Let’s talk about training camp for a second.
I came home last Saturday with a soaking wet tent, a bag full of dirt stained clothes, a full heart, and 40 new friends who are absolutely on fire for the Lord. Last week changed my life.
I could sit here and talk about a lot of things. I could talk about what it was like to be dripping sweat from just standing outside. I could talk about the food we ate and how we were always still hungry after each meal. I could talk about the dance parties we had and the crazy games we played. I could talk about what it was like to be absolutely terrified in a tent in the middle of a field during a massive thunderstorm. I could talk about what it was like to sleep on a school bus for a night, or how much fun it was to jump in a lake with all of my squadmates. I could talk about cold bucket showers and granddaddy long legs and how good it felt nice to not care about what I looked like. I could even talk about how I got strep throat and had to go to urgent care (that wasn’t very fun).
I could talk about all of those things, and while I would love to talk about all of those things, I’m not going to. They didn’t change my life. Yes, they had some type of impact. But there wasn’t a life altering, earth shattering change that happened inside of me because of those experiences.
But God.
I want to talk about one of the many things God showed me last week. He completely wrecked me in every way possible. It was life altering. It was earth shattering. I’m going to attempt to explain one of the ways in which that happened.
The last night of worship, one of my squad mentors came up to me and said God wanted her to tell me something. He wanted me to know that He has a Hosea-type love for me. She told me “God wants you to know that he is completely sold out for you.”
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the book of Hosea, it’s about a prophet who is told by God to go and marry a prostitute. He is told to love her. To pursue her.
“When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, ‘Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.’” Hosea 1:2
Throughout Hosea, you see how Israel forsook the Lord. You see His anger, His mercy, and His never-ending love for the people. The book of Hosea represents God’s love for us. He loves us, he pursues us. Even though we are dirty. Even though we are unfaithful. Even though we suck.
I’ve gotten really good at running away from God. And yet…
He keeps bringing me back to him. I am unfaithful to him. And yet his love for me does not change. It doesn’t matter what I’ve done it my past, and it doesn’t matter how many times I’ve tried to replace God with other things. He holds me dear.
His love for me is fierce. It is wide. It is deep.
“Take me out to the middle of the river. I want to drown in the good ole river of your love.” We sang those two lines probably 100 times during worship last week. It wasn’t until that last night when I finally realized just how big and wonderful God’s love for me is, and how I much I just want to be completely overcome by it.
