I’m contemplating the wild whirlwind that was the last three weeks.
It started with being a leader at high school summer camp. God began to draw me back to himself during that week and I was able to connect with people I don’t usually talk to. Having deep Bible studies every day began to give me a deep yearning for the word again. I left that week actually looking forward to the work ahead of me at middle school camp.
The week in between was the standard stress and work that comes with planning a camp for 310 students. It was nonstop. The momentum was building at that point.
Middle School camp this year was unlike any experience I’ve had. It ended up being the culmination of a season of my life.
We left on Saturday and the students were to arrive on Monday. I felt a strange feeling on Saturday all day. It was hard to explain; only that no one was specifically mean to one another, but there was a general vibe of negativity. Our work got done. We shot a video all day on Sunday while the rest of the crew continued to set up.
The students arrived as scheduled, and we were all tired as usual. Certain things we began to write off as typical glitches and minor road blocks. However, we still had yet to sit down as a group and surrender it all the Jesus.
Every set that we played began to have technical problems; major ones. Mics wouldn’t work, the sound system got struck by lightning, monitors cutting out, feedback, stage setup problems, and the list goes on.
Pastor Chet arrived a day late due to cancelled flights.
Early in the morning on Wednesday, one of our drama team members, Paul, goes into the hospital for appendicitis. He had to have surgery, thus the drama had to be re-written.
Things were happening back home such as deaths, sickness, injury.
We had a cloud of darkness over us.
My emotions were running high and I had a major spiritual break down on