It was Friday night. The Cascade Eagles Pathfinder Club found themselves at Rasar State Park and set up their tents for the annual weekend camp-out in early October 2006. Andrew Rice, our Pathfinder leader, casually requested that we, the teen leadership team or TLT, plan a Sabbath afternoon game. We eagerly accepted the challenge.

The TLT was made up of Naomi Brigham age 13, Cora Farnsworth age 13, Eric Wilson age 15, Kimberly Bynum age 15, and Laureli Bynum age 16. The five of us sat around the campfire planning our strategy. Suddenly, out of the blue, someone popped out with the idea of Hide-and-Go-Seek.

 

Our minds went racing from there. How could we include all 60 people ranging from ages 9 to 50? How could we make it fun for everyone at the same time? First, we had to provide the game with a spiritual theme. We had to show that God worked in everyone and everything. Then we had to make it entertaining.

This is how the game worked. The kids—us humans on earth—were trying to get into Heaven. There were good angels—all of us teens—and bad angels—all the adults. All the kids had to do to get into Heaven was to collect 10 objects hidden in the surrounding area, by following Bible verse clues, without being caught by the bad angels, or devils.

That sounds easy enough—right? Wrong! The kids kept getting caught, but thankfully the good angels would come along and save them. Then they could go free and look for more of the clues.

When they finally got their 10 clues, they were ready to go to Heaven. They went up to the entrance and showed the senior angel the clues and their findings.

 

If the angel saw that the group had everything, then the angel would start talking to them about their “journey.” Then the angel would say, “You worked very hard, and you got all of your ten clues, but you got caught, so therefore you sinned. And anyone that sins can’t come into Heaven.”

 

That’s when Jesus would come in and say: “But I died for them so their sins are forgiven and they could come into Heaven.” As He handed them each a treat He would say, “And here’s a small piece of what Heaven’s going to be like.” Then they would come into Heaven.

 

Afterwards, the kids were asked what they thought of the game and what lesson it might hold. One answer was, “Bad angels can never be trusted.”

 

During the course of the game, one of the bad angels had lied to the kids about not getting them, and then he did. Another lesson learned was that you never knew where the bad angels would be, but you always know where the good angels are.

 

The good angels are all around you every minute of the day—in the open—unlike the bad angels who hid from everyone. That day, the kids learned in action form what their life is like on earth: a true to life pilgrimage where everyone’s goal is ending up in Heaven.