Lessons from Summer Camp: Being everything to everyone for the sake of Christ

As mentioned in my last post, I don't like the outdoors. Well, let me rephrase that. I don't like the outdoors in the mountains of San Diego. They are an interesting mixture of dirt, mud, desert heat, pine trees, desert sage and dirt. Oh and bugs. Lots of bugs. Before I went hiking in Italy, I always thought I hated hiking since I associated it with hikes I took in the desert-like mountains, trying to avoid hornets, rattlesnakes and fire ants.

The idea of spending 5 days in a wooden cabin with a bunch of girls was not exciting me and the legistics finally hit me when I had to buy junky clothes for the week.
I'll get hot.
I'll get dirty.
I will be terribly uncomfortable.
I may not get any sleep.
I will be bitten by numerous bugs.
Yuck.

But I had already volunteered and that was that.

Sunday night rolled along fairly well and I discovered I had been placed in a tepee (yes, a real functioning tepee). At first, I was bummed out but soon discovered the tepees were wonderful. There was more useable space, since the mattresses were on the ground the girls could move their beds every night if they wanted, and when it was hot all we had to do was lift the sides and voila! Automatic A/C!

Monday was really good. It was overcast and even sprinkled a little. I insisted, in fact, I demanded that my girls go hiking with me because the weather was cool. (First hint that something was changing in me). Monday night I was grodey and sweaty and gross and I still played Capture the Flat (a game I have always hated) and enjoyed myself. Hmmm....

Tuesday morning we had staff devotionals and a counselor named "Sultan" (camp name) talked about his journey. He talked about how God was breaking him of himself and asking him to do things that he traditionally had thought were "not me". He talked about how God needs servants who are malleable. Servants that He can do whatever He wants with them and they will say, "Okay, go for it!"

I nearly burst into tears all over the counselor in front of me. It all made sense. God was breaking me of myself and asking me to do things that I've traditionally said were "not me". So often in church I had heard, "Use your gifts! Find your spiritual gifts and use them!" But in some ways, that has been overemphasized to the point where some people (....me) would not do something if it didn't fit their "gifting". But that's not what Scripture says. In fact, it's the opposite.

1 Corinthians 9:19-22

¹⁹Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. ²⁰To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. ²¹To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. ²²To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. ²³I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

This week I became an outdoor enthusiast. Not because I'm gifted in it. Not because it's my passion. But for the sake of Christ, I had to sacrifice my comfort, my time, my resources, my likes, my desires.

Do you have an opportunity to impact others for Christ, but have been shying away from it because it didn't fit your "gift" or "passion"?

I spent 5 1/2 days at camp:
Showers: 6
Bug bites: 0
Times I felt super gross: 0
Times I felt super hot and sweaty: 1
Times I told girls to just ignore the bugs crawling all over our tepee: at least 35
Average hours of sleep per night: 9
Average hours hiking per day: 3

If the Spirit leads, just do it. He will provide for every single need.

Lessons from Summer Camp: God has a plan

Growing up there were somethings I could always count on in the summer. One of them was going to Indian Hills Camp for summer camp. As an elementary-age kid, I loved it. Okay, I enjoyed myself minus the dirt and the bugs and the feelings of general uncleanliness. However, junior high camp there for two years was a bust. I lost two of my best friends and literally that's all I remember about those camps. Those summers left their mark and along with other controversies that happened at the camp that summer marred my experience.

So you can imagine my surprise when my church was signed up kids for camp that the first thought in my head was, "I could be a counselor." Whoa. Where did that come from? Camp counselors are usually college kids that are paid about $20 to spend 23 hours with kids a day. However, every time I passed that sign-up sheet I kept thinking about being a counselor which is crazy! My idea of "roughing it" is a Holiday Inn Express.

One Sunday in May, Pastor Bobby approached me and said, "Now, you don't have to say 'yes' or 'no' now, you can think about this, but Indian Hills doesn't have enough counselors for our week at camp and I was wondering..."
"Yes!" burst out of my mouth before he could finish his sentence.
My natural brain is going, "What? I just agreed to go back to camp! To Indian Hills of all places!"
But my heart was saying, "This is the right thing to do. I'm not working, I know the kids and I'm good with kids. They need me."

My brain eventually came around especially since Pastor Bobby and his wife Cheryl would be there too to take care of things.

But life happens and sometimes it's awful. The day before we were to leave for camp, Bobby's dad died. Bobby was in shock. He called the camp telling them he couldn't come. He called me to let me know I was now in charge of signing up and watching out for 30 campers from our church. I was now the official representative of our church. If I had not been going, this past week would have been horrific for Bobby or at least more horrific than it was.

God had a plan. All I had to do was listen and act on what the Holy Spirit had been prompting me to do for weeks.