sitting in a coffee shop. listening to dale cooper's voice feeding into the speakers in here.
in our program meeting on sunday night (right before camp LITERALLY began), one of the upity ups prayed for us. and he said the most remarkable thing - - he prayed that as these families come up here hoping for recreation and relaxation, that instead, God would allow us to facilitate a weekend for them, full of re-creation. ha! SOOOOOO good!
and that should be my mindset for my entire life!
yay for college students, gotta go invest.
and i really, REALLY, miss meghan.jade. :(
6.17.2008
6.03.2008
my job...and yours.
quick stories:
last week::
each thursday night, the staff holds a skit night for the campers. and basically all week long the campers practice their skits to perform for everyone on thursday nights. well because i took my "vacation" last week, and i got thursday night slash friday off, i wasn't able to see the skits of the cabins in my trail group. but wednesday i found out that my girls cabin did their skit on me, their naturalist. so on thursday, after THE LONGEST DAY OF HIKING....EVER (extended hike, where we hike from 9am to 3pm) my girls were DYING to show me the skit since they knew i wouldn't be there to see it that night. so i sit down on the stairs outside the dining hall, and for the next 8 min, i see these 6th grade girls, stand up there and do a skit (that they made up THEMSELVES) about me. they proceeded to act out certain things that i talked about through out the week, for example, my excitement about hiking. and one girl acted like me and was totally crazy and absolutely HILARIOUS....and i sat there thinking, man, if i am this funny i would DIE to be in my own trail group!!!! (knowing how i totally don't match up to this girl at all, but it was still funny to watch!) they also acted out how i talked to them one time (totally went on the CRAZIEST tangent EVER...the FIRST DAY) about how i was left handed. anyone else left handed? cool! and do you guys know about the brain? and controlling the different sides of your body?! and how LEFT HANDERS ARE THE ONLY ONES IN THEIR RIGHT MINDS?!?!?!?!?........cricket cricket......
bAHAHAHAHAH! so funny. it made me realize how many freakin' tangents i go on! but they didn't really get the joke cuz' they don't know WHAT IN THEIR RIGHT MINDS MEANS!!! but it was still funny when the girl did it. then they were all excited about redwood trees and picking up trash and stewardship and banana slugs and all the other crazy stuff i talked about and seriously, their skit was a little long...BUT. it made me realize, man, people are listening...and not only that, THEY ARE WATCHING! and the things that i tell them STICK. and i sat there watching these girls, TOTALLY LOVE what they were doing as they imitated me.
it's so simple. yet so refreshing to hear and to see that i AM an example. whether i like or not, or FEEL it or not, or BELIEVE it, or not, i am an example to these kids. not only by what i say, but also by what i do.
cool reminder.
this week::
to go off of what i just said, about these kids are not only listening, but also WATCHING....yesterday i got a text message while on a hike. a message that was SOOOO simple, and soooooo obvious, but SUUUUUUCCCCHHHHH a good reminder that i LITERALLY stopped in my tracks. i felt my phone buzzing in my pocket the whole time i was introducing the WORLD to these kids and my phone was TOTALLY bugging me. so i actually pulled my phone out of my pocket, DURING THE HIKE, which mind you, i NEVER do, because while i'm with these kids, i want my focus to be ON THESE KIDS, but i pulled it out because it was bugging me SOOO much. and the text message read: go show Christ!
go show Christ!
that's it. so simple. yet so needed. and what a great reminder. so i thought about it while walking for a second. how can i do this with these kids? i can't TELL them about Christ, and it's hard to SHOW them right now because i JUST met them....so....hm....and so i stopped the group. i stopped the group from walking any further, and in the midst of the trail, standing amongst the beautiful pine trees, and birds chirping and wild flowers blooming, i sat there and i looked at my kids. i looked at all of them for quite sometime before i spoke (some of them got a little awkward and didn't quite know what to think) and i began to tell them about beauty. and how beauty really is in the eye of the beholder. and how to appreciate their surroundings wherever they are, whether at school, or in the redwood forest, or at home, that beauty is unique and can be found ANYWHERE if they just look hard enough. and then i told them that i see beauty in THEM. that i think that each one of them carries a significant unique beauty that was made JUST FOR THEM. and by this time, i had all of their attention. every single person in the trail group, counselors included, just looked at me, as if what i was saying was gold, like they had never heard it before. and as i looked at them and told them to appreciate themselves because THEY are all uniquely beautiful, just like the nature around us, and how THEY were special and serve a special purpose, i sat there and thought: this is what it's all about.
this is my job.
my job is go show Christ. whether that is by example, or by preaching Christ without preaching Christ. one of the HARDEST things for me to do. but i sat there and thought, man, this is the most rewarding thing i have ever said. in my whole life. KNOWING that some of these kids NEVER hear that they are beautiful, or that they matter, or that they serve a beautiful purpose, i thought to myself that this is a divine appointment. and this feels AWESOME!!!
