To say that this summer was absolutely amazing would be such an understatement. I cannot even describe how much I LOVED every moment of this summer. Through the difficulties and the extremely hard work, God showed up in a mighty way.
This summer our team of 23 encountered over 4300 kids and adults, drove over 3000 miles and of the kids that we know, 216 kid made decisions that changed their lives for eternity. On top of that, 40 + kids rededicated their lives to Christ and 1 kid decided that he wanted to spend his life preaching the word by becoming a minister. So amazing doesn't even begin to describe how this summer was.
Our team spent hours on end preparing and prepping in the beginning of the summer and throughout that summer to do excellent camp. Our director expected nothing less than excellence in everything that we did and with that mentality camp was spectacular. Although there were nights when breakers were blown, kids unplugged extension cords, our power went out for 5 hours, our Budget truck got torn apart by a bridge and we lost supplies, God showed all of us that his work is not dependent on those things.
Through the 3rd and 4th grade kids this summer, I truly saw child-like faith. I saw a genuine love for the Lord and an excitement about the Bible. It was a refreshing thing to be surrounded by kids whose brains started turning as soon as we got into Bible study. Through their questions I was able to grow my faith and figure out things about God that I never would have otherwise. My Bible study kids blessed me more than I could have ever blessed them this summer.
Two final stories to show you how BIG my God is!
- Week 7, a little boy with special needs came to our camp named Caleb. He wore leg braces and could barely talk. His favorite thing to say was No! I met Caleb on Wednesday afternoon after track times and every time I would see him after that we would do a high five and pound it. This week I worked the decision room and I stood at the end of the hall on Thursday night waiting for kids to walk around the corner to usher them into a quiet room for them to talk to their adult leaders. I turned around to see Caleb walking down the hallway towards me. The emotions that flooded my body were indescribable. This little boy, that most people had a hard time communicating with, had no trouble hearing God call him into a relationship with Him. That night I was reminded that the love of Jesus Christ is not for some people...it is for EVERYONE! His sacrifice covers all of our sins no matter who you are or what your physical capabilities are. Thank you Caleb for being a reminder to me that God loves us all.
- Week 9, I stood down at the bottom of the stairs on Thursday night at the decision room in Lynchburg, Virginia. I had ushered all of the kids inside of the room and when I went inside of the room to put a chair back, an adult sponsor called me over. She asked if I could get someone to talk to one of her kids because she had two and she wanted them to talk one on one with a leader. I said absolutely and ran up the stairs (boot and all) to go get a staffer to go and talk with one of her kids. Lyndsey told me to take Sammy, our pastor, down there. So Sammy took my job at the decision room and I went inside to talk with one of the kids. I sat down with this little girl named Madison. I asked her why she came down that night and she told me that she needed a relationship with God. I asked her to describe what it meant to be a Christian and she had a hard time so we went through the Roman Road. (Romans 3:23, 6:23, 5:8, 10:9) As I was talking with her she would finish all of my sentences and really gave me the impression that she knew what she was doing in asking Jesus to be her savior. I told her that if she thought tonight was the night that she wanted to ask Jesus to be her savior to give me a thumbs up. So with the biggest grin on her face I looked down and saw a big thumbs up. So I prayed for Madison and then she prayed to receive Christ as her savior. When she was done I told her that I had 2 really awesome things to tell her. 1. God has this really big Book of Life up in heaven. Every time someone starts a relationship with God, he writes their name in the Book of Life and the coolest thing is is that my God writes with permanent marker. Nothing we can ever do will cause God to erase our name. 2. When we start a relationship with Christ, there is a HUGE party for us up in heaven and so that night, the angels were partying it up for Madison. When i told her these two things she started bawling because she was so overwhelmed and in turn I also started to cry A LOT! This little girl loves the Lord and I was blessed with the opportunity to guide her in making the best decision of her entire life.
The summer was full of hundreds of stories just like the two of these. I want to thank every single person who prayed for me and for my team. God did a mighty work this summer and I am truly blessed that he chose me to be apart of it.
Until next summer...
