Holy Spirit Power in this years Halfway Camp!

Just a few weeks back i headed down to Port Macdonnell for our annual Halfway Hardcore Camp with my Christian surfer brothers and sisters in the region and in Victoria. This camp is definitely not for the faint hearted as it is freezing cold, wintery, we camp in tents and the water is like jumping into an esky full of ice. However the crew that come are always stoked and this years was no different.


Arriving down to the Mount Dave and i were frantic getting all the things together and were certainly blessed along the way. I had to pray for a miracle with Rent and somehow once again it all came in in time. PRAISE GOD! This is never easy to get used too, but it does remind us time and time again that God is our provider and no one else. Once that miracle happened we then ventured to our block of land right on the beach front in Cape Douglas. Beach front normally is the place to be, but when its winter and you have gale force winds you certainly are exposed to the elements. Needless to say it was such a blessing once again and made even more so with a onsite toilet and hot shower and the neighbour giving us use of his power (generosity, and he wasn't even a Jesus man yet). Suddenly Halfway camp was getting a little less hard core until the rain came on cue to put up tents, but it was no match for the committed soldiers of the South east mission and we had soon erected a sick set up. It so cool to bind together and work together in the face of adversity. Real community is certainly built on this stuff.


Anyway lets fast forward 6 hours, leaving us at 3:00am in the morning and the Adelaide crew arrived. Once again on cue God presented us a challenge of building tents under other tents just to avoid the constant rain that was pouring down. It was all a bit fun, and once we were set up up we were ready for a massive 3 hours sleep before getting up for the dawny. i told you surfers were a different breed.


Next morning we awoke to absolutely massive swell and so the numerous sweet little reef breaks were just closing out. the decision was to hit up a session at a local beach break and we were not let down. For 3 hours we braved the near freezing conditions, actually the coldest water i have ever surfed in and had an epic time. everyone is was going off and the atmosphere in the water was simply electric. Joel and Davo the stand outs for sure!


The arvo got a bit wild as a westerly change moved in and so we were losing options. some opted for a bit of catch up on the z;'s, some watched an entertaining duel between Dog and Cow! was pretty funny! and some braved the crazy conditions at a reef break! it was Hardcore!


As evening broke, i felt God put on my heart a message for the camp. It was a bit fuzzy at first, but as i began to cook up the feast of the century, it became clearer. A few weeks back i had dreamed about God preparing the final banquet in his house and it only seemed fitting that this is what i wanted us to focus on this night. Alex asked to help me in the cooking and i said to him i wanted a bible, which he thought was pretty funny considering i was turning over steaks on the BBQ, but this is what i asked him to find.


Matthew 22:

And again Jesus ^(A)spoke to them in parables, saying, ^2 (B)“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave ^(C)a wedding feast for his son, ³ and ^(D)sent his servants^[a] to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. ^4 (E)Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my ^(F)dinner, ^(G)my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ ⁵ But ^(H)they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, ⁶ while the rest seized his servants, ^(I)treated them shamefully, and ^(J)killed them.⁷ The king was angry, and he sent his troops and ^(K)destroyed those murderers and burned their city. ⁸ Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not ^(L)worthy. ⁹ Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ ¹⁰ And those servants went out into the roads and ^(M)gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

¹¹ “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there ^(N)a man who had no wedding garment. ¹² And he said to him, ^(O)‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. ¹³ Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and ^(P)cast him into the outer darkness. In that place ^(Q)there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹⁴ For many are ^(R)called, but few are ^(S)chosen.”

One of the many things that i brought out of this story was that Jesus lavished a great feast onto those he invited. It was not just sausages, bread and a bit of onion if your lucky. He lavished all on his invited guests. For us it was steak, marinated chicken, sausages, onion, vegetarian options, grilled vegetable and roast ones too, and much more. For Him it was so much more. The amazing thing in this story was that his invited guest didn't even come, they were too busy with life, their businesses, everything except being at the Kings feast. My challenge to the crew at camp was to identify themselves in the story by the way their life was playing out. Was there more attention to the business, leisure or to the King?


The night carried on as we stood around a warm fire we reflected, laughed, even made Jam donuts over the fire. It was a great time of conversations and just being real community on a block in the country. The halfway camp is generally a pretty casual affair. We don't have a written schedule, or a bunch of meetings to attend. so when these things happen out of the movements of the people and God it is so epic! This camp was driven by God and obedience to Him and so when Richard, Craig and Terry got us cranking into a worship session it only seemed a fitting way to finish things up. The coolest thing was when we began to sing a wind came like no other and drowned out our voices and the words to hustling sounds and awe inspiring rumble of God, in fact i thought we were going to take off hanging on the tent we worshipped under. After we finished the wind settled. The crazy this is when the Holy Spirit first bursted onto the scene in Acts 2 it came like a rushing wind! It was so cool to have the presence of his Holy Spirit touching this camp. And as the Holy Spirit does it reminds us of who we are in Jesus. It convicts us, challenges us and encourages us to keep walking the walk. so there was much ministry that happened in the hearts of the campers.


Sunday we arose to crazy weather, wild seas and tiredness and so we decided to call it a day with camp after a big cook up of bacon and eggs! we headed into Mt Gambier for one last coffee together before we would head home. It was such an awesome time and once again will be a highlight for those who came in this years Christian Surfers calendar.


Thanks to all who came and made it so awesome!


Bless ya heaps and there will plenty more stories coming to the Salted life in coming week! so much going on right now that we just need to share!


Love Justin!

the crazy crew that made up this years halfway camp @ Port Macdonnell, SA