Where the Rubber Meets the Road
We find ourselves in our third week of camp! The third week! Seems crazy because this time passes so quickly with all the activity that takes place at camp! The third week means we’ve lived with our staff for a month, we’ve had a couple hundred campers come through our gates, we’ve worked out most of the kinks of programming and all the moving parts within that, the kitchen has served hundreds of meals, a lot of bugs have been nourished by young blood 🫠, and baby birds have almost survived all the snakes trying to eat them 😳.
The third week also means the weariness is beginning to settle into our bones. It means we find ourselves less patient with people as we might have been before. It means we’re beginning to see each other’s warts more and more. Humanity living together — the rubber meeting the road — can feel messy and hard at times. This is our normal each and every summer for the past twenty years! It’s the normal when humans come together anywhere!
What is so key to remember is that these little burdens and distractions and challenges within ourselves and our team and other people are just the heaps of mud trying to slow us down and keep our eyes off the prize. Fix your eyes on Jesus… Don’t be distracted by civilian affairs… Be merciful and gracious.. Your battle isn’t against flesh and blood… These are the echoes of Scripture in our hearts that help us all to grow forward through the temporary struggles so we can continue to share in the mission of Proclaiming Christ to teens at camp!
Through the summer here at camp, we get to taste what it is to live in true community, carrying each other’s burdens, striving together for the glory of God alone, going through Scripture and applying it in real life scenarios, being sharpened in a community of love. It’s what makes the summer so special for our staff, but it’s also what makes it so hard when they leave. Because outside our summer camp bubble is a real world where community is severely lacking, where we don’t always find people to strive with us for the glory of God, where people aren’t always interested in our growth or sharpening us in love or keeping us from being complacent or even being an encouragement to us. Our staff gets to taste such a beautiful thing in summer, it can be hard to want to leave it.
But I’ve seen how these times in our lives where the growth feels fast and intense, where the ministry feels alive and fruitful, can help set us up for the next thing the Lord has prepared for us. Like a segway to the next thing, like a boost of fertilizer to growing us outside ourselves, like an awakening for what we can take back to our “normal” lives.
If you find yourself feeling distracted and weighed down by many things, fix your eyes on Jesus. If you find yourself longing for community where you feel safe and loved and have a sense of belonging, fix your eyes on Jesus. If you feel like all your efforts and time and strength are being poured out but you can’t see the fruit, fix your eyes on Jesus. We need real and tangible solutions for sure, but by fixing our eyes on Jesus we find his peace and presence in the meantime. Let Him be enough until He provides what you long for.
We are seeing God do wonderful things in our staff and campers. We have seen teens receive salvation while with us, many recommit to following and investing in a relationship with Jesus, and many being encouraged and finding answers to their questions! Be praying for God to continue His work in people for His glory alone!
