I don’t know what goes on in dental school. They obviously have to talk about teeth, and how to fix them and whatnot, but sometimes I seriously think they have lessons over the most awkward times to start a conversation. Like when they’re about to put their hands in your mouth. It never fails. Every time the hygienist takes you back to the room and seats you, you get comfortable, she grabs her tools, and right before she starts to work, she asks you something kind of important. For instance “did you do anything fun this summer?”
I’m sure you all know that I have just had the most amazing summer of my life sharing Christ with kids at camp. I was even sporting my orange OMC shirt that day. That seems to be the perfect question now, but for me to even try to tell someone about my summer could take hours. There are so many stories, so many awesome moments that God was so clear, that I could talk for days. So as she asked me the question, I contemplated how to answer. Of course I told her that I had just gotten back from an amazing summer working Centrikid, a kid’s church camp. She asked for the usual details, like where we went, what we did, and I quickly wrapped up those general things while still wondering if she understood how cool it was. It didn’t really matter though, because she was already making her way to the x-ray machine.
As I drove away from the dentist’s office, I realized the opportunity that I had to tell her about Christ. Maybe not full-on “Jesus died for your sins and if you don’t believe that then, well, I can tell you where you’re going!”, but just telling her how my team and I served God this summer by telling kids about Him was just a way to show an example of His love. It wasn’t much, but you never know if that little bit could get someone thinking. Telling her about camp didn’t send her to her knees, but what if it planted a seed?
One of the things I knew I would miss about camp was the easy opportunities we had to share the Gospel, to openly show those campers how much God loves them. But the truth is, those opportunities are still all around us. I told my kids every week that we had to remember that there are people all around us, who live beside us, who see us every day, who sit beside us at school who don’t know Jesus. Camp has been an easy lead-in to sharing Christ, because it’s easy to share the amazing God stories since there were so many. But lots of other people don’t have camp to lean back on for sharing Christ to others. I want to encourage you that even if you didn’t have a crazy summer like I did, you still have a crazy amazing story that you can tell. If you’re a Christian, then God HAS done something amazing in your life. Maybe that time is when He changed it. That’s what you get to tell other people. Jesus commands us in Matthew 28:19-20, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” It’s our job as Christians. The opportunity is all around you. Don’t miss it.
As if there was actually anyone who checked up on this blog, and I delighted to tell you that I am still alive. I know that all of you were just on pins and needles waiting for every single blog post that was supposed to be written over the past few months, and I'm so sorry it didn't happen. BUT, now I am more than happy to share with you my life as of now - if only I could think of what to say. For lack of better words, I had an amazing summer.
Every time I think of how to begin, I change it. I have no clue how to start off such an incredible time of my life that I will be forever thankful for. I guess I could begin by thanking you for every single prayer before and during the summer. I had full confidence knowing that you guys were praying for me and thinking of me, because you knew how much this meant to me. It's CRAZY to think we kind of all started this journey together. For my crazy Keiser bunch, you all knew since the very first day of Fuge in junior high, I have dreamed of becoming a staffer. I just knew that's what God wanted me to do. That has made this experience a hundred times cooler. On one of the last nights of camp, I was walking back to our housing thinking to myself about how this is what I always wanted. How God showed me what He wanted me to do, threw some curves and turns and "almost didn't's" (yes, I made that word up) in there, and still brought me to where He told me so long ago that He'd put me. Guys, that was in like 7th grade! And now, 6 years later, He has remained so faithful. While sharing with my last church group of the summer my testimony, God reminded me right there that the reason He did all that wasn't for me, but for Him. Ahhh, isn't it crazy how sometimes when we talk, God just talks to us with the words that are coming out of our own mouths (and shouldn't it always be like that)!? Like I said, I was sharing all of this with the kids while at the same time fully understanding its truthfulness. God didn't put me at camp because I thought it'd be cool. God didn't give me this job because I filled out a form and made an interview. God didn't bring me to this place in my life just so I'd have something to do during the summer. God made all things possible for me to work at CentriKid this summer because HE wanted me there. The end. It had nothing to do with me, and I think...no, I know that was the reason it was seriously the best summer. Ever.
There aren't enough words to describe all the things that I saw and learned and experienced this summer, like I'll probably say to all of you. But I'll try :).
