promised land and Jesus when Peter betrayed Him. It was helpful to think about his disappointment is not an experience which Jesus is unused to, He has experienced it as well and can help us when we are being tempted to blame God for it.” – Rachel

“I believe it was God’s sovereign timing over his talk that most impacted me. At the time, I had a renewed sense of my sin and hence a renewed eagerness to turn from sin to God. With that I was filled with various expectations and assumptions of how God will lead me from here and how He will change my life. With this talk I was humbly and reverently reminded that His ways are not my ways; to therefore not add specifics to His plan and trust Him instead. Nonetheless, seeing that our sinless Saviour had His disappointments too, it comforts me to know that we CAN be disappointed, particularly when we are disappointed for His cause. But also challenges me to know there is a right way to be disappointed, and a right way to deal with disappointment, just as with grief and laments. Namely, remembering His goodness and sovereignty and hence obeying Him, and remembering His mercy and grace and hence bringing our disappointments to Him; He loves us, He wants to hear us.” – Edsel

What were two of the highlights of this Camp Reunion for you?

“The discussions following the talks were interesting. It was good to hear what everyone took away from the talk! Secondly, the games were really fun and encouraged a lot of fun and chat.” – Heather

“I enjoyed seeing everyone again and having time to chat. I also enjoyed playing House of Games in the breakout rooms.” – Grant

“I have never been to camp before as a new member to the church; this was an amazing opportunity for me to meet Christians my own age. I also enjoyed playing games and getting to talk to lots of different people.” – Kirsty

“Camp reunion was obviously very different to usual being online, however it was still a real blessing. Two highlights for me were, first of all seeing how many young people tuned in – probably our highest ever turnout at camp reunion! And how well they got on together, including some of those who have never been to church youth events before, which was such an encouragement. And my second highlight would be the giggles had during my quiz round in the evening activity where the goal was to work out which committee members were who after having their faces edited on FaceApp, some of the results were very entertaining!” – Rachel

“One highlight was, as mentioned, His wonderful timing and leading in Rev. Gareth Burke’s talk. Another would be the many faces I got to see that night, most of whom were within the same age range. To therefore be encouraged indeed that God is working in my generation as well! To know that I am not alone in my specific struggles, that His Word indeed holds true that no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man (and yet with the temptation He also provides the way of escape)! To know that I am not a lone labourer in the plentiful harvest of this generation, that He indeed answers our prayer to send out labourers into the harvest!” – Edsel