April, Oh April

  So April has come and gone. Man, just when I thought I thought I had it all together, April flies right by. This month has been a good, challenging, and a month filed with growth.  First of all, God never fails to remind me of how much I desperately need to be trusting him. I feel like this is a constant lesson that I am learning, but it is defiinently a good lesson to be learning.  Recently I have been more adamant about looking into, and researching where I will be going to school, after I am finished with the discipleship program. God has made it clear to me that there is a big difference between what I want, and what he has planned. I know that is going to be a process of application to different school, and hold fast, and trusting in what God has for me. It is something that I am not looking forward to going through again, but am exited for the future, and what God will do. 

We were doing some training on the climbing wall that we have here at camp, and we decided to do some climbing on the most challenging portion of the wall. I ha done it before, but though t I would give it another shot because I had never made it to. I made it about 3/4 up the wall, when I decided that I didn't want to go any further. I stopped because I was afraid of falling, and even though I knew I was safe,I continued to be afraid. God spoke to me there on the wall. He told me that I have been holding on too tight for too long, to certain areas of my life. I just have to be able to trust him to guide me, and keep me safe. I believe that he will with all my heart, but the fact of surrendering over my life, and dieing to self, is a constant battle. 

I thank God for what He is teaching me, and how is challenging me. I am eternally thankful for the sacrifice that Jesus made 2000 years ago, to save me from myself. So often I see myself getting in the way of what God is trying to do. I tell myself many times, to just step aside, and let God reign in my life. Man is that a hard lesson to learn.

This is the verse that God has laid on my heart for this month,

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:
   "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline,
      and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
 because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
      and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."
-Hebrews 12:1-7

The Merry Month of March

   Man has this month just flown by. Before i know it summer will be here, and I'm sure that will fly by also. This month has been jam packed full of awesome and exiting events, that I will begin to tell you about.
  First of all, this month of March has brought one major blessing that really speaks to my soul. That is the fact that the warm weather is here, and hopefully here to stay. I know that I am no meteorologist, but we have somewhat decided that if we dress for the weather that we want then, surely it will come. So far it has been working, and I actually enjoy wearing shorts and flip-flops again. I have to admit that I kind of did enjoy the snow a little bit, for maybe the first couple of weeks it was here, and off an on, when the occasion arose to throw snow balls at people.
  This month we have been reading the book titled "Revolution in World Missions" by K.P. Yohannan. He is the founder of the organization, Gospel for Asia. There focus is on supporting and building up the indenginous missionaries that are in Asia, to spread the good news of Jesus Christ to every town, and city in the continent of Asia. K.P offers a fresh perspective on the culture, and the quality of life that we have here n the United States. He shares his observations, and feelings, as he moved from the village life of Asia, to the blessed, and often times taken for granted life that we have here in America, and most of the western world. Some of the small things that we see as insignificant are such a huge deal over there. Such as having a bicycle to ride or even having a pair of shoes to wear. K.P says that it is a rare occasion for even the head of the household to own a pair of shoes, but here in the United States, every person has multiple pairs of shoes to choose from. This book has really challenged me, to be thankful fo the opportunity to live in a country where we have all these blessings. I am thankful for having food to eat for three meals a day, I am thankful for having more than one outfit to choose from, I am thankful for having shoes to wear on my feet, i am thankful for the car that I have to travel. There are many more things that I am thankful for being blessed with, and God continues to reveal to me more and more things that I need to be  thankful for.
   Just this week we have finished Part 1 of our Precepts study in Genesis. The main focus of this part was the Chapters 1 and 2. We got to dig deeper in each day of creation, and lean the vastness, power, and variety in God;s creation. This last week we focused in on Go's creation of mankind. God created us to be in relationships, to be workers, to be in his creation, and appreciate the things that he has created for us, and even the fact that He created us. It continues to blow my mind to think about how awesome, and perfect God's creation is. He was so purposeful, and mindful of every little detail, and how all the different aspects of creation intertwine to make this world work. I am exited to continue into the following chapters in Genesis, and to continue to learn what GOd has to teach me about the beginning, and the first people that were living.
   In case you didn't know I turned 19 this month. It;s weird to think about still technically being considered a teenager because I don't feel like it at all. But that is besides the point. My birthday was awesome. Everyone here a camp really made me feel special on that day. I got my Spiderman birthday cake, we had chicken salad, and chicken fetuchinni alfredo for lunch (my favorite), and my fellow Outfitters, surprised me and took me to a concert. We went to the Winter Jam concert in Grand Rapids, and let me just say it was AMAZING. The bands that were there are, Mikes Chair, Newsboys, New Song, Tenth Avenue North, and Fireflight, and Third Day. We ended up sitting right in the front row. The base subwoffers were right in front of us, right up to eye level. It was loud, and my ears were ringing for a couple of days, but it made for a really awesome and memorable birthday. Thanks Guys!!!

I am exited to see what April has in store! Bring on the warmer weather!!!!

 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.  - 1 John 4:7-12

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

This month we just started a new inductive Bible study called Precepts.The study that we are doing is on the book of Genesis. It has been a really challenging experience so far. This Bible study is a more academic study than than any Bible study that I have done before. Although at first glance I was really skeptical of the intensity of it, I think I am going to enjoy the study, especially because the things I have been learning already. We have only really gone into the first 5 chapters, but the things that i am learning are incredible, and I can’t wait to se what else I will learn through out the time we are doing this. In the past I have just kind of known the things that it says in the Bible according to creation, mostly due to Sunday school when I was a child. Now I am beginning to discover for myself, what it is that God did in those “beginning” days, and how that impacts my life today. It is crazy to think about, and I know that I am not able to understand it all, but that just adds to the awesomeness of it.

God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, an subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth

. -Genesis 1:27-28

The book of the month this month, is "Secrets of the Vine" by Bruce Wilkinson. It goes in depth looking at John 15, to teach how to live an abundant live by abiding in Christ. It is really cool to see how the creation of the grape vine, is such a perfect example of how we are in relation to Jesus and the Father.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me, and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing

.

-John 15:5

Earlier this week, I was at Christian Camping Conference Association(CCCA) Michigan Sectional. It was an awesome opportunity to get to meet and get to know the other camps that join in this ministry. It was also good to step outside of Bair Lake and see what other groups are doing, and how they do things. This conference was also a renewing time of spiritual growth. The speaker at the conference was Ron Hutchcraft. He had lots of challenging and encouraging things to say. He focused on the need out there to rescue the lost, and be disciples of Christ.