Author: Wick

Our final day of camp was pretty tasty indeed.  Well, if by tasty you include the fact that it was ridiculously hot once again, compelling me to stay in AC controlled environments.  Those teens are tough, too.  Most of them seemed to not realize it was anything beyond a comfortable 77 degrees outside.

Our final morning time together we spend talking about not eating from the fruit called “Despair”.  We were reminded that we are people of HOPE, and that Jesus desires to take EVERY bit and piece of our life….the pieces that we love to share with Him…and the odds and ends that seem to be filled with pain.  Jesus desires to use each of these as HOPE-FILLED building blocks for the Kingdom that is coming.

When I was in high school, I went on a mission trip with my youth group to New Jersey.  I don’t remember a ton of what was taught by our youth pastor.  I do remember serving in some of the poorest areas of Atlantic City.  I also remember the phrase “CHOOSE TO SERVE” because at some point on our trip together, we were given little hand towels (associated with a foot-washing ceremony) with those words printed on it.

With that in mind, I wanted to be able to offer the teens a concrete physical reminder to take home with them of what we’d been talking about.  My wife and oldest daughter came to my rescue, by writing the word “HOPE” on 100 giant legos. 

What came from that, beyond some really cool photo opportunities of legos spread across a long wooden altar; was a time of prayer with leaders and students.  Prayers that Jesus would take specific situations and our lives altogether and bring HIS Purpose and HOPE to use these things as building blocks in His Kingdom that is, and is to come.

Altogether an incredible week…on location.  My larger prayer is that as these living building blocks of God’s Kingdom return to their respective environments…humanity and creation feel ripples of the Spirit’s transforming work in their lives….may God be with each of them…

Fridays are pretty good days.  Whether back in school years where everyone looked forward to the weekend, even if you didn’t have any plans other than to sit around waiting for Monday again.  Even as adults now, it seems most people are excited about the collective sigh of the workforce, as they’re released until Monday returns.

But at a camp that lasts from Tuesday through Saturday, Friday is just a little different.  It’s the last full day of camp.  For that boy who’s been working up the nerve to talk to that girl all week, today was do or die.  For the counselor who really really wanted to connect with that quiet teenager, today may have been one of their final opportunities.  For a life that God desires to transform in a unique way this week, today may be the day that teen decides their life is ripe for God to harvest for His use.

Friday morning we talked about “Insecurities”, and not eating from that fruit.  We experienced a time of prayer where we envisioned all of the eyes that are on us throughout life.  Whether our parents, our peers, the world, the opposite gender, etc.  Then we heard words from Jesus, calling us to look at His eyes…and to realize how He looks at us.  The teens then shredded a card at the altar that contained the list of names they’d previously been insecure around.

Friday evening we talked about being “Ambassadors for Christ” with Paul, and becoming the “Righteousness of God”.  About that not being a fluffy, or inconceivably impossible goal of how we live.  Compared it to a small Lego set with a picture on the box, meant to assemble a specific thing.  If you tried to assemble it into something else, it wouldn’t work very well.  But creating what it was made for, there is a “right-ness” to it.  God desires to restore our “right-ness”; what we were created to exist as….and desires us to be Ambassadors of a coming Kingdom where that “right-ness” reigns.  God was definitely at work in our time together…and beyond.

Oh yes…and we have been getting quite a few rocks stuck in our sandals…

And I finally got to revert back to my summer camp days, and do something a bit out of the ordinary…

So crazy thunderstorms rolled in during the night, lowering the high temperature from Wednesday’s 97, to the crazy low temperature of 85 on Thursday.  It was a beautiful thing.  The birds were happier.  The skies were bluer.  The clouds were fluffier.  And let’s face it….we weren’t as sweaty.

I began the day with learning an important lesson – fake dollar bills are too thin for a paper shredder to notice.  Just in case you’re ever in a predicament where it depends upon you shredding fake paper dollar bills, now you know. 🙂

In the morning, we talked about not serving two masters.  The teens were guided through a prayer experience, where Jesus challenged them to open the door, allowing Him access to an area of their life that previously they’d not wanted Him.  Whether something traumatic they’ve gone through, or an area they’re hiding, or perhaps even an area they were unaware missed His presence until they took that walk with Him.

In any case, the Joy of the Lord was pretty sweet, as the teens came forward.  They had written the name of their “door” on the back of the dollar bill.  This door was a “master” in their life, and they ripped the bill in half and threw it away.  Jesus gained access to many previously closed areas of lives this week…..:)

Which, as a speaker, led me to another thought.  Coming into the week, I felt a lot of pressure, perhaps my own, to make sure at least one night of camp had a crazy large altar call.  I imagined many crying teens, recognizing their need for transformation, and beginning it at the altar.  I thought that possibly my speaking ability might even be judged based on whether or not that happened.

Here we are mid-week, and I’ve finally been released from that.  In our mornings together, we have a prayer experience with Jesus that is followed by a physical response.  After both morning and evening sessions, the teens spend time in small groups, discussing and praying about what God was saying in service.  There are plenty of opportunities for lives to be transformed in a context that makes more sense for a mid-western junior higher from 2010.  Not saying the altar experience is outdated, by any means…and I still pray some catch that sort of experience.  But if I don’t witness one this week, I still believe God has been, and is at work in these lives…and it is good. 🙂