reaping a harvest

I look forward to and pray for middle school camp all year.  [I'm pretty sure I anticipate it as much as more than the campers.]  It's week away from home spent with middle schoolers and adult staff at Woodland Christian Camp, where we sweat through the hot temperatures of June in a variety of activities and delve into God's truth about how great He is, how much He loves us, and how to better serve Him.

Above all, love each other deeply, 

because love covers a multitude of sins.

1 Peter 4:8

During my quiet time on the first day of camp I read 1 Peter 4:8, which reminded me of Romans 12:9 -- Don't pretend to love others.  Really love them.  Those verses immediately became my prayer for myself and fellow staff for the week.  It's hard to fathom that some children arrive at camp unknowing what it means to be loved, and then there's other kids who can tell you exactly what it means to love and be loved.  Regardless of the students' understandings of love though, they're middle schoolers who we shared cabins with, sat at the breakfast, lunch, and dinner table with, brushed our teeth with, tossed frisbees with, worshiped and prayed with, followed everywhere, and were followed everywhere by for a week.  It'd be easy to pretend to love them as our patience grew thin, which is exactly why my prayer was for our love to be deep and genuine for these children.  After all, if the kids can't understand what it means to be loved by another human, how can they begin to grasp the love the Lord has for them?

Working with kids can be difficult, especially when they're stubborn and already know everything there is to be known. [haha] It'd be easy to wave your white towel in surrender, thinking that all the camp food, lack of sleep, and moody pre-teens are just too much to handle.  On Wednesday, Craig shared a verse he'd been praying over us:

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time 

we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Galatians 6:9

God works in wonderful, miraculous ways, and sometimes the campers get worn down, too. They let their guards fall for just enough time for God to work in them.  He's able to get into their hearts and minds, and then through conversations and prayer, the students are able to make confident decisions about their lives.  Deciding to accept Christ as Lord.  Deciding to rededicate their lives to Christ.  Deciding make changes in the ways they're living and how they're loving others.

10 middle school students were baptized by the end of the week [and many, many more were interested and making plans for baptisms when they returned home] -- Talk about reaping a harvest!  Praise God!