SUMMER CAMP 2009!

Highlights from SUMMER CAMP 2009:

• Sleeping in the truck bed… Matt counted nine shooting stars the first night!
• The Chavez boat (and crazy boat driver)… going out with the seniors may have been a mistake; they take tube war’s to a whole new level… the tube opposite us flipped directly ON TOP of us!?!
• The BEAUTFUL weather… last year you couldn’t breathe without sweating.
• AM staff meetings!
• Ten boats and 4 jet skis… including the one that kept getting away… I think Kevin had to swim a quarter mile to recover it; then he fell and had to start swimming again…
• Bike ramps into the lake…. But Wal-Mart bikes were a bad idea.
• Super amazing food… now I just have to lose those five pounds…
• Watching Matt almost take out Jackson (too bad he couldn’t get his feet to recover from the bat-spin): Matt has lost 20% of the vision in his right eye due to Jackson’s deadly arm cannon!
• Answered prayers! Britney and Casey, the Lord wanted you there!
• WORSHIP!!! We won’t mention the 2 giant subs they killed, the emergency run for new subs… or the fact that they killed the power for the entire campsite (which stretches for miles and miles).
• Talking with the kids!
• Really weird games.
• Watching the body of Christ come together!
• Camp messages: keep Christ as your first love! Everything else is rubbish! Live in the Spirit because everything done in the flesh is worthless…
• Dan’s poor flip flop… it got demolished by the three inch screw he stepped on; and I think his blood permanently stained the stage.
• Watching the Lord work in AMAZING WAYS!

The Lord has been teaching me SO much these days…
Right now I’m learning (and re-learning):
That God is a heart watcher.
Isaiah 66:2 “This is the one I esteem; he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”
God’s eyes stop on the broken, on those who know they NEED God! And God loves to rescue people with broken hearts. When His people are without strength, without hope and human gimmicks--THEN He loves to stretch forth His hand from heaven. I love this quote from Dale Davis; “God’s tendency is to make our total inability His starting point. Our hopelessness and helplessness are no barrier to HIS worth. Indeed our utter incompassity is often the prop He delights to use in his next act...”
If I could summarize what the Lord is currently teaching me, it would be that GOD ALWAYS SHOWS UP IN OUR DEPENDENCY, NEVER IN OUR SELF SUFFICIENCY!
So often, I try to grab the god-sized problems in my life around the neck; I try to find a way to “make it work”; I plan and scheme; I try to make a way for myself… but God shows up in DEPENDENCY! Trying to take care of my own needs is sin. And praying last and not first is sin. Prayer should be the first reaction of my heart, and God clearly loves to come to the rescue of dependent children. My faith should recognize its ignorance and understand that it has not read a list of divine decrees for most situations. I need to stop thinking I know best. Life almost never makes sense to me, and, while I may not understand circumstances, I can trust that God is in control. If I always understood God’s purpose, it wouldn’t require much faith… I should believe that God can, not that he must, and when he doesn’t answer the way I want… believe God has another plan.
I’m also learning that my theology doesn’t ascend high enough… God is a BIG GOD, and I forget that all too quickly.
I’m excited to be back and desire to LIVE DEPENDENT AND PRAY OFTEN!