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Day 3 was a big day in many ways. I got up to watch the sunrise again to find that we were in the clouds! It was pretty awesome. I also happened to run into a younger guy that was also a Family Group Leader and who happened to be named "Ben." Very much a God thing, we chatted for a while, and for the rest of the weekend we kept running into each other. Kind of neat. After that, it was time for the family group leader meeting. The passage for bible study we discussed was from 2 Corinthians, which speaks about the ministry of reconciliation. First, we are righteous, we don't just have it. Christ did it all, and He is supposed to do it all. We fear Hell and death for others, and that alone should spark us to witness to them! After all, we know both grace AND wrath. But fear of God is only the beginning of knowledge, and once we see His riches, we should be out of our minds for Him (no, seriously). That was the way I felt at the worship service the night before- just completely out of my mind! There were 3 or 4 times that I just wanted to jump out of my seat and start shouting, and I didn't (obviously) but after I heard that, I didn't feel that it would have been all that wrong. If we are a new creation, the old life is completely GONE. Why do we put human limitations on God's exchanging of our lives? We are too busy building habits instead of building a relationship! Also, the reason we don't forgive? It's because we feel a self-righteous entitlement to hold a grudge over the person who offended us. We have to show the love of God, not His wrath. We are called to the ministry of reconciliation because Christ's love compels and controls us. We are truly ambassadors, as the world sees and bases its opinions and decisions about Christ on the way that we act, talk, and treat them. The ultimate question we have to ask ourselves from this passage: are we cheapening the grace of God in our lives?
The Celebration that morning focused on Colossians and sought to answer the question of "How do we hear God?" According to those verses, if we are saved, then we have an antenna that allows us to hear the signals of God (think like this: radio and TV signals go through us constantly, but we don't see pictures or hear anything because we don't have the equipment/antenna to catch those signals and interpret them), and it's called the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, we can gain spiritual wisdom and understanding (back to that passage in 1 Corinthians). Without that, we can't walk worthily of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work, and increase in His knowledge. Colossians 1:10 is a verse that I have held on to for a long time, so it was neat for me to hear a message preached on the passage it comes from. God wants to give us ALL the answers, not just what we pick and choose. It's a LIFE, not a few tough decisions, that we are to yield over to Him. EVERY work can be pleasing to Him if He is in it. If only we would ask for spiritual understanding and stop trying to make things work the way we want them, we would start to see major change in those areas of our lives.
For rec time, it was WATER DAY! It was actually very fun, although the unpleasant smell of the mud was, well, unpleasant. Our team was DOMINATING at some (read: most) games, and while the point wasn't winning, it definitely helped to bring our group closer together. It was also very neat to see some of the barriers break down and watch everyone get into different things. And I was able to use that experience to show them something important when we got into family group time that afternoon. I told them that a)they will only get out of camp what they put into it, and b)the family group is a safe place. The people from their home church already care about them, and the ones that aren't also have had some fun, and ultimately it's not likely that they're going to see each other again, so this is an opportunity for everyone to learn something from others. God brought that specific configuration of 10 people together for a reason, and once we started into the Bible study, I think we all began to see His purpose. It's hard for me to even remember everything that was discussed in that 2 hours, because I was completely taken away by the Spirit. The theme was "Relate" and how we are supposed to relate to God as well as tell others about Christ. The group was coming up with some amazing questions and discussion, and different Scripture passages kept coming into my mind that allowed them to seek some answers from the Word, and it was just. . . . AWESOME. We finally found the point where we stopped worrying about what others were thinking, stopped thinking "Let's just get through this Bible study so I can get to free time," stopped assuming that there was nothing to gain out of the camp, and started DIGGING. We got way off of the lesson, and that was just fine with me. People started to open up about the hurts and confusion they faced in life as they tried to seek after God but seemed to fail over and over, and the frustration of trying to witness to people who don't want to listen, and how to get past the fear of losing control to Him and allowing for real change in life. I know I left that session totally fired up for my group and hoping that God would continue to work in their hearts and lead them to the answers they were seeking.
