Camp Under the Sea

  It’s taken me longer to get back to this than I thought it would!  This past week I’ve been helping teach Vacation Bible Fun (aka school) up in Morson.  Since it’s quite a drive, I had the privilege of staying on an island on Lake of the Woods for a couple nights.  The Masts stayed there for a few more nights but I had to come back to civilization for a few committments.  Maybe more on that later.

  So how was camp, you ask? 

  Well, the decorating was AWESOME!  I’ll put some pictures on so that you can see some of it, although that won’t do justice. Huge thanks to Jon for hanging all the fish!  That took hours and meant being in precarious positions.  A big thanks too to the camp caretaker for making the cross.  We were just going up to his cabin to ask him for the wood to make it and then he offered to make it for us.  Excellent job.  So that worked out well.   

  Junior camp was a blast!  I had so much fun at junior camp!  The staff was wonderful!  (it was for teen camp too)  And my campers were great.  I had the 9 and 10 year old girls in my cabin.  Complete sweethearts.  Different from other years, I knew hardly any of them at the beginning of the week.  But it’s only a matter of a few hours until their little personalities start emerging.  It’s amazing how intricate they are.  I was talking to the kitchen staff one day about how it’s so interesting to watch how each kid is so different and how different things work for different kids.  We figure that after you’ve been at camp for 10 years you should automatically get a degree in psycology! 

  One of the highlights of that week was having the opportunity to pray with two seperate girls that stayed behind after chapel.  Both of the girls had already ‘accepted Jesus into their heart’ the previous year.  So rather than just pray with them again to ‘make sure’, I asked them some questions and assured them that if they had already accepted Christ then He already lives in them and they don’t need to keep praying the ‘sinners prayer’.  What was encouraging to me is that each of the girls could recognize ways they had changed or grown in the past year.  As far as I know neither of them are from Christian homes so that was such an encouragment to see that the Spirit does work in lives.  It makes it a lot easier to see the kids go home even though we know they’re going into bad situations.  Two girls especially from my cabin…they became Christians that week.  On the last night we went around the circle asking for prayer requests and both of these girls asked for prayer for their parents to quit drinking so much.  Must be hard.  But GOD is bigger.  He chooses to use us but He doesn’t need us to draw others closer to Himself.  So that’s very good and exciting.

  The day in between camps was a blast.  We went out to an island and jumped off a rock and then enjoyed the amazing water back at camp.  It was so warm!  It was like going into a bathtub!  Several fellow staff members tried to teach me how to dive…that was entertaining…for all of us. 

  Teen camp is always different.  This year was no exception.  The only word I have to describe it is weird.  A big part of that is that we changed the schedule quite a bit this year.  Some things were really good changes but it was just different.  We introduces small groups this year.  So after morning chapel there would be 10 groups of 6-7 people meeting with a counsellor and talking about a question the speaker would give us.  The feedback I got from that was mixed.  From the kids that I talked to, they liked it.  From the staff the general idea was that the kids didn’t talk very much. 

  At any rate, teen camp flew by!  Usually at the end of the day I was trying to figure out what I had done all day.  I had the middle age cabin, which was actually quite young.  We had girls from 13-14 with a few 12 year olds in the mix.  Another great group.  From the first night it was encouraging to see how many of the girls have a real vibrant relationship with Jesus.  From what they shared it was clear that it isn’t just a Sunday thing but that it’s something that is real to them and that GOD is speaking to them through His word.  So that was really encouraging and exciting.

  Interestingly, the climax of the week seemed to be the second night of camp.  Spiritually speaking.  Usually it’s the last night.  But it seemed my energy seemed to follow the same trend.  I havn’t fully figured out what exactly happened but it was a draining week for me.  For the first time in a long time I was actually looking forward to the end of the week.  I realized half way through the week that my focus and motivation was wrong.  I was going through motions, doing what needed to be done but not really thinking about why I was doing it.  Being program director, I spent a lot less time with the kids and didn’t feel like I was getting to know them, especially at teen camp, which only increased the lack of focus.  I let my time with GOD slip.  We have "Get Alone with GOD Time" at teen camp but it was cut short or sometimes not even existent b/c we would meet as a band to pray over chapel.  The band itself felt less connected than it had at junior camp.  Rare was the time that the whole band was together.  Usually someone was late or the kids were ready for chapel.  So, as a whole it seemed that I was going from thing to thing not even sure of what I was doing by the end of the day.  Focus is everything.  All spring as I was preparing for camp and even as we headed into the week I had such a desire to see GOD glorified, to see revival happen, to see kids getting excited about their faith.  Did that happen?  I don’t know.  I’m sure GOD worked.  Praise His name!  But for myself the week passed in such a haze that I was very unaware of others.  The last two nights in our cabin we didn’t even have devotions.  The second last night we had a prayer time but I was asleep before all the prayer requests were made.  The last night we had ice cream sundaes but didn’t even have a prayer time.  It’s sad.  Especially since the beginning of the week was so promising.  I looked forward to what our devotion times would be. 

