I’m writing this blog because I’m about to head back to Camp Bighorn in less than a week, to be an intern this summer. So I’m going to share an event we do and how it represents our relationship with Christ. As well as, how vital it is in our relationship with Christ to trust Him as well as lean on Him. He is the only solid foundation we have; our lives must be fully grounded and fully rooted in Christ. We can do absolutely nothing by ourselves but with Christ we can do all things. Please continue to pray for us all over the summer and for the funding to continue as we go off to invest in lives and encourage others. Thank you all, God bless! Also for all my friends subscribed to this blog who are going to camp, GET PUMPED!!!
Over the summer of 2015 God gave me an amazing opportunity to volunteer as a summer staff at Camp Bighorn. It’s an adventure camp in Montana and I had the opportunity to facilitate a group through the High Static Course. High Static is a ropes course in the trees with different obstacles you can go through. You are attached to cables with your lobster claws. Now when facilitating this group through the course, I had never been on the course myself before. Also at that time I was still scared of heights. However as I learned I wasn’t scared of heights itself, but rather afraid of falling…to my death (possibly).
So I held on with both hands to my lobster claws as I went throughout the course, and ended with my first trip down the zip line. It was an amazing first experience along with for the first time facilitating teens and adults. Facilitating and leading that summer taught me a lot about the gifts that God has given me and how as good stewards we use these spiritual gifts to edify the church, bring glory to God, and advance His kingdom. At the end we debriefed the high static event.
The course itself represents the world, as the lobster claws, harness, cables, and everything else keeping you secure and safe would represent God. Throughout the course if you lost your step or lost your balance you would fall from the equipment, meant to keep you upright. Gravity would takes its course and you would fall at the rate of 32.2ft/sec . Yet be of good cheer the lobster claws would keep you from falling to the ground. This represents our relationship with God. Jesus is the one who saves us from death; He is the one who catches us when we fall. Jesus does not disappoint, He has got us, and He will never let go, however that doesn’t mean that we won’t let go of Him.
God has given us the ability to reason and to make our own choices; just because the lobster claws are attached to the cables and attached to your harness, which is attached to you, doesn’t mean you can’t undo your harness (for clarity, nobody would ever dare to do this on the course but in our relationships with God people do). That’s reality. Just because you have the knowledge that God holds you, protects you and is always there for you, doesn’t mean you always believe it or live like it. As one young man, Matthew, in the group pointed out that, “it was easier to just fall then to try to hold that position of fighting the enviable of falling”. In our own strength and power we want to be in control of the situation, so we try to hold ourselves up and trust in our own ability and strengths, these fail us time and time again, our own abilities let us down and disappoint us, so why do we continually trust in ourselves? Yet know this, that when we fall rather than fight the fall, we trust that God is in control and catches us, ready to lift us up when we stumble. Reality is this, we are humans, we mess up, and we will throughout our lives always stumble, or fall. But we must strive not to. That is only possible through Jesus and striving to be more like Him every minute of every day. Our goal is to “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect”. (Matthew 5:48). God allows us to experience and go through trials to enable growth in our relationship with Him. Furthermore these times in our lives increase our faith, dependency, and love for Him.
This picture was taken the second time I was on the course, once again I was still afraid of falling at this point, which is why one hand is still holding on the lobster claw so I wouldn’t lose my balance. This is another point which is essential to understand, the course is meant to be difficult, some sections are harder than others, and at any point you could lose your balance and fall. That is life! Life is hard, life seems to be uncertain, and it is outside of Christ. But with Christ, life is certain. We know our purpose in life is to love God with all that we are, love our neighbors as ourselves, and to follow how God has called and commanded us to live. We follow the perfect example of Jesus, He is the Good Shepherd who goes before us, He leads, and we follow. When we live life for Christ we reap the benefits of all that He promises us, (there are over seven thousand promises that God has made us). Trust God and live life like Jesus.
My friend Krysta took that picture and she also challenged me to let go and run across the Indian Jones Bridge (which in the picture I’m standing on). I was crippled in fear before taking off, and of course when I ran I lost my balance and I fell, and when I fell my lobster claws held me from falling to the ground. It’s symbolic that when we fall, when we stumble, when we mess up, God is always there to lift us back up. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6). Now by the third time I did that course I was completely over my fear of falling. I then did the course without fear and anxiety knowing that if I fell I was still being held. “The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.” (Psalm 37:23-24).
Trust in the Lord, His plans and ways are far better than anything we could ever image for ourselves. Trust that all things work together for the good of those who love God. Trusting that whatever you’re going through God is allowing you to grow through that experience. And trusting that whatever happens now or in the future know that God is always with you, He won’t leave you, He won’t forsake you. Never forsake or leave Him. Let your life be completely consumed in growing in relationship with Jesus, living as He has called us to live, and sharing the hope and love of Jesus with this lost and broken world. We all need Jesus, be the sons and daughters, be the people of Christ who make a difference in the world. Love you all!!!
