One of the most important moments in my spiritual life was when I went to Bible Camp. For me that was a Carter camp, run by Jack, Dave and Ron Carter in Colorado. It is still being run today (run by Bret Carter and Julie Oehlert) and is called Kamp Koinonia. These camps bring all sorts of memories and touch lives in so many different ways.
As scenes of the Texas flooding filled my news feed, I thought of our Bible camp a few years back and the flooding here (more on that later this week). But I also thought of all of the ways that these camps have taught and are teaching young people and parents about the grace and glory of God. God is here always and we will all experience amazing wonderful times, and difficult challenging times. But He is there to guide us through. That is what I remember learning at Bible camp.
When I first attended, I was not a Christian. I was a believer in God, but my life did not belong to Jesus Christ. And my life at times seemed to be falling apart. My parents were divorcing, my relationships within my family were strained and I didn’t know what was going to happen. It was camp that was part of what taught me that God is everywhere, all the time.
Camps like these teach us that Christians know what fun us. As a matter of fact, Christians know best how to have fun. When we love one another and are in tune with God and His will for us and our hearts and bodies, we can really have fun and experience really joy. That is one of the things I learned when going to camp and one of the things I try to pass on in 0our Bible camp weeks here.
This weekend Shirley and I will be down at Ardennen Bijbelkamp leading Jongerenkamp. This is the 15-20 year-old week and our week is almost full (21 campers). We will be looking at our identity in Christ and will be enjoying getting to know these young people. We pray that we will be a good example to them as so many were for us in the past.
We have been praying for Kamp Koinonia, Midwest Bible Camp, WCYC, Flaming Pine, King’s Kamp and many more that we have experienced in the past and know are taking place in the coming weeks. We would appreciate your prayers for us and the kids in the 4 weeks of our camp, starting this Saturday and running through August 16. I will not be posting next week (although I may post the Where oh Where Wednesday early), but you will know where we are.
(You can find pictures of all the years we have been doing camp on our picture site)
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