Fun Things

It makes me so happy to walk into the room that I'm staying while visiting seattle and to see that among the things I deemed most important to bring on this trip in my one backpack (just one or two changes of clothes, toiletries, computer), there's my climbing gear sitting on top of it all :) 

Tis So Sweet

Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the Lord GOD is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation. 

Isaiah 12:2

I am driving down the freeway. I catch a glimpse of a sign that reads “North I-405 Bellevue”. I realize that my chest has tightened. My pulse has probably quickened as well and I heavy in my hands and legs as my body reacts to my anxiety. If I don’t keep focus I will start to panic. I know how it goes - first I’ll start breathing faster, my chest will drop in dramatic waves. Then my heart will beat even faster, and as I give control over to the anxiety I will suddenly feel like I can’t breathe enough, my head will feel light and before long I will be in full blown panic mode, finding it difficult to perform even simple functions. Voices will be muted, I will be lost in fear.

But I have a hope in the darkness - I know this feeling. I’ve experienced it before. "Where?” I ask myself as I drive closer to this ominous sign. I have a quick flash back to more than four years earlier. 

I’m strapped into an incredibly unstable contraption that could flip over at any minute, pushing me underwater where I can’t breathe. Some people know these as a “whitewater kayak”. I’m rushing towards a churning mass of white topped waves, with only a paddle and a "personal flotation device” (aka life vest) to defend myself. This is where I know that feeling from. I’ve done this already. I know that familiar tug of panic as I rush towards something that might hurt me. I remember what this means - It means that I’ve lost focus on God and the ends that He has in store for me. And, I remember the steps to take: 1. Remember that God has me, that He will always take care of me and is control of my life. Check. Give up my need for control. Check. Shake my shoulders to remind my body to loosen up, catching it up to the decision I’ve already made in my mind and heart. Check. Now, focus. Start humming “Empty Me” by Jeremy Camp. “Holy fire, burn away my desire for anything that is not of you and is of me - I want more of you and less of me….” This helps me to constantly remind myself that God has control of me/ submit to him and also helps me to focus my thoughts on my end goal instead of the waves that threaten to topple me. I crash into the first wave and immediately drop into the trough that precedes it. I do this continually, bracing myself with my paddle, until I am through the entire rapid. Then I get caught by a tiny ripple in the river and tip, prompting me to release the restraints holding me onto the kayak and I pop up in the calm water, next to my kayak. The water is warm, I’m holding onto my kayak, and I’m not dead. In fact, I’m strangely calm. "Well huh” I say to myself. God let the plan play out a little differently than I thought it would but He stayed faithful. I’m here. I’m not horribly maimed or even out of breathe. I rested in Him, He took care of me and showed me I’m a little stronger than I realized. Interesting.

Suddenly I snap back to the present. Less than a second has passed. I look up at the sign and take a deep breathe as I start to pass under it. I shake my shoulders. The music in the car dims as I gain focus. “God, this freaks me out to no end. But, I trust in you. I submit to your plan and I know you will take care of me. I will focus on you and the positive. I will not get distracted by the bad. I love you and my deepest desire is to be close to you. Watch over me. Don’t let me lose focus of you”. With that, I pass under the sign, taking the exit.

If anyone asks, “what’s the benefit of the stuff you do at camp? Isn’t it just a bunch of adrenaline junkies trying to get their fix?”, this is the story I will tell them. The activities we do at Camp are so much more than just events. They’re lessons where a weeks worth of material has been condensed into a few hours - sometimes into a few minutes. The things we do at Camp are so important because it teaches anyone who participates lessons that we can’t learn until we experience them. Thankfully in the Camp setting we get to experience them with a degree of safety instead of having to just be in life and suddenly get hit with a really tough situation. We use the time before, during and after events to disciple those around us, helping people to understand the things God may be saying to them. Normally those lessons are even more important than the one I’ve just described. Often times God will open peoples’ eyes to big life changes that need to happen, like letting go of things we value more than God, striving after Him like our first love, trusting Him in the same way we trust a belayer, learning that the life we’ve been living is lukewarm and not at all what He intended and so much more. I am so thankful that I have gotten to grow up going to Camp Bighorn and that God has used it to have an effect on my life. I feel even more privileged that I get to be working here now. Thank the Lord for the work He is doing through Camp.

Once More Unto The Breach

Paul's Letter to the Ephesians, Chap.6 verse 10-12

10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 12 For we[c] are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

As I sit here looking over this beautiful view I am reminded of the need to be ever vigilent. Paul is right when he says that our enemy is prowling around like a roaring lion - although sometimes I'm sure our own broken nature is more than enough to take us off course. 

