In the summer of 2018, I returned to my favorite camp in Hillsboro, Indiana. For one week each year, this place has pretty much felt like my second home and I was ready to reconnect. During that week, my spiritual fire was to be lit all over again. My camp counselor had lead us up a hill in the dark (for some reason, she seemed to believe flashlights were a bad thing because everytime we would whip one out, she would tell us to put it away! :/ ) After much tripping and slugging our way to a spot on top of that hill, we sat down in a circle. With flashlights banned, it had made the trip so much harder and we had taken many wrong paths. However, it was soon evident that since the camp was out of the reach of light pollution, you could look up and clearly see every star. Even the Milky Way was evident. It was absolutely beautiful and totally worth our long excursion up the hill!
My counselor then shared her testimony, ending with when she sees Jesus face to face, she wants to say to Him that she had given it her all. In the same way, the path that Christ calls us to is not always easy or comfortable, but in the end, it is beautiful and totally worth everything we went through! I want to be able to say the same thing when I see Him face to face!
Before training camp, I felt spiritually dry and had asked God to put the same fire back inside of me as He did during that camp experience. I wanted Him to give me the same desire to give this my all! I wanted to grow in a relationship with Christ and to build my trust in Him. The first couple of days of my recent training in Georgia were definitely the hardest. Not because there was no AC, no Taco Bell nearby, or no sleep at night due to oppresive heat in our tents. What was hard was that some racers were leaving. They had been on the same path as I was and had made it this far, but after just a short time, they knew that the World Race would not be for them. I found myself comfronted with the same question: Would I have what it takes for this journey?
God saw right into my heart and cirumstance and encouraged me with this verse: So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. -Isaiah 41:10. We may feel sometimes like we are not equipped for the journey or able to do it, but God will give you what you need- your “ticket right before you get on the train” as Corrie Ten Boom liked to say. I knew I would stay. I would give this my all and God would give me whatever else I needed to accomplish what is set out before me.
Training Camp was also so much fun! I came in knowing no one and I came out feeling like these strangers were family. We endured the rough times together and enjoyed lighter moments through dance offs, trying to jump through hoops that were moving, tasting exotic foods (utensils not always an option), finding HUGE spiders in our tents, falling out of hammocks, and even one ripping in half (r.i.p. Jack’s hammock), and best of all, worshipping a God that will never leave our side.
This section of the blog is for those who were interested in me eating bugs at training camp: Yes, I ate it and I am becoming vegetarian now.
