The snowball continues to roll downhill... as we get incrementally more tired the days and moments are more zany, but sweep by more quickly. In fact the very reason I started this process last year was to combat that tendency in myself. I committed to those back home that I would record here my daily stories because at the end of the summer I usually only can say "it was awesome, and I'm exhausted" and by then I've lost so many of the details where the grace of God is so evident.
Yesterday at the 'Lake' we had a great time. I accomplished my mission and walked away with only minor skin irritation but nothing even resembling a sunburn! Against the eventual day that I'm not on the ball I also recently acquired a bottle of that delightful green goop that makes you not want to curl up and die after a sunburn. If there is one thing I can bank on it's that I'm going to be absentminded or distracted enough to forget at some point.
Michael Card – Be Thou My Vision has been the song of the morning. I love the lyrics and how the feel of the old text just speaks to me in a way that modern praise choruses (or even the same song with updated lyrics) fail to do.
Before I run off on a rabbit trail I guess I better talk about last evening... During the day it was a bit of a blur, I don't have a group assigned to me so I spent a while helping carry around one of the super little tykes and generally trying to figure out what I should be speaking on in the evening. I think I wrote about 4 different things fairly completely before I eventually landed where I decided to stay for the night...
We started by reviewing the last few nights and spoke briefly on faith and weakness and once again how the familiar and potentially boring topics are the things we really need to lean into and make exciting and meaningful again. That the fundamentals are sources of growth time and time again.
This evening we read the old (mostly familiar) story about Jonah. But instead of focusing on the typical "you can't hide from God" theme that most sermons will cover we instead spent most of our time focusing on chapter 4. In chapter 4 we hear about how Jonah was so self-centered and petty that he had the same response to losing a little plant as to when God saved 120,000 people instead of destroying them (as Jonah wanted). We then very briefly talked about the story of Job and the option he was given over and over to choose a self-centered answer and "curse God and die" but he instead took the road of faithfulness.
I then challenged those there (and you reading if you're not the same people) to look at our own lives... strip away all the complications we put on things and look very honestly at how you respond to God when it comes in conflict with your ideal world. Do you respond selfishly and fight the plan, whatever it is? or do you make a conscious choice to take the next step in faithfulness even if it's hard... I know I often choose selfishness, but It's something I'm working hard on.
I thought it went well and that God's word and truth were presented in a way that my thoughts will fade and His truth remain... which is the goal after all. If you've been praying for me and the group here, I greatly appreciate it. I am not talented enough, nor proficient enough to be even a little good at this without God's intervention and aid.
I also must confess that this morning I'm feeling a bit old... As mentioned a few days ago I've been told I'm a bit more introverted at times, and this morning I heard that I've got a super-excited and crazy camp voice that comes out sometimes... but that It's less frequent this year. My perspective seems wider... but that makes the put-your-head-down and bull through style less helpful because I can see the mess that makes sometimes. I can't help but wonder that when I did so in the last few years that I've done those around me a great disservice... and If any of you readers are among that number, I'm very sorry.
I also miss the fellowship of the rest of the team... Haven is so far away at times, and I look at the staff this week and can't help but think that this crew would make those at haven stronger and vice-versa.
Before I end up writing a novel here... I'll sign off for the day. We're headed to a local farm with the kiddos and then it's back up the mountain for supper, chapel, and whatnot. Tonight and tomorrow are all we have left... and I can't wait for some recuperation rather than maintenance rest.
-Nick
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