Let me explain. Every minute of everyday for me represents a choice to be made. It's a choice between resting in God's goodness, or getting caught up in what I choose. Right now that often means sad things, mistakes I've made, people I miss. Today, even though I'm resting with friends, looking over this beautiful view, I must not let down my guard. It's so important for us to be constantly aware of the ways the enemy gets us sidetracked. So, I will try to follow Paul's example: "No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it,[d] but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us." (Phil 3:13).

My question to you is, what will your day be like? If your day is viewed as an important battle, what course will you take? If you ever get lulled into complacency as I do, I encourage you to be focusing on "3 Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 Soldiers don’t get tied up in the affairs of civilian life, for then they cannot please the officer who enlisted them." 

Live your life with reckless abandon for Christ today. Everything is given by Him, so hold the gifts He has given you in open hands. Strive constantly to love everyone you come into contact today. Don't you know that you are being looked to as an example? You are being watched, act accordingly. Be listening to what God is urging you towards and what He is challenging you in. 

What is a Missionary Anyways?

What is a Missionary?

Just had a fun little revelation. I've always stumbled over Camp Bighorns referring to their staff as "missionaries". When we think of missionaries, even a non-Christian would think of someone who preaches about Jesus and goes off to some far away country to do so. I think most of us could agree that this is the first thing that comes to our mind. 

But let's say we dissect that definition a little bit. We can break that down into two parts. First, a missionary tells people about the Good News of Jesus Christ, that he came for us and died to make up the difference between where we are and perfection or 100%. Now that's exactly what I and the other staff at camp are doing. It just happens to be that our audience is not an exotic people group on some remote island. Instead they're 'regular' people. They come from cities and towns and churches. Many of them already consider themselves "Christians". But how many of them realize the fullness of what Jesus came todo? How many of them, or us for that matter, can describe the beautiful, powerful loving nature of God? Especially when we're surrounded by "normal life" these things get forgotten or minimized. Through adventure, we can create metaphors for Gods love and his role in our lives. We can pose important questions and even start to understand what He's asking us to do in our lives. So, these are people getting to hear about the good news, mostly in a completely new context then they've ever experienced, as well as in a fullness they've never known.  

 Now onto our next obstacle. Missionaries are sent and go to exotic places like Papua New Guinea , Kenya and China. The reason they travel to these places is to go to the people who need to hear the good news. In places like Papua New Guinea, entire people groups even have not heard and experienced Gods love and direction fully. But couldn't we say that about our own society? We and the world have such a skewed view of God, Jesus and redemption that we lose most of it's meaty truth, if not all of us. If you went to a non-believer, say your next door neighbor or the person in the office next to you, what would they say about Jesus? "Oh he was a good guy who talked about good moral stuff". You may get lucky enough to hear "he did something nice for us". And so, we can establish that our own society needs to hear the good news just as much as someone in a far off land. It just happens to be that at Camp Bighorn, they travel to us. We teach Gods truth through adventure activities and our special campus community. And since you can't just go whitewater kayaking anywhere, we bring them to rural Montana, in the middle of the wilderness where God has already prepared so many places and experiences where His lessons can be taught. 

And so, yes, we do not travel to exotic lands and translate the bible into a new language. Or maybe that's exactly what we do? Except that our version of Papua New Guinea is the great rock climbing spot behind camp. Our version of translating a bible into Tagalog is translating Gods love and truth into terms that our generation and society can understand. 

God is doing great things through the missionaries at Camp Bighorn, and I am so proud that I get to be a part of it. 

Cheers!

Students Headed Back to Prairie

Students left this morning at 7:00am. Hard to see people go that you're never going to see again and yet developed such strong bonds with regardless. Excited for their journey and hopefully I'll get to hear a little bit about how God is using them down the road. Thankfully, not all of the students are gone forever, some of them (selected as interns) will be returning to serve as Summer Staff this next season. Looking forward to good hang out time, deep conversations and many adventures.
Thank you God for the people you put in our lives, because we know that even if we only get to be with them for a short time, many of them make a lasting difference on us and how we grow.

Practicums!

Just a few pictures from the "practicums" that happened a little while ago! Practicums are a great way for students to practice running their own camp - in this case it was with a young group of boy/girl scouts and a group from Wood Creek Academy, a troubled youth ranch neighboring Camp Bighorn.