Fifth grade camp is a myriad of endless questions and repeated answers. It is shared looks with other counselors as you listen to the life-altering dramas of fifth graders. It is silly songs at the top of your lungs around a campfire because I'm 20, but that's what I do.
"Leah, what are we doing next?" "Leah, can I go to the pool during free time?" "Leah, can I go to the bathroom?" Leah, Leah, Leah... to the point where I contemplate changing my name so they can't find me.
But Clarissa's joy and Taylor's smile remind me why I do what I do.
My campers may whine more then any child in the entire universe, but when that child grabs my hand and says to me so quietly, "Leah, I think I know what I want to do when I grow up."
"What's that?" I reply.
She looks up at me with those eyes so desperate for love, but filled with so much trust, and says, "I want to be a missionary."
My heart melts.
Thursday night, as the evening commences and the invitation to know Jesus is looming on the horizon, I pray for my girls. And as I flip through my Bible, I stumble upon the revolutionary passage that blows all the words we've been learning this week out of the water.
1 Corinthians 15:36 What you sow does not come to life unless it dies...What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
These seeds that have been sown this week are only valuable if they die. These seeds that tell these children that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our lord. These seeds I have been planting faithfully about the fruits of the spirit as I desperately pray these girls will learn to love and see how kindness changes all. These seeds won't matter unless they die. Unless these seeds recieve the light of the Son and the Living Water my work here will have been in vain.
"Leah, what are we doing next?" "Leah, can I go to the pool during free time?" "Leah, can I go to the bathroom?" Leah, Leah, Leah... to the point where I contemplate changing my name so they can't find me.
But Clarissa's joy and Taylor's smile remind me why I do what I do.
My campers may whine more then any child in the entire universe, but when that child grabs my hand and says to me so quietly, "Leah, I think I know what I want to do when I grow up."
"What's that?" I reply.
She looks up at me with those eyes so desperate for love, but filled with so much trust, and says, "I want to be a missionary."
My heart melts.
Thursday night, as the evening commences and the invitation to know Jesus is looming on the horizon, I pray for my girls. And as I flip through my Bible, I stumble upon the revolutionary passage that blows all the words we've been learning this week out of the water.
1 Corinthians 15:36 What you sow does not come to life unless it dies...What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
These seeds that have been sown this week are only valuable if they die. These seeds that tell these children that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our lord. These seeds I have been planting faithfully about the fruits of the spirit as I desperately pray these girls will learn to love and see how kindness changes all. These seeds won't matter unless they die. Unless these seeds recieve the light of the Son and the Living Water my work here will have been in vain.
But praise be to God that he will make these seeds alive. His love is deep and great and wide.
I watched the seeds come to life.
The counselors head to the side of this perfect outdoor chapel and the pastor speaks to these kids who come from so many different scenarios and backgrounds about a hope that will meet them wherever they have been.
And 2 of my girls stand up and walk to where I'm standing. Our prayers worked. Two of my campers who have never heard the gospel before ask this Jesus that they've only known for a week into their heart, stepping out in faith that he will meet them exactly where they are. They believe that simple truth that so many of us adults try to weigh down with laws and rules and chains: but God demonstrates his great love for us that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. And that if we believe in our hearts that Jesus is lord and confess with or mouths that God raised us from the dead we will be saved. That's it.
The simplicity of this gospel is revolutionary.
With a childlike faith lets embark on this journey together that all we need is a childlike faith that God will meet us right where we are at. He will turn these dead seeds into something beautiful.
Because the gospel is not what you've heard.
It is revolutionary.