Fortunately, the awesomeness continued when we got into prayer time after dinner. The word was "rescue," and I started a discussion about the things that God had rescued us from or things that we wanted to be rescued from. The answers that started coming out really surprised me. My heart broke to hear some of the things that these guys had dealt with and were still dealing with, and it definitely made me thankful for the upbringing I had. I'm not going to divulge their stories here because I don't feel that's appropriate, but once again, God really opened up my eyes to how broken our world is. He also started working in my heart, and I was formulating a way in which to make our last meeting (which would be for prayer the next day) something special and meaningful and encouraging. This was also the prayer get together that I stood on my music soapbox, since we got started about trying to avoid bad influences. While I won't get into that (because that will only serve to make this entry about 3x as long), I can give a pretty good summary of my stance: if the music/TV/internet use/whatever is not pointing towards Jesus, then why are you wasting your time and energy with it? That's a really tough thing, and you are free to disagree, but just because it isn't "pointing to the pit of Hell" doesn't mean that it is a "good" influence.
Worship that night was awesome again (especially because I stopped complaining about the loudness, if only to myself). The focus was on 1 John, which was perfect because it actually went very well with everything we had talked about in prayer group (almost like God had planned it or something. . . imagine that!). We are fighting a moral crisis, also known as the takeover of moral relativism (everyone makes their own standard- this is good for me, and what you do is good for you, even if it doesn't work for me). The world (the system of societal and cultural values) is in constant opposition to the Father, and we can't play for both teams. Coming from someone who tried to do that, it doesn't work: you really do end up hating one and loving the other. There are three things we have to fight against in the world. First, the cravings and desires of sinful man, which are constantly thrown at us in the sexual society we live in. We don't even have to look for porn; we get pop-ups, e-mails, and misdirected url's (a porn company tried to buy 1stBaptistChurch.org, if that gives you any idea). Look at TV commercials! RICE ISN'T SEXY, UNCLE BEN! Sorry, that was the example that Adam used, so I wrote that in all caps because I found it rather humorous, and why shouldn't we?? How absurd! The second thing we fight is the lust of the eyes. This is talking about the desire for possessions and material things. We can't even remember what we got for Christmas a couple of years ago, and yet we always want more, new, better things! We are OBSESSED with Facebook (guilty), Twitter, YouTube, and whatever can give us continually useless information. Instead of friendships, we have textships- "relationships" based primarily on texting (guilty), IM'ing (guilty), or FBChatting (guilty). Technology is robbing us of the beauty and wonder of real, true, personal relationships with others. The final thing we fight is boasting of our possessions and actions. We want more things so that we can be better than someone else. We invent ways of looking down at other people, whether it be social status, the car we have, our career, whatever. We sell out God to gain friends, and then we wonder why He isn't working in our lives in any significant way. But here's the other half of the story: God ALWAYS wins. In fact, NOTHING can conquer Him (one of my favorite passages). And what can we do to battle the world? Well, we have to fight: we cannot be neutral, even if it means upsetting other people. We also have to abide in God, staying in His word and putting our focus on Him, and finally we have to obey. If we are doing His Will rather than our own, we can't really go wrong.
Church group that night was very emotional. A lot of important decisions and realizations were made for Christ, and I don't know that anyone walked out of there touched in some way, even if just by seeing the hand of God directing some of their friends. Again, it gave me a desire to get to know these students better. Unlike my family group, these are people that I could actively be a part of their lives! And I love that middle and high school age, because they have such great questions and aren't usually stuck in their ways. They WANT to change, but they don't always know how, or what it really means. It was that evening that I really started to feel that I might be missing out on something that I could do at SBC. I'm still sorting through that- the analogy I came up with (as far as serving in the church) was one of having different shaped pegs that only fit into certain holes (you all know the children's toy I'm referring to). If the peg didn't fit, it would be frustrating to try and force it in, and that would be a clear indication that I was seeking out the wrong hole. It never occurred to me until this past weekend that maybe my service pegs fit into a bunch of different holes, but the frustration would be that it didn't fill the hole completely (like. . . a triangle might fit into a circle hole, but it doesn't fill the hole in the same way that the circle peg does). I can honestly say I've felt the frustration that I can't do everything that I want to, but what I've got to do know is figure out what it is that I really WANT to do and what God is leading me to do. So we'll see what comes of that in the next couple weeks.
