So I attended training camp for the World Race a couple of weeks ago. I have searched long and hard and there are just no perfect words to describe what happened there. Here are some of my scrambled thoughts about what I experienced.
Ever since I have returned from training camp some two weeks ago, I have been looking for the perfect words to describe what I experienced at camp. I prayed, and prayed, and prayed, read my notes that I took while at camp, listened to sermons, talked to friends, read other racers blogs, and prayed…I could find no words.
Truthfully, I don't believe that there are any words that could possibly describe what I experienced at camp. I could tell you how it was the toughest week of my life, how it was the best week of my life, how much I LOVE every single person that I encountered at camp, how much I respect them and how beautiful their hearts are, how much fun it was to spend a week with them, how miserable some of the food was that we had to eat, how awful some of us smelled, how little of sleep I got on the bus, (we had to sleep 59 people on a 44-passenger bus with all of our gear) how much I learned, how I have never witnessed most of the things that I witnessed at camp, in my life, how thankful I am…but that wouldn't cut it.
There aren't enough keys on this keyboard to express what I feel. There are no words to make you understand how hard this week was, how great this week was, how the amount of LOVE that I have for every single individual at camp is endless, how much of a light that they have been for me in my life, how much I respect them. I can't make you smell how awful some of us smelled. I can't make you taste some of the food that we had to eat, I can't recreate the bus scene for you and watch you struggle to shut your eyes for a couple of hours. But I can tell you what REALLY happened to me at camp…
When I left camp I prayed that God would allow me to take the things that I had seen and learned and bring them back home with me, and be a light for Him. I have never seen God the way that I saw Him at camp. I wondered why I had never seen this God before or why I struggle to see Him sometimes still. He opened my eyes and camp and is still in the process of clearing them out for me. Something that He showed me, that will never be lost on me, is that the God that I witnessed at training camp is the exact same God that is with us EVERY SINGLE DAY. He did not change. I asked Him to come close and He did. He changed me. He changed my heart. Our God is SO GOOD. He is strong. He is faithful. He is merciful. He is full of grace. He is love. He is jealous, and He is greater than all. There is SO MUCH POWER in the NAME OF JESUS. The power to break all chains. So many of us struggle constantly with every day things such as not feeling skinny enough, not feeling good looking enough, not having enough money, social status, popularity, the list goes on. Satan ties shackles from hopelessness, insecurities, weaknesses, and tries to bind them to us. We are not strong enough to break free on our own. But our God is STRONGER AND GREATER THAN ALL of those things! He is never far away. He is right there with us in our pain and brokenness, all we have to do is reach out our hands to Him and let Him pull us from our chains, shattering them, and leaving them behind. Satan will try to lie to us and make us feel shame from the sins that we commit, and the mistakes that we make. He tries to make us believe that those things are who we are. But THAT IS A LIE. We are not defined by our mistakes and by our sin because Jesus died for us and wiped all of those things clean. Our identity is in Christ and Christ alone. And THANK GOD. Because what a beautiful identity that is. We are all beautiful sons and daughters of Christ and there is no one, or any thing, that can take from us, what Jesus died to give us. NOTHING. Don't ever forget who you are and that you are worth it. I pray that we will always remember that.
I guess what I'm really trying to get across is that while at camp, God opened my eyes and allowed me to see TRUTH. He will do the same for you. He is right there. All you have to do is call on His name. There is power in the name of Jesus.
