Camp

There is nothing like being at camp that reminds me how valuable camp is to so many lives.

Junior Camp for me meant intense evangelism.  After each meal I led a small group through the salvation story: who God is, what sin is and what Jesus did to take our punishment.  Besides smashing eggs (as an object lesson), it was great to see how in every group there were at least a few kids who were totally engaged by the truths we were talking about.

Then in evening chapels I walked through parts of David’s life (being anointed, training in the field, killing Goliath, running from Saul, becoming king, good and bad parts of his reign) leading to the final night, talking about how David was not the perfect king but pointed to the Perfect King who would come.  On that night I shared the story of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and second coming.

It was a privilege to share with the kids how the wages of sin is death (separation from God) but Jesus died so we don’t have to.  All we have to do is ask Him to take our punishment for us.  He wants to!  Or we can pay for it ourselves and God will give us what we ask for…life without Him.

Several kids stayed behind after morning or evening chapel and I was able to chat with them.  One of the greatest conversations was with a little girl, who from what I had seen all week was in her own zone and not taking anything in really.  It was after the session where I talked about Jesus, especially of His pain physically and spiritually.  She said to me, “If Jesus loved us SO much that He would do that, we should think of Him all the time.”  A little later she said, “We might have pain in our lives but He had way more than we do.”  So cool to hear this girl “get it”!

Teen camp is always a little different.  The issues are no longer “My sister keeps poking me.”  Instead the building is filled with people who have been spoon fed all kinds of false ideas and half truths all year and are in the season of life where they are evaluating and choosing what they will accept.  I again led a small group after meals.  This time though, my focus was on why we should read the Bible and what it looks like to read the Bible.

I probably found it more meaningful than the kids did because as I was sharing with them I was reminded every time that life is so much bigger than getting up, going to work, going to bed.  We are involved in something cosmically bigger, with angels and demons  and God and our souls.  More than that, if that is true, God has given us a book to learn about Him, about us and about our place in the world.  Sure there are lots of things in the Bible that are hard to read through, but as we read it (especially after years of reading it) we start to think more like God does and start having answers to some of the tough questions that the Bible does not address specifically.  (ie. should I buy an ipod?)

I was glad I could talk about that with the campers because on the second last day I had both morning and evening chapel to talk about Biblical Sexuality.  We made it a bit less formal by letting them have hot drinks and I sat on a stool but a big part of what I talked about was “What does the Bible say about our sexuality.”  In the morning I talked about God’s ideal for marriage and sexuality, including gender roles.  In the evening I talked about boundaries, homosexuality, what Jesus says to those who have been sinned against and what Jesus did for those who have sinned (which would be all of us).

Some of what I said was strongly counter-cultural but I felt a need to speak truth in love.  My desire was to present what God says about these things in a way that also demonstrates love from God and His people.  I feel that too many times the church/Christians have spoken truth with no love and I feel that our culture speaks ‘love’ with no truth.  You can be praying for our teens as they are very confused about what truth is.

There were definitely exciting and encouraging things happening in some teens’ lives last week.   We had a young man come to camp who really knew nothing about the Bible, God or Jesus.  All week he was soaking up all he could learn and responded in belief by asking Jesus to save him.

They were two great but also tiring weeks.

After a couple days of recoup, Josh and I came to Dorion Bible Camp.  We have been here almost a full week and will be here for one more.  Our role is different here.  A lot less connection with campers.  But even in a different role the value of camp is still the same: kids hearing about Jesus and accepting Him as their Saviour!