Ah! Rest time, tis the most wonderful hour of camp ever invented (or at least according to the counselors!! Sorry to all the campers out there!)
My girls were all quietly and contentedly playing with stuffed animals…leaving me time for a much needed short rest…to lay my aching head (heat and a little bit of a challenging week) back and read a little.
All was calm and well…but my hopes for rest were quickly demolished by a tussle that very quickly broke out amongst the girls.
Rising to my feet I very quickly took care of the outward behavioral side of the tussle.
“Alright everyone into their own bunk for the rest of the time!” I said in a surprisingly calm manner considering the surge of frustration going through me…boy things would be a lot easier if counselors no longer struggled with sin!
Anywho, actually only two girls were involved in a tussle, but I told them all to get into their bunks so that I could think…it was so loud and I just needed time to sort everything out.
So after sending them all to their individual bunks I then went after the girl that had stormed out of our room into the bathroom down the hall…upon meeting her I spoke with her about leaving like she did. Once we returned I sat on my bed in the silence and quiet.
But as I sat there…searching for answers as to handle this tussle (you see I did not quite get what exactly had gone on) and so as I sat there on my bed my mind was racing with thoughts of what exactly I should do next… I knew that I needed to get to their hearts for in every situation esp. tussles, it is crucial to get to the heart of it all not just the outside or the behavioral side of it all, but to the heart where in reality all things start.
So as I sat there scrambling for words to say to them, I knew what I needed to do. So in desperation I called out to my Father… “Father, I need answers! I feel as if this is really simple and that I should already have the answers…but Father I don’t! I need you! Please help me to know how to address this…for I do not even exactly understand all that has gone on…help me to get to the heart of this problem! I need wisdom now Father! In Jesus’ name Amen!
And right then, the very second I finished praying I began to think through everything, and the answer of how I should approach this situation came to mind, and I knew exactly what I needed to do. And so I got busy carrying out the help that God gave to me. I pulled the two girls aside away from everyone else, and addressed it.
And the amazing thing is they seemed to get it!
But why did I have to come to that point? Why did I have to come to my “wits end” and then call on God…the theme this year at RRBC is based on prayer and our motto is : “Is prayer your spare tire, or steering wheel.”
And I must confess that quite often it is my spare tire! Too often! I have all the power of heaven to call upon, the Almighty God, the One who created EVERYTHING, and yet I have not because I ask not!
I have to be at my “wits end” before I rely on the Wits of God! Why?? He is SO much greater than I…and I can do NOTHING apart from Him :
John 15:5
“Yes I am the vine, and you are the branches, Those who remain in me and I in them, will produce much fruit (notice not just fruit, but much! And too often I wonder why I am not seeing Him at work…hmm). For apart from Me you can do NOTHING!”
There it is, black and white! Can’t get any more all encompassing than that…apart from Jesus Himself, apart from His work, I can do NOTHING! So why do I so often find myself trying to “go it alone?”
No wonder Paul said “Some plant, some water, BUT GOD (anytime in scripture where it says BUT GOD, it is ALWAYS AMAZING and CRUCIAL!! WOW! Think about it…the Word is going along your reading your reading…and then BAM it hits you : BUT GOD!...and this folks has been another “random bunny trail” with Bethy…thankyou!)
So this incident where prayer was my spare tire was about week 3. Week 4 I thought prayer had finally become my steering wheel…I mean I prayed everyday! I even prayed whenever an arrow (yeah I know…they should never have let me be in charge of archery! EVER! Lol) went missing, because again “Apart from Him, I can do NOTHING” (not even finding that missing arrow).
And truly I was relying on Him! And it was a good thing that I had learned my lesson because that week was probably one of the hardest weeks of my summer! It was Jr. High!!! AAHH! Nightmare waiting to happen! I mean you have a ton of these homosapiens who are not quite children…not quite teens…and thus one minute they are that sweet little school child…the next minute they are trying to be older than they are…and then another minute they are awkwardly stuck in the middle…uugh! It hurts to watch folks! Jj jk lol! I loved them!!
Anyway, it truly was a harder week…to go from jrs to jr. highers is quite the jump…weird but it is!
Anyway, that week a very odd spiritual fog (which is the only way to describe it) had settled over the camp. I don’t know about anyone else that was there, but literally I could feel the apathy..everytime I set foot in chapel and the speakers started speaking…everytime I opened up my Bible to try and share from the Word I felt as if it was all falling on apathetic and tuned out ears.
Many of them have been “churched” their whole lives…by now they know the answers…they know what to say to get the speaker… teacher…counselor off their back…and they really don’t care anymore. And maybe that was just a “feeling” that Satan had put in my heart that week…either way whether imagined or real, I was discouraged, and was calling out daily for the Lord to work in and through me despite myself.
