Embracing the Love of Christ...

Hey everyone. This is week four of our second session here at camp. It's crazy that Saturday morning we will be saying goodbye to this month's summer staff, work crew, and assigned team and then saying hello to a brand new crew for our third and final session. Along with transitioning to a new staff, we will also be going back to WyldLife (middle school) camping for the final three weeks. This means going back to a slightly different menu in the kitchen, a slightly different program throughout the week, and shorter camp weeks in general (5 days instead of 7).

It will be exciting to head to session 3, but I know I will definitely miss my four AM cooks I have had the privilege to work with this past month. Their hunger to grow in Christ and their amazing work ethic each morning has been tremendously encouraging to me. With only four days left before they leave, and only just a few weeks for myself here at camp, I really want to focus and be intentional on every moment of each day. My prayer is that I will not let a moment or opportunity pass by to be intentional and relational to each person I encounter.

Christ is the perfect example of being incredibly intentional in relationships with those around him. And, being at camp this summer has reminded me of the many times I have sat in the club room here at TWL and have heard the presentation of the gospel to kids and leaders. Even though I have heard the story of the cross many times, each time I am almost brought to tears by Jesus' love for us through his death. My amazement continues when I think about the thousands of adolescents who have heard the same story this summer.

My prayer is that I can focus on the love of Christ in each moment of my last few weeks here at camp. I hope to constantly find ways to express this love to those around me. What a shame it would be if the story of Christ's love for us simply was a "good story that helped us get an emotional high on occasion." As believers it should always be our motivation to exhibit this love throughout our day. I encourage you to read through 1 John 3-4 to read more on this and then think about how this can be your focus in your daily life as well.

Be in prayer for the remainder of this second session and for the safe arrival of staff, volunteers, and campers this weekend for session 3. Blessings!

Story

Things continue to go well here at camp. Even though the days can be long sometimes it's amazing at how fast time flies by. For instance, today we were cooking biscuits and gravy with scrambled eggs and all of us were amazed it had already been a week since we last cooked that same meal. With the time flying by, the reality is that we only have about a month left of our internship here at Timber Wolf Lake. And, this leads to only five weeks from me moving down to Georgia to work at Sharp Top Cove for a year. This is just crazy to me.

Thoughts of SharpTop and my arrival coming closer and closer makes me a little nervous to be honest.Yes, I am still very excited about my next internship. But, I know that I'll be stepping out of my comfort zone, which can be scary for anybody. I have come to realize that humans in general tend to stay close to the walls of safety and security whenever possible. What I'm learning though is that by not taking steps away from the "wall," I may be missing out on a bigger and better story.

Right now I've been reading through a book by Donald Miller called "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years" along with our men's intern group. Miller's writing has been timely to me as I start looking ahead to an unknown future in the abstract world of post-college life. Miller writes how taking steps away from comfort and security can lead to challenges, stress, and opposition. In itself this may seem like a bad thing. But, really when it comes down to it, what movie have you enjoyed that had the main character live a non-challenging, comfortable life? Instead, any good movie has the protagonist have a goal in mind, and has to overcome great odds, challenges, etc. to reach that goal point.

So, what is my goal in life? Ha, I'm not sure I can sum an answer up for you in a short blog post. And, that's not necessarily because it would be incredibly long. But, more because I'm still trying to figure it out. However, I can tell you that with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength I want to serve God throughout my life. I believe I can do this by serving and encouraging people, which leads me to my current adventure in Young Life. I'm hoping that as my journey unfolds at SharpTop, God will continue to make clear the plans he has for me. And, I pray that God will give me courage and strength to take hold of the story of adventure he wants me to live.

Transitions...

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a great Fourth of July holiday! Here at camp we've been pretty busy over the last few days. We recently just changed from session 1 to session 2 here at TWL. The changeover was a lot of work as not only did we prepare for new campers, we also had to prepare for new work crew, summer staff, and assigned team.

I'm definitely going to miss the people that spent five camp weeks here for session one. It was especially hard to say goodbye to the summer staff I had the privilege of working with in the kitchen. We had a lot of fun together in the AM, and it was great getting to know each of them and the journeys God has in store for them.

As quickly as we said goodbye to the session one crew, we were sent to greet the new group for session two. It was difficult to transition so quickly, but it has been fun getting to know the new peeps over the last four days. I'm really excited about our new AM crew and the community we will be forming over the next four days.

One exciting note is that this week my home area Eastern Ottawa is here with our Young Life high school campers. It has been a ton of fun seeing familiar faces amongst the leaders here and I'm hoping to catch up with them over the next few days before they take off for home.

Thank you for your constant prayers and support from back home! Praise God for this tremendous opportunity to serve at a place where adolescents meet Jesus Christ and grow in their faith! Continue to be in prayer for students as they come weekly from places all around the Midwest and learn what it means to trust others, trust their leaders, and trust Jesus. Also, be in prayer for our new assigned team, summer staff, and work crew here this session as they begin their four week journey. Finally, continue to pray for our intern community as we have hit the halfway point here at TWL. Pray that we'll continue to keep our focus on Christ, grow stronger as a community, stay rested, and have fun!