so for my friend, my dear friend, that sent me that text, (you know who you are) you have no idea the depth of the movement in ME that you made, but also the movement in the hearts of these KIDS. so thank you for that.
the realization for me was crucial so that now i can develop different ways to share Christ and have Him move in big ways in the hearts of the campers who come next year.
this week is my last week.
what a good way to end.
last week::
each thursday night, the staff holds a skit night for the campers. and basically all week long the campers practice their skits to perform for everyone on thursday nights. well because i took my "vacation" last week, and i got thursday night slash friday off, i wasn't able to see the skits of the cabins in my trail group. but wednesday i found out that my girls cabin did their skit on me, their naturalist. so on thursday, after THE LONGEST DAY OF HIKING....EVER (extended hike, where we hike from 9am to 3pm) my girls were DYING to show me the skit since they knew i wouldn't be there to see it that night. so i sit down on the stairs outside the dining hall, and for the next 8 min, i see these 6th grade girls, stand up there and do a skit (that they made up THEMSELVES) about me. they proceeded to act out certain things that i talked about through out the week, for example, my excitement about hiking. and one girl acted like me and was totally crazy and absolutely HILARIOUS....and i sat there thinking, man, if i am this funny i would DIE to be in my own trail group!!!! (knowing how i totally don't match up to this girl at all, but it was still funny to watch!) they also acted out how i talked to them one time (totally went on the CRAZIEST tangent EVER...the FIRST DAY) about how i was left handed. anyone else left handed? cool! and do you guys know about the brain? and controlling the different sides of your body?! and how LEFT HANDERS ARE THE ONLY ONES IN THEIR RIGHT MINDS?!?!?!?!?........cricket cricket......
bAHAHAHAHAH! so funny. it made me realize how many freakin' tangents i go on! but they didn't really get the joke cuz' they don't know WHAT IN THEIR RIGHT MINDS MEANS!!! but it was still funny when the girl did it. then they were all excited about redwood trees and picking up trash and stewardship and banana slugs and all the other crazy stuff i talked about and seriously, their skit was a little long...BUT. it made me realize, man, people are listening...and not only that, THEY ARE WATCHING! and the things that i tell them STICK. and i sat there watching these girls, TOTALLY LOVE what they were doing as they imitated me.
it's so simple. yet so refreshing to hear and to see that i AM an example. whether i like or not, or FEEL it or not, or BELIEVE it, or not, i am an example to these kids. not only by what i say, but also by what i do.
cool reminder.
this week::
to go off of what i just said, about these kids are not only listening, but also WATCHING....yesterday i got a text message while on a hike. a message that was SOOOO simple, and soooooo obvious, but SUUUUUUCCCCHHHHH a good reminder that i LITERALLY stopped in my tracks. i felt my phone buzzing in my pocket the whole time i was introducing the WORLD to these kids and my phone was TOTALLY bugging me. so i actually pulled my phone out of my pocket, DURING THE HIKE, which mind you, i NEVER do, because while i'm with these kids, i want my focus to be ON THESE KIDS, but i pulled it out because it was bugging me SOOO much. and the text message read: go show Christ!
go show Christ!
that's it. so simple. yet so needed. and what a great reminder. so i thought about it while walking for a second. how can i do this with these kids? i can't TELL them about Christ, and it's hard to SHOW them right now because i JUST met them....so....hm....and so i stopped the group. i stopped the group from walking any further, and in the midst of the trail, standing amongst the beautiful pine trees, and birds chirping and wild flowers blooming, i sat there and i looked at my kids. i looked at all of them for quite sometime before i spoke (some of them got a little awkward and didn't quite know what to think) and i began to tell them about beauty. and how beauty really is in the eye of the beholder. and how to appreciate their surroundings wherever they are, whether at school, or in the redwood forest, or at home, that beauty is unique and can be found ANYWHERE if they just look hard enough. and then i told them that i see beauty in THEM. that i think that each one of them carries a significant unique beauty that was made JUST FOR THEM. and by this time, i had all of their attention. every single person in the trail group, counselors included, just looked at me, as if what i was saying was gold, like they had never heard it before. and as i looked at them and told them to appreciate themselves because THEY are all uniquely beautiful, just like the nature around us, and how THEY were special and serve a special purpose, i sat there and thought: this is what it's all about.
this is my job.
my job is go show Christ. whether that is by example, or by preaching Christ without preaching Christ. one of the HARDEST things for me to do. but i sat there and thought, man, this is the most rewarding thing i have ever said. in my whole life. KNOWING that some of these kids NEVER hear that they are beautiful, or that they matter, or that they serve a beautiful purpose, i thought to myself that this is a divine appointment. and this feels AWESOME!!!
so for my friend, my dear friend, that sent me that text, (you know who you are) you have no idea the depth of the movement in ME that you made, but also the movement in the hearts of these KIDS. so thank you for that.
the realization for me was crucial so that now i can develop different ways to share Christ and have Him move in big ways in the hearts of the campers who come next year.
this week is my last week.
what a good way to end.
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