I asked that He use all of us to water and plant and that He would bring an increase. And the amazing thing was HE DID! And why was I surprised?? Because I had prayed expecting to most likely not actually be able to witness the answer. I thought that the answer to that prayer would come later down the road in the kids’ lives when I would not be there to behold it and I was totally fine with that, perhaps it will still, but I do know that some were changed and I was privileged and blessed to see some of that!
One of my campers was having doubts about her salvation, and so after much prayer and sharing the gospel with her a couple of times, finally on Friday night (the last speaking session) she got reassurance of her salvation! PRAISE HIM! It was not me! I banged that job up so bad! I totally missed the ball, but God still worked!
WOW! It was so cool to hear her pray, and say “I believe God! I believe that you died!”
She was so sincere!
And it was so cool cuz I usually ask one of my campers to pray before bed and that last night two of them volunteered (where as all week everyone shyed away from it) and one of them was Morgan (the one who got reassurance) and it was so neat to hear her pray and thank God for the reassurance she got!
God is amazing!
And not only did He work in Morgan, but He also worked in another little boy named Philip.
I had the wonderful privilidge of being in charge of Archery all my weeks of camp (I know I still can believe they let me!). And this one young boy would always come at least once or twice a day, his name is Philip. And I liked Philip because he is really small for his age and really short, he reminded me of my brother Andrew, so it was always great to see him. But as I watched him, he seemed to have that same apathetic spirit that seemed so common that week (again perhaps it was just imagined), and there also seemed to be a hardness of heart within him.
And so as the week went on I kept begging God to do a work, to melt the hearts of stone that seem so prevalent and common place. On Friday during the morning time I was alone running archery, and Philip was there. And it was just him, so I decided to seize the moment, and began asking him what if he liked the morning and evening speakers.
He said that he did, but that he especially liked the missionary hour.
I must admit that I half expected him to either blow me off or to continue shooting and not answer me. So I pressed further with that.
“Well Philip maybe someday you will be a missionary.”
He turned and looked me square in the eye and said “I can’t I am too short!”
I was taken aback by that, and was instantly reminded of Moses and how he argued with God about not being a good enough speaker. Course it would have taken too long to share that whole story with him, so I took a different approach.
“Well God can use anyone Philip! It does not matter what size you are! What if He called you to be a missionary, would you go?”
Now I can’t remember exactly what he said, I do know that he did not say “yes” I think he just said “God would not call me!” And at that very moment another girl came up to shoot, and thus I was not able to take anymore. But I was so thankful for the chance to challenge his thinking.
After that I thought nothing of
it…that was the end of that in my mind. But God was not done!
The next day after breakfast I was heading back to my cabin to help my girls pack up to leave. The sun was shining so brightly and warmly and I was just casually walking along enjoying God’s good earth and the good morning and reveling in the wonderful gift of salvation because the night before was when one of my campers had gotten reassurance of her salvation.
Anyways as I was reveling in all that, suddenly I heard a voice behind me “Hey! Would you be a missionary if God called you?” What a pointed question!?? What a bold one!
I turned around and squinted through the bright sun, and there was little blonde haired Philip, he wanted to know if I was even willing to do what I had challenged him to do and rightly so!
“Well yes, yes Philip if the Lord calls me I will!”
“Well how can we know if he calls?”
“Well Philip, He will give us a burden and a desire for what He wants us to do and where He will have us to go.”
“That’s neat” (wow and remember this is coming from a seemingly hard hearted child…I mean I never saw him smile, except when we were talking just then, I am guessing that due to his small size he must be picked on a lot.)
“We just need to be telling others about God!”
“You are exactly right Philip!”
And we parted ways, it truly was a blessing to my heart to see God take this little guy, and work his heart over to where he was ready to serve God now, so that he would be able to serve God later…many adults don’t even get this concept! WOW!
What I thought were hearts that were “far gone” were actually melted and brought near! God is amazing!
And maybe you are like me, maybe there are those in your life who just have hard hearts…and apathy and just seem so far gone nothing could bring them back….know this friend that God NEVER gives up on people! There are no “lost causes” for God!
And dear friend He asks us to reflect His faithfulness! So keep watering…keep planting! God is awesome and HE WILL BRING INCREASE!
Entrust everyone to the One who not only sees hearts (1 Samuel 16:7) but also has the power to fashion them toward Himself : PS. 33:15 “He fashions their hearts individually (He is a very personal God) He considers ALL their works!”
Keep going, do not lose heart for in due time you will reap a harvest! Do not grow weary while doing good! God is not mocked and His Word NEVER returns void Gal. 6:7: “Don’t be misled-you cannot mock the justice of God, you will always harvest what you plant!”
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