It’s that time! School is almost out for the year, seniors are graduating from high school and college, and summer camp is about to be in full swing. This time last year I was in that exact spot. I turned 22, graduated with my BA, and started working at camp all in the same week. It’s crazy to think about everything that can happen in just one year.
I knew when I signed up for The Race that meant that I wouldn’t be able to work at camp again for another summer but at the beginning of this month it really began to sink in that I wasn’t going to be there. I have been a camper or a counselor at a summer camp for the past eight years and I have fallen in love with camping ministry. (Shoutout the Riverside Lutheran Bible Camp in Story City, Iowa for being so awesome!)
However, God has a sense of humor and gives His children the desires of their heart. So boom. Here I am, it’s month 5, this is my 2nd month in Albania and I am living in the small town of Lezhe, Albania this month working at Lightforce Children’s Camp and getting it ready for campers to come for the summer. Once again I see how there is no such thing as coincidence but that Gods plan will always prevail.
This month is full of manual labor. Everyday ministry looks like painting, cutting, cleaning, more painting, and preparing. It’s easy for me to get caught in the rut of thinking that doing monotonous jobs like lime wash painting dining hall walls over and over again, or cleaning pig stalls so much that they almost look new, or pulling weeds around the entire camp is pointless. But the truth is those jobs aren’t pointless. Doing those jobs makes a big difference. It affects the camp, which affects the campers who attend, which affects the Kingdom of God.
Every ministry is different. Every ministry that I have been apart of back home and on The Race so far has looked different and run differently. In the long run our ultimate goal is to bring the glory to God. No matter how, it all deserves to go back to him.
That’s what The Lord has been teaching me. Sometimes you will get to be able to see the fruits of your labor and sometimes you will have no idea. Sometimes you will plant seeds, water them, or even harvest them. I know that God does that on purpose.
If I were able to see every action or word that I spoke and how they changed a life I believe that I would be so filled with pride. That my intentions for loving someone would become based on how it made me feel and not them. There’s something humbling to know that the kids who will come to this camp next month will have no idea that I was here. They will never know about me. They’ll never know about C Squad. And that’s okay.
Because it’s not about me. It’s not about C Squad. It’s about Jesus. It’s about expanding His kingdom one person at a time and doing whatever I’m called to do to help the kingdom. I want Jesus’ name to be brought up way more than mine.
No matter if you’re working at a summer camp, a farmer, a lifeguard, a student, financial planner, a missionary, a waitress, or whatever your profession your work is not in vain. Your work matters because in some way your work is affecting other people. Whether you see the fruit of your hard work or you have no idea the impact you are making. Keep going. The Lord is using you in so many ways.
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for The Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from The Lord as a reward. It is The Lord you are serving.” Colossians 3:23-24