Day 4, the last full day of camp, had to me the most inspiring message in the evening, but we'll get to that. The Scripture we discussed in the FGL meeting was in John. This idea of abiding or remaining in Christ like a branch to the vine is an image used throughout the Bible (a few different references are here). Pruning is a painful process, but we bear fruit through and in our suffering. In face, we should rejoice in our suffering because Christ guarantees hope and joy. Again, nowhere in the Bible does it say, "Be saved, and you shall be happy the rest of your life!" Even Christ wasn't always happy during His life on Earth! He experienced the gamut of emotions we have in the human experience, so our salvation and commitment to give our life to Him should yield no different results! We glorify God best in the midst of severity when we say, "God is still enough," even in those toughest times (I can't help but think of "It Is Well With My Soul," which also just happens to be playing on my computer right now. . . thanks for the backup once again, God). If we are in God, then we WANT what He wants.
Celebration that morning focused on Psalm 34. Written in a cave by David after he had ran from King Saul into enemy territory and acted like a crazy person to get away, he was still praising God for everything He had done and was doing. Sometimes we may not feel like God is with us, or that we are doing what we are supposed to be doing, and really if we keep the focus heavenward and present our situations as chances to glorify God, we will find it much easier to trust Him. I know that I have tasted and seen the goodness of the Lord, so why wouldn't I trust Him in any and all situations that come my way? Again, it seems so easy, and yet we struggle. The rec activities for this day were pretty neat- they were more problem solving than anything else. And our team was dominating again :) The best moment was this treasure box game, where you had to find a key to open up a box and then put together a puzzle/riddle and solve it. We got the right key on the second try, and then we took out the pieces and started trying to put them together. I saw the words "flower", "gnaws", and "devours", and immediately recognized it as the riddle from the Hobbit:
This thing all things devours:The answer, of course, is "Time." My family group was like. . . Wow. . . . yay dorkiness! Seriously, if you didn't know, I'm a bit of a Tolkien fanatic.
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.
Family group time focused on that idea of being a branch and being pruned. We talked about the different fruits of the spirit (since we are supposed to bear fruit) and what that means in each of our lives. I think we were all pretty tired out, but there was still some good discussion going on, and at the very least I think we were learning just how true God's word is and how we really can apply it to our lives (it's not just a book of stories!). We also lost two of our group that morning (they had to leave camp early to get back for band camp) so the whole persona of the group changed. It was kind of sad, but what can you do? Our prayer time that evening was really special though. It was about "resolve," and after a discussion of what that meant, I told each of my group to go find space alone and fill out the prompt inside the booklet (and actually my page of that is gone because one of my guys forgot his book, but I wanted him to be able to write). I also asked them to write out some specific prayer request(s) on a separate piece of paper that I could take with me so that I could continue to support them in prayer even after this weekend was over. I then took the time to lay hands on them and pray over each of them individually. I don't know why, but I just felt that God wanted me to do this. It was very special for me, to open up in both a somewhat physical way as well as give them individual love and support. If there were any moment where I felt the humility and weight of what it means to serve God in that entire weekend, it was that moment. And again, to see some of their requests, it made my heart break even more to think they had to return back to that life in just a few short hours.
