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.