Camping

http://youtu.be/Fla6EO07I3E  - The Love of God, Mercy Me

I went camping this weekend with some of my fellowship friends and during one of the times where most people went off to go canoeing, my friend and I came up with some interesting characters to add to a game called 'Mafia'. It was just an ordinary group game, which consisted of the mafia killing off a citizen during the night and then the people trying to find and kill the mafia during the day. It sounds like a simple game, but it can get pretty interesting, depending on the personalities of the people playing. So my friend and I added a few characters to the game to make it more interesting. As the other campers came back, it was about night time and we decided to do a trial run of our improved game. Surprisingly, people agreed to play. So I narrated. I won't go into much detail about how to play the game, or what the new characters were, as they aren't significant to what I want to talk about. As the narrator of the game, I was allowed to see everything that was going on during the night (killings, healing, etc) and let everyone know what happened (without letting revealing characters) in the day time. There were points in time where I was very confused as to what some of the characters were doing, and I thought that they didn't understand the rules of the game, or the strategy, but I let them continue after trying to clear things up and figure out what was going on - which was something that I didn't necessarily have to know. I think that I did a pretty good job of not accidentally saying the wrong thing (and letting a hint slip out), and trying to keep my role as the narrator unbiased until the very end. At the very end, I ruined one of the character's plans because I hadn't thought about what that character was trying to do, and I did not realize the implications of what I wanted to say before I said it. Thus, I gave away the biggest hint that led to the end of the game.

I felt terrible that I had done something like this. But I know that there was a deeper meaning behind all of it. God was trying to send me a message; two actually. The first was between all the confusion of what one character was doing (who I thought didn't understand how to play the game/strategies), I was already biased because I had underestimated and wrongly assumed that the character was basically an airhead who had no idea what they were doing and was going to ruin the game. But instead, I realized that I was misjudging and being very unfair, as that character actually ended up playing out the role in a very smart way - one that I did not understand until the very end.

The second was when I accidentally (and indirectly) gave away the identity of one of the characters, at a very crucial moment, but that was not all. I had also wrongly treated and disregarded this person's opinion throughout the game, and did not really give much credit and respect to this person. I had mentally treated this person as someone who wasn't important, and, I just really hope that the person didn't feel it - and doesn't feel it from me, before I can correct myself and start treating this person in the way that is glorifying to God.

I guess there was a lot to take away from this trip; learning that I need to be humble - that other people are just as smart or even smarter than I am, learning that I mistreat people based on assumptions, first impressions, and that I overall still have a lot to learn about love - specifically God's way of love.

Heavenly Father, Please help me to be more like you. God, Your love is so incredible that I can barely grasp it in my mind. I know that I haven't been the very best at treating my fellow brothers and sisters, and that I have a lot to learn about love. Please forgive me for not being humble and for mistreating my friends. Please also be with me and guide me in knowing the truth, being able to see when I am wrong, and ask others and You for forgiveness. I ask now for a heart of change, that I will be able to glorify You through my thoughts and actions towards others. I thank you for this trip, and for the lessons you have taught me through it. In Jesus' name, Amen.