It’s taken me multiple attempts to write this blog. I’ve found it’s really hard to put into words what I’m trying to say when what I experienced was something sooooo cool. “Spring break in Rushville, Missouri was the best week of my life”… is just not very convincing. My youth group takes a trip to a camp called God’s Mountain every year, and to be honest I had never been interested in it. Spring break is for going to Florida to sit on a beach, or to Colorado to ski…not for Missouri. To be completely honest, me signing up for the trip was a last attempt to get out of town for spring break. It was my last resort. God had other plans though, plans that happened to be better than mine……… funny how that works.
As the trip approached, I WASN’T EVEN EXCITED TO GO. I started packing at 11:30pm the night before and showed up to church the next morning ready to go. After a slightly awkward but fun 5 hour van ride we arrived at the camp. It was in the middle of nowhere and it consisted of about 4 buildings. A good part of the camp is run off of donations, so physically the camp wasn’t really anything special. For some reason, I was just super happy to be there.
My main work project for the week was clearing a trail to be used by the camp in the summer. It was SO FUN. We had one, half working chainsaw, a couple axes, and some snippers. While we were working on the trail, I was able to have good, real conversations with people that were all so genuine. It’s so rare to come across people that actually care about you. Chapel time was my favorite. We did ‘house worship’ with no microphones or electric guitars. It was so simple, but so good.
On the second night, after supper and before dinner, we climbed up on the roof and sang along to some songs as my friend Molly played her ukulele. The sunset was incredible. As we sat there, I just tried to take it all in. Heaven seemed within reach. Those moments were so pure. As the week went on, we were able to build relationships that were FULL of laughter, and lots of meaningful conversations. Every single person there had so much love to give. I can’t tell you the number of times I had a conversation about just HOW HAPPY we felt, the authenticity of joy we all felt was insane. The thing that really hit me was that, it doesn’t just happen that 40 some people experience such joy at some camp in the middle of Missouri…….God was there. He was SO present. This trip was something God knew I needed long before I did. And to think I wasn’t even excited to go.
One of the days, we were moving bricks for one of our work projects. A girl that I had become friends with over the trip looked at me and said, “This might be really weird to say, but when I picture Heaven, it looks kinda like this.” We were MOVING BRICKS WITH OLD RUSTED WHEELBARROWS and for some reason, I KNEW EXACTLY WHAT SHE WAS TALKING ABOUT. Heaven seemed SO close. To think that Heaven is actually 10000x better than that kinda blows my mind.
On our last night, during chapel they had us watch the music video to ‘So Will I’ by Hillsong (great song, listen if you haven’t). Before the music even started, I was in tears. I can’t even really explain why. Other than the fact that God was there. That night, we had so many good conversations. A lot of people were willing to share their story, and God showed up in every single one. He shows up and his love is OVERWHELMING, in the best way. I learned SO MUCH that week, but one thing I really took away was that, God will ALWAYS meet you, right where you are. You just have to be willing to let him in. If God is working in Rushville, Missouri, He can work everywhere in the world. And He is. It’s so cool to know that the same God I felt in Missouri is the same God that is changing hearts all over the world and it makes me realllllllll excited to do the World Race.