First of all, I met the most amazing people I think I'll ever meet. Seriously, we were the DREAM team. Every single one of them held such a special place in my heart. It's something I wish everyone understood, but you probably won't. I was around such Godly girls and guys that inspired me and encouraged me and saved me so many times when I felt like I was going under. But they already know this. I knew that they'd never really leave me alllll by myselfff ;).
Second, I learned so much about kids. They are some of the coolest human beings on the planet. I already knew this, but this summer really made that clear. I had amazing (and sometimes challenging) groups every single week. I got to remind them that God put them there for a reason. I got to see God work not only in their lives that week, but in our very classroom right before all of our eyes. It was insane! Some of my favorite moments were:
One day, during the week with my biggest group (with the most questions), I was using Paul as an example of how God could change ANYONE He wanted to. One boy asked if He could change terrorists. I told him if He wanted to, then of course, but I kind of felt helpless because all I could do was just say that and move on, with no proof from a story or anything. Before I started my next sentence, one of the girls raised their hands and shared a story about how at her grandmother's church, they had gone on a mission trip where 10 terrorists were saved. I dropped everything and told the class how God had made all things possible for that to happen. How God set up all our lives so that we had those experiences, questions, and things to help one other. I reminded them what the odds were that they'd be in the same bible study at the same time. It was awesome.
During response time, one girl who I had never met before came down and asked to talk. I took her outside to talk one-on-one and she went on to say how she was upset that her friends were fighting. After I helped her with a little advice, I was about to wrap up the awkward pause that came. Before I prayed with her and took her inside, she stopped to remind to her group leader that she wore a back brace. The leader asked if it was bothering her, and she said no, but then asked "you know my dad died, right?" Right then, our hearts just opened up into an awesome talk. I had never met this girl. It was so so so obvious that God had sent her to me for that reason. I can't even describe the joy in my heart that I have looking back on that now. I even got to meet her mom and talk to her on the last day. She thanked me over and over for talking with her daughter, but I thanked her even more for bringing her to camp.
And for one of my favorites, a humorous one, even. One week at Ridgecrest, I had one of my most fun groups. If you don't know, you have to climb up about a 10 minute hike with kids to "Rec Hill" to get to recreation. I told my class from the start that Swashbucklers were the oldest, the coolest, and weren't going to complain about going up the hill. I honestly told them it was going to be hard and we were all going to hate it (even me), but every time we wanted to complain about it, we were going to say "God made this mountain!" instead. I was curious to how well they were going to handle it. They. Were. Awesome. Not once did they complain about going up the steep hill. I heard "God made this mountain" plenty of times, and they really got a kick of out it. About halfway, I was in the back of the group, and from up front I hear "Ouch! God made that tree!" Yep, you guessed it ;).
I had SO much fun hanging out with kids this summer. Seeing them have fun was assuring, but seeing them really get it and really understand how much they needed Christ in their lives was heart-filling. Some of their stories made me laugh. Some of their stories broke my heart. Sometimes, I was at such a loss of what to do or what to tell some of them. But every single week, they showed me how even kids know that no matter what they're going through, no matter what we're going through, God will provide all our needs :) (Phil. 4:19).
And I learned, most importantly, that God is so in control. It's something you always say, because you know you're supposed to. You know that "God is #1, yeah!" because that's what you know you're supposed to answer to everything. But in reality, it takes crazy amazing experiences like this summer to really understand that. Honestly, that's unfortunate, but I've found it to be true. There were so many times this summer where I just stood in awe of what God was doing around me and in me and to me. The pieces of the puzzle just seemed to come together. I had always known that God does everything for a reason, but this summer I saw those reasons. No time to share or go into crazy mega-detail, but I've been through a lot of things in my life, like every single one of us has. And I was able to just really embrace every single one of those things, good and "bad," and be thankful for every single one, because they brought me to where I am now.
I know this is the longest blog ever, but it's just a glimpse of the huge things that God did for me this summer. I am so in love with what Jesus did. I am so in love with what He is doing. And I cannot wait to see what He will do. No matter what, I have been constantly reminded that my God "will supply all [my] needs according to His riches in glory in Christ JESUS," - Philippians 4:19.
