Training camp. A mystery to us all. A mystery you’re still trying to figure out when you get home. But what great romance is without mystery?
One evening, 60 people set out for a destination. We were each equipped with something different for the journey. Each equipped with something vital to the team’s survival.
Our leader vaguely knew where our destination was. So we set out…on the road…we were told the road was not an option. We turned around…we turned 60 people, with shovels, tarps, knives, coolers, and food,…around.
We set out into the woods down a path. After awhile, our leader stopped…something wasn’t right. We all stopped. We turned around again. We eventually found the path we were to take. It was one that orange cones were stationed in front of…it wasn’t the most obvious choice.
We reached the destination. We each gave up the thing we were carrying to be used for the group. Some of us didn’t even know HOW TO USE the thing we were carrying.
What’s the point of this?
The Lord equips us. Sometimes we’re not sure what He has equipped us with or what He has equipped us for. Then one day, after wandering through the woods, He brings you to a destination. In this instance, one that resembles a swamp.
And it’s there that your traveling companions look at you and say:
“Hey, do you realize what you have?”
And sometimes we might answer:
“I know I have this, but I don’t know what to do with it.”
So we can choose to hand it over…to the person that it is intended for. The Lord doesn’t equip us and bless us to just keep things to ourselves. He gives to us so that we can give to others. He sometimes gives to us in PART…so that we can give that to make something WHOLE.
That’s what I’ve been learning this past season, and it became even more ingrained in me at camp. Sometimes I’m given something that makes absolutely no sense to me…and then I take it to the person that it appears it’s intended for…and they know exactly what to do with it. It’s humbling.
So, my challenge to you:
- Surround yourself with people that recognize what you have and how it’s to be used.
- And don’t hold onto what you have just because YOU don’t know how to use it…give freely…
Otherwise, you’ll just be a girl with an axe wandering through the woods…and cold…really cold.
