Last post from camp

The library will close at noon today so I had to sneak away to tell you about last night and to ask you to pray for our final day of camp and our long trip home. As I shared with you, Thursday night can be a great night at camp and this year was no exception. Exhaustion meets emotions meets eternity for some. This week we have been challenged to move in our faith journey.

I would like to give you some quotes from conversations I have had the privilege of having. Some names are omitted because God is still moving in their lives.

"I want to be a Christian."

It's not every day a young person taps you on the back and tells you that. Last night Chad moved from his seat to find me. I had the opportunity to share from God's word how to become a Christian. In Bible words Chad moved from darkness into the light. It doesn't get any better than that!

"It's time"

Wednesday's message was about taking a stand. Last night my nephew Justin McConnell and I had a brief conversation. He told me that he just never told people that he was a Christian and that it was time. When we get home Justin and I will arrange with Robin a time for Justin to follow Jesus in baptism!

"I've always been a Christian"

Sometimes at camp there is a heavy emphasis on getting saved (the important life question) and an implied message is that you need to know exactly when you got saved. For some that can be difficult and for some it plants a seed of doubt in their mind if they can't recall that exact point in time. Miranda and I had a wonderful chance to examine her life as it was right now. She loves Jesus, loves to serve Him and wants to follow His leading. It's pretty evident to me and I hope now to her that those desires and actions are evidence of a relationship with Christ. Sometimes it just takes someone to listen and remind us of some things. It really helped Miranda to hear that Bible truth from Romans that His (Holy) Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are His children regardless if we wrote down a date in our Bible flyleaf when we came to Christ.

"How do you know God is real?"

Doesn't everyone wonder? Doesn't everyone ask life's big questions? I was able to listen to a 100 questions (literally) at dinner last night. Excuse me while pontificate on the thinking of the post modern student. I'm a fact guy. A modern guy. Lay out all the arguments and facts and I will make a determination. Most young people today are experience people. Post modern people. Their experience validates the facts. You may think that's backwards. You probably think the facts validate the experience. It's not so simple anymore. I have to force myself to communicate much differently to make an impact. Let me tell you what I said and maybe you'll understand why this conversation of all those I have had has moved my thinking about ministry. I could have pulled out the anthropological argument for God's existence or the teleological or the cosmological or whatever other "ical" that I wanted to but it wouldn't necessarily help. I asked if these kids (girls in this case) had boyfriends. They all did. "Do they love you, I asked?" They all replied yes and I got to ask the question, "how do you know it's real?" Because he says so, he means it and he shows me. Good answers, I thought. To which I said, "then how come you can't give God the benefit of your doubt?" God tells you He loves you. God means what He says. And He shows you. The light bulb went on for these kids. See, their experience (with their boyfriends) validated or maybe illustrated what facts about God they already knew. The facts were still the most important piece of the puzzle but how they incorporate them into their faith is now different. Suffice it to say thay have much less doubt today about God's existence than they did yesterday.

"What is a relationship to God? Is that like hanging out?"

Language is always in flux and words that I think accurately describe things may not always work in the mind of a teenager. For this student "relationships" are friendships that improve and deepen by hanging out. We talked about the definition of hanging out. Which is kind of like "going together" but that's another subject. The idea of talking to God every day and reading the Bible every day is how we hang out with God. It makes sense to her because that's how her friendships are developed.

"I mean I believe in Jesus and everything, that's it's not just a made up story but I don't know a lot about a lot of things"

Welcome to the process. The early church characterized the faith journey like this. Seekers, hearers, kneelers and followers. This student is on her journey and she has passed the first mile marker. Jesus is alive. She gets that. I have encouraged her now to read what Jesus said about living life and serving and compassion and justice and holiness and sacrifice and what that may mean for her. Can she begin to follow? I thank God for kids like this who are honest and I have encouraged our kids to be a group where someone can belong before they believe. A place where others can see that we love Jesus, that we follow Jesus. Let's be a group where we let others experience those things and maybe they will be "moved" to follow Jesus too.

"There's this kid in my track..."

Taylor has a friend in her group that does not have a relationship with God and he's honest enough to admit that. Taylor has connected with him and today wants to talk with him.

Whether it's moving from darkness to light or from observation to obedience or from doubt to confidence or from confusion to clarity, kids are moving on this trip. God is moving in them. Last night we talked about saying good-bye well. To leave this place and the people we've met as Paul left his Ephesian friends. Paul and his friends had impacted each other positively and it showed in their good-bye. Pray that the last day here will be one of their best days ever and that our good-byes will be a positive, last act of service.

This is the last post from camp. I won't have access to a computer after this. I appreciate all your thoughts, prayers and donations to make this happen. And maybe, just a little bit, God has moved in you through this blog. See you Sunday.

Thank you Donna.