Last week, I was so blessed to be on the staff team for a youth camp called Summit. We spent the week on Casper Mountain experiencing God in a spectacular way. It was the best week I’ve had since being home from the race.
Here are some of my takeaways from this mountaintop experience:
COMMUNITY
It was the best to be in community again. I had so much fun with everyone that was on the staff team. I loved being a part of a team again. Debriefing, laughing (a lot), praying, dancing, and being Jesus followers together was so awesome. I made some really great friends that I hope are in my life for years and years to come.
FREEDOM
There is a relationship in my past that I am not sure that I am 100% free from. I’ve come a long way, and I know that God has redeemed a bunch from it. However, it’s still something that I don’t like to talk about. Basically, I was with a man who robbed me of a bunch of things and hurt me pretty bad.
I remember one time in Mozambique my friend Kacie was teaching in church. She said “God uses every part of your story and nothing will be wasted.” I sat there thinking “yeah, right….” convinced that this specific part of my story was totally useless.
This past week at camp, I sat down with a sweet young girl who was absolutely crushed because of a past relationship that she was in. The Holy Spirit led me to share parts of my story with her. I know how good it is to hear someone say “I understand” or “I’ve been there” and I couldn’t believe that I was able to say those things to her. We prayed and talked for a long time, and related in a beautiful way.
And as I walked her and prayed with her to be free from the chains of her past toxic relationship, I felt my very own chains loosen. As she made the decision to walk in the direction toward freedom, I felt myself take a step. It was absolutely Holy Spirit magical.
SOLD OUT It was neat to see so many youth all at different stages in their spiritual walks. Somehow, seeing them all caused me to reevaluate my own walk and my own life. You know that saying “if you stand for nothing, then you’ll fall for everything.” Well, I’m finding that to be scary true. And I want my life to reflect Jesus so surely that people don’t even have time to question it. I want to be a person amongst many that you can tell in sold out for Jesus. I don’t think my life does the opposite, but I want it to be so obnoxiously clear to anyone that even walks past me on the street.
REPENTANCE
The day before campers came, Matt shared a really inspiring message to get us ready for the week. One of the questions that he asked was “does ongoing repentance characterize your life?” I thought about this hard, and realized that I have to confess a lot of the same things to God over and over again, rather that repenting and once and for all ridding my life of certain things. With that in mind, late in the week, our camp Pastor Allen Jackson (who was super awesome) shared about repentance. I’m very visual, so his imagery made this so clear in my mind. He said that “true biblical repentance is stopping, turning, and going in the opposite direction.” It makes so much sense to me to visualize myself walking toward a specific thing (a sin, a bad attitude, a thought that I shouldn’t think, etc) and physically coming to a halt, turning, and walking in the other way, where Jesus is at the end of the road. I want true repentance to be a part of my life.
I LOVE FUN
It was pretty neat to solidify my love of fun this week. We had a blasty blast at camp. Like, insane amount of laughing, jumping, dancing, goofing off, and being silly. I am a fun lover for sure. And if you’re reading this and you’re under the impression that Christians are not fun, you’ve totally got to reevaluate that thought! I know a whole bunch of super fun Christians.
I LOVE YOUTH MINISTRY
I love how God can use me when I least expect it. I love how He can stretch me outside of what I think I can do. I love how He shows me that He can give me strength and capability to do more that I imagine. I went to camp expecting to be not liked by the youth and have a hard time leading them in bible study. I have always worked with small kids, under the age of 10. I was nervous for this.
But it ended up being an amazing time! I loved it so much! I connected with many of the students and I was so encouraged by their faith, stories, openness, and joy. I will absolutely be saying yes to helping with youth again in the future.
STAYING ON FIRE
I remember when I would go to church camp when I was in youth group. It was always awesome and I never wanted to go home. It was amazing to get away from reality, escape to the wilderness, be yourself, and focus only on God. I remember that I’d get all sorts of pumped up and excited about my relationship with God. And I also remember how hard it was to go back home.
We always called it the “mountaintop experience” or the “mountaintop high” when we were getting ready to leave. Youth pastors assured their youth that the “high” we were feeling (total excitement for Jesus) will fade, and they we have to fight to keep it alive.
The race was like that for me, times a million. It was like the mountaintop high 50Xs as long and way more intense. When I came home, I knew that it would be a struggle to adjust. It’s impossible to duplicate the year I spent travelling the world with other Jesus lovers. It’s impossible to spend all the time we did on ministry, bible study, praying, team time, worship, and fun here in America where I have to have a full time and part time job. It’s just hard to stay fired up and in constant closeness to God.
In Malaysia, God gave me a word that I really didn’t understand, but I can see the application now.
“Flames stay lit.” As I envisioned old lamps with flames flying high.
That fire that He ignited in my heart can’t go out. And when it seems to dim just a little, I need to add some oil (extra Jesus time) to get it burning bigger.
So this past week was like oil in my lamp, and now I feel so fired up for Jesus.
Basically, it was an awesome week, one I’ll never forget.
lovelovelove,
Mel.