The message the evening of this last full day. . . WOW. I couldn't put my pencil down, but I also didn't want to take my eyes and ears off of Adam (btw, forgot to share this story- I had given away my only 3 writing utensils to students in my group, so I was asking adults from my church as we were walking outside if I could have one of their extras, and one of them pointed to a pencil on the ground. So, I took that and used it the rest of the weekend. Who am I to deny the provisions of God?). I wrote on about three pages of my booklet, so this will be a random conglomeration of all of that, but hopefully some of it inspires you. He focused on a large part of Scripture from Matthew, the first half talking about talents, and the second about the sheep and goats at the end of times. God's plans are much bigger than we think. Our jobs (either school or careers) are NOT in opposition to our evangelism. In fact, God PLACED us there so that we can be a light for Him! At the end of times, we are going to be responsible for His Kingdom! He entrusts it to us, so what we do then directly corresponds to what we are doing NOW. We need to use the talents He has given us. If we squander them, or ignore them, He will not gives us much responsibility in His Kingdom. And He KNOWS what we can handle; He gives us struggles "each according to His ability." It's like riding a bike; He knows when to let go, and we have to trust that He's there helping us out! He also JUDGES according to our ability, not to each others' abilities. Isn't it worth working hard here to hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant!" directly from Jesus? And we get to keep the riches! Even though it's not ours to begin with, He gives it to us freely as well as additional responsibilities! We have a job in glory! We get to enter into His joy! And think about this: all of life on Earth is just a small taste of what is to come; this is only Chapter 1!!!!! Heave is BETTER than Earth! We are pushing towards a new reality! And yet, look at the other side. The lazy servant disrespects the Master by doing whatever he wanted instead of using the talent his Master gave him. He didn't care about the Master AT ALL. What will he hear at the end of the day? "You never loved Me and your actions prove it!" Ouch. And how often to we fall into the lazy servant mode? "I spend 9-10 hours playing Xbox- instead of using my gifts." "I'm super pretty- but I didn't grow in my faith." "I'm the all star football player- and I sold my time to staying busy in preparation to be that great football player." So how do we avoid this? Seeking the Lord is easy. We just have to love the people around us in Jesus' name. Care for them. See them as SOULS instead of just random people, but beings that are loved and cared about individually by God. Love is SO powerful (if there's anything I learned, it was that truth). Jesus changed the course of history and the destiny of humankind through LOVE. And if you don't believe it, well, fill in this statement: I need more _____ than that person needs love. You can't possibly think of anything (stuff, money, time, whatever) that doesn't make you cringe on the inside.
The last day had quiet time in the morning followed by the last celebration. Adam used this passage as a prayer to send us all off back to our own worlds. It was sad to leave, especially knowing I probably won't see the kids in my family group again. On the bus, as we were waiting to leave (we had loaded, but we couldn't pull out of the driveway right away), I was praying and hoping that God might bring a couple of them down the sidewalk so that I could say goodbye again, because I sincerely missed them already (which, as I think I already said yesterday was kind of a strange feeling). But one last really cool God thing happened: we stopped at a Chik-fil-a for lunch, and a couple other churches stopped there, including one that had two of my guys. If you ever think that God doesn't answer prayers, even if you feel kind of silly praying them, well, let me tell you, I was nearly overjoyed. It wasn't even really about seeing them, but about seeing God set that up for me. I didn't get to talk with them much, as they were leaving a few minutes after we arrived, but man. . . God is pretty awesome.
The biggest thing I learned the whole weekend? If I would get myself out of the way, God can really use me to love other people. The challenge? Bringing that attitude I had at camp to the established relationships I have now and not being afraid of being different and changed because of that experience.
Once again, I will eventually catch up with "The Relationship Principles of Jesus" as soon as I can. I should be able to write an entry tonight for today's reading (Day 19. . . I don't even know the last day I did on here).
I will leave you with this: it's a new song by Hillsong, and we sang it almost every evening at camp, and it really touched me and many others, so enjoy.
Hillsong Live - Forever Reign
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