Before reading this blog there is something you have to understand…
I LOVE church camp.
As a kid I loved attending church camp, and now as an “adult” I love being leader at camp. I remember loading up the car every year, stopping by Wal Mart to buy all the beef jerky and gummy worms needed to survive a week, and we headed on out to the rim of the Palo Duro Canyon. After the goodbyes were said and the hugs were given I was quickly off to the swimming pool to meet the rest of my cabin mates (lets be honest, I was always the first one there so my cabin mates would come and meet me.)
Anyways, being a leader at camp is my favorite time of the year. For me a week at camp trumps spring break, Christmas, and New Years Eve all combined times 10.
CAMP GIVES ME LIFE.
The worship, late nights, deep talks, camp food, pouring into others while learning so much for myself and giving every thing I have almost feeling like I have to crawl on to the bus to head back home rejuvenates every part of my being.
As I was getting ready for The World Race last year, I missed camp. So thinking bout camp this year is something that crosses my mind often.
But something has changed.
I was sitting at lunch today thinking about how excited I am for camp, and how much fun its going to be. I was thinking about the mud pit, zip lines, and camp food. I was thinking about the late nights and early mornings. But my mind never went to “wow I hope we take a ton of students, who go and have the week of their life, hanging out and doing all these camp activities.” The only thing I could think about was how excited I was for students to walk away from camp and say “Wow, I met Jesus this week, and man, God rocks.”
You see, The World Race has been a lot like camp for me.
Hang with me here, I expected to leave the World Race with a ton of stories, and those I have a ton of, but if I have to sum up my experience it would be “Wow, I met Jesus this year, and yall, God rocks.”
Something about my perspective has shifted from all about me and my desires to Him and His desires.
As my friend Colt Wakefield said, “Our goal should never be to entertain. Our goal should be what ever we are doing and where ever we are doing it we want people to feel Jesus. We want people to walk away knowing the power and love of Christ.”
So cheers to the last few days here on the race, cheers to living on mission, AND CHEERS TO CHURCH CAMP, because church camp rocks.
