Expectations.
I wish I didn't have them.
Since the beginning of the race, I have been asking God to let me work at summer camp for a month. And where has he placed me? Exactly where I asked! However, it's not exactly what I was expecting… So here's how the conversation went:
Me: Hey God, can I work at summer camp this year?
God: You sure can. I'll have you there in June.
Me: Awesome! Thanks God!
God: Just remember, I said you'd be working AT summer camp.
Well, here we are. Working at a summer camp in June. Campers expected to come on the 15th. At least they were. However, the first week of camp has been canceled and campers won't actually be coming to camp until July. I got exactly what I asked for. I'm working AT summer camp.
So, what am I learning in all of this? Right now, I couldn't tell you. There is a lot happening in my mind, and even more stirring in my heart. God is teaching me things, but I can't quite put my finger on what, exactly.
In 1952, Florence Chadwick tried to swim across the ocean between Catalina Island and the California shore. She swam for fifteen hours. As her muscles began to cramp and she began to feel weak, she begged to be taken out of the water. Aides pulled her into the boat when she became too exhausted to continue. A few minutes later, they paddled through the fog, and she saw that the shore was less than a half mile away. "All I could see was the fog; I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it."
I'm going to "Stay in the Race". I've decided to give grace, one more time . To be generous, one more time. To teach one more village; encourage one more soul; swim one more stroke. To do all these things, one more time, and another time after that.
Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:13-14