We prayed for this last camp to be Christ centered, that the
campers would hear about Jesus and feel his love. God answered our prayers!
This was the last fourth through sixth grade camp for the
season. We had seven boys and four
girls. It was a great combination for having fun, learning more about Jesus and
enjoying God’s creation. The boys had
this sweetness about them, they were gentle and loving. They knew how to play hard, yet when it was
time, they settled down, listened and participated. The girls bonded with each
other. They were a bit more quite, but they
still were taking it all in.
It rained for most of the day on Saturday. We moved forward with sharing the message of
Triumph though a deep study of David & Goliath. The campers engaged and enjoyed seeing the
story come to life through wild and crazy Camp Alandale skits! Cabin fever was starting to set in by the
afternoon. But as the campers prayed,
the rain turned to snow just before dinner.
They had just enough time to get wet and cold before the sun went to
bed.
By morning almost 18 inches of snow covered the ground. Most of the campers were up and ready to play
early, yet the freezing temperature of 24 degrees brought them back inside
quickly to warm up by the fire. Similar
to being warmed by the fire, are the cold realities of this world turned into
the warm promises of Jesus’ presence, power and provision.
One camper continued to remember the lessons from the
session about getting past our past. We
talked about how big Goliath was, and how he taunted the Israelites for 40
days, night and day, just bugging them and putting more and more fear and doubt
into them. She recounted this time as if
she knew this as her own personal struggle.
For so many of the campers, what has happened to them, be it abuse,
neglect, the moving from place to place and not feeling loved or connected to a
family, becomes their identity and hinders their view of who they really
are. This struggle seemed to reign true
here. But God was getting the glory in
the release of these lies to grasping the truth of our identity in Christ. In Him, we are unconditionally loved,
completely forgiven and chosen and valuable.
We were able to enjoy the snow more with sledding, snowman
making, snow angles and snowball fights, and a whole bunch of digging out
before the weekend came to a close. The
good-byes were sweet yet sad, only a few tears were shed. We have confidence in our Lord and Savior
that He goes home with each one of these precious campers and that His word and
love will reign true in their hearts.
Mike & Lisa Towler
No comments:
Post a Comment