  It’s humbling for me to say all this.  It’s hard for me to even understand exactly why it was the way it was.  I don’t think I was any more tired than any other year.  But coming away from that I say this, GOD has a lesson in it.  Praise GOD that He’s not dependent on my performance.  Praise GOD that He works despite me.  And praise GOD that He loves me enough to teach me. 

Curse…or…Blessing

  GOD is good.  All the time. 

  A while back during a discussion about people in ministry a friend of mine made a comment that people who are going into full time ministry shouldn’t expect to be poor; they don’t need to.  They should be able to raise all their support.  The have enough to worry about without finances working in to.  Another person said on another occasion that in their opinion the pastor should be the highest paid member of the church.  Good points.  From a human standpoint.  And really that should be how we view giving to people.  The work missionaries and full time ministry people do is definitely worthy of supporting, as much so if not more than anything else.  But somehow, as a full time ministry person myself, that didn’t quite sit right.  So those comments have been on my mind.  In the last few days I remembered what was so wrong with it.  To be financially comfortable, no matter what your occupation, is to be robbed of a tremendous blessing.  When finances are unstable, what an awesome opportunity to get to know GOD and experience Him!  If everything is comfortable it’s a lot harder to recognize GOD’s hand of provision moving.  When you’re needs are evident and GOD provides in unexpected ways the result is a deeper relationship with Him and a growing of faith and trust in Him.  To be entirely honest, I’d rather be dependent on GOD and growing in a relationship with Him even if it means I don’t know if I’m going to make it through the week rather than be financially stable and miss out on those unexpected love notes from my Saviour.  I already have quite a few ‘GOD stories’ of how He has provided and I’m excited to add more to the list.  My GOD is good.  My GOD is a provider.  And my GOD loves me.  And the great thing is that He wants to reveal Himself.  It’s not a simple task to pursue GOD but He DOES reveal Himself to those who make the effort.

Good Things

  It is exciting to see how things are falling into place for camp.  (I feel like I’m always talking about camp these days but it is what my schedule and thoughts are most tied around.)  We had our staff meeting on Wednesday.  Basically it’s a time of filling the staff in on what all is happening, which cabins they will be in, which activity groups they are in charge of and all of that.  I will be with age 9 to 11 girls (I think) for Junior Camp and ages 13 and 14 for teen camp. 

  Something to praise GOD for is that although my responsibilities are increasing there are some that have been taken over by others.  For example, music.  For the past 4 years I’ve been in charge of that, picking the selection of music and then choosing the songs we’d be singing in chapel, getting all the overheads and copies ready.  This year I handed that over to Jon, the son of the directors.  He has been so awesome about getting everything ready!  In the back of my mind I was assuming that I would still have responsibilities there but I know it’s in capable hands.  Also, although I will be involved in the band (playing acoustic/rythm guitar and background vocals) I will not be leading as  I have in the past, which is a blessing too.  Rarely in the past year has it been that there has been a praise and worship time when I havn’t been leading.  It will be such a blessing to be able to refrain from singing at times and just worship the Lord freely without ensuring that the body of worshippers is singing along.  It’s also very good to have more of a background role.

  My prayer for this year of camp is that I would have the opportunity to build relationships with the kids.  As Program Director it would be really easy to get so wrapped up in all the things I ‘need to do’.  To get caught up in the program and lose the kids.  But over the past 5 years I’ve learned that the relationships is the most valuable thing about being at camp.  I have not been assigned any formal ‘visit’s with campers.  (At our camp, most counselling staff is given a list of campers that they meet with one-on-one at some point during the week)  In a way that makes me sad b/c that has become one of my most favourite duties.  On the other hand that frees me to randomly talk to the kids. 

  It’s amazing how much getting alone with a camper can mean to them.  One of my former campers has become someone I mentor and talk to on a regular basis.  By just being available and showing that I cared about her, she has opened up and shared her life with me.  It has been AWESOME to be able to walk her journey with her this past year. 

  On a different note, although also happy and exciting, tomorrow my sister and nephew arrive for a week’s visit!  Yay!  My nephew is now 6 months old and I havn’t seen him since he was 2 weeks.  He’s sitting and even standing when holding on to things.  My parents are definitely excited about seeing him too!  😀  And my sister as well.   Sadly, my brother is on a mission trip to Brazil so he’ll miss them altogether and my brother-in-law is on a missions trip to Mexico so we won’t get to see him either. 

  My 3 days back at the store working for a former co-worker went well.  It was interesting to be back b/c it wasn’t ‘weird’ at all.  Everything just kind of flowed as if I’d never left.  There were a few minor changes but overall, nothing too crazy.  It was good to be back for those few days.  I don’t miss it but I do enjoy it.  Being back was good b/c it enabled me to see how I’ve grown since I left in February.  I could see it in my attitude, in my interaction with people and how I communicated with my former boss.  It gets me excited to see that GOD is moving and changing me.  It’s hard to see it day to day but over the long run it’s just down right exciting!

  Well, keep praising Him!  He is good.  All the time.