Getting ready for the summer

As we return from a wonderful visit getting to know our granddaughter, we are turning our sights to the various activities planned for the summer. Mostly this means our summer Bible camp weeks. I will be directing the Benjamin week (8-11 year-olds) and will be teaching at the Family Camp week. 

We are excited to be working with a team for Benjamin camp that is mostly made up of members from Maastricht. We will welcome our young Ukrainian couple as counselors for the first tie. Our colleague, Karla will be teaching, together with a sister from the church in Eindhoven. They make a great team and have worked together before. We will have Karla’s daughters in the kitchen together with a sister from Maastricht who will help out. Shirley will be there as acting nurse and help as well. 

We have a full group of young kids coming for this week which will focus on the miracles of Jesus. We had to close registration for the boys because we were full. The girls side is also almost full. This means, for our camp, that we have 25 campers, but doesn’t not count a few more that we are getting who will be staying in tents for a few days. These kids will come from all around Belgium and the Netherlands. 

It is exciting to be able to take part in these camp weeks. One of the things that I do with camp director is give church members a chance to learn and grow as helpers and servers. Getting a good team together is always a challenge, but the week ends up being a wonderful time to grow together. It is also so exciting to see the campers discover God in new ways and have examples of people who know God and follow Him in our daily lives. 

For a lot of these children, camp is a time to see friends that they may not see at any other time in the year. It is also a time that they will be challenged to do things they might not do at home. So they will try new foods, clean up in the kitchen, make their own beds, keep the bathrooms clean, and learn how to work together with other kids. They will also be challenged by the lesson material about who God is and what He truly means in our lives. 

There will be 4 weeks of camp this summer. The older teens (15 years old and up) begin in the 3rd week of July, followed by the Benjamins. The Teens (12-14 year-olds) start in August followed by the family week. Keep each of these weeks in your prayers - the camp teams and the campers attending. 

We know that there are camp weeks all over taking place as well and have been praying for them. Our Ukrainian couple who will be counselors have returned from Cam Amerikraine (held in Poland this year). We know of groups meeting in Colorado, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. What a blessing these times can be. We pray that God uses each of these moments mightily to touch hearts for faith in Him. 

A time to…

As we get older I am struck (again) by how amazingly God works in our lives, without us knowing exactly how things are going to work out. I still feel like a young man - and think I am until I walk past a mirror or try to pick something up from the floor. But when I look at my life, I see how God continues to use us every day in all manner of ways. I am thankful that I have learned certain things from life that I can pass on to others, but I realize that I still have so much more to learn. 

I remember well so many people who influenced my life for Christ as I was growing in faith. I gave my life to Christ in my senior year of high school. My best friend was the one who brought me to faith, introducing me to Jesus through the Bible and through his own life. His father was the preacher at the congregation we attended and was also a mentor for me as a young man. And there were many along the way as I went to York College. 

As I grew, I realized that I wanted to help others grow in faith as well, but this is not something that one learns, like a job. It is simply sharing what you have already learned with those around you. And you may never really see the results of those moments of sharing. Just as with me, many people touched my life in moments and I never really got the opportunity to tell them how they had influenced me. 

This is something I learned along the way (from many people who influenced me): don’t worry about seeing how God uses you; just keep living for Him and He will be able to use you mightily as He sees fit. So we continue to do all that we can in reaching out to those around us. 

We have been working with Bible camp even longer than we have been here in Belgium. This is a place where we can be an influence on many young hearts and help train some older members of the church in being leaders. But we also realize that we are influenced by these young people as well. How many times have we learned a lesson of amazing faith from the young ones in our care? And so many of them and their desire to learn and put into practice what they are learning is also an example for all of us who are older. 

This past week we had the English-speaking Bible study at our place. Most of our English-speakers are young (under 25) and still learning so much - in faith and in life. It is fun to be able to share some of the basic truths and tips for life that we have learned. We sometimes have to remember that young people may have fewer people from whom they can learn these days. Everything can be found on the internet, but we learn from the people around us who show us how it really works. We want to be those people. 

And at the same time, we are encouraged and influenced by these same young people’s hunger and desire for the word of God and His life and leading. “Was I that eager when I was young?” I wonder. It encourages me in any case to be that eager for God now, today, no matter how old I am. Nothing, least of all age, can keep me from walking with Jesus in the light. 

How often have people said: I am too young (Gideon)? And yet is was the young people who have been an example (like Samuel, David, the boy sharing his lunch). How often have people said: I am too old (even when they were only middle-aged)? And yet it remains God who works even when we think it impossible (think of Sarah, the priest Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth). And all of those who think they are not good enough or are too sinful (like Rahab, Simon Peter and others)? God can use all of us if we allow Him to work through us. 

We are so very thankful for all of the people God has used in our lives. And we pray that we will continue to be useful in helping others find and follow Him. Every day, in every way. 

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.    1 Timothy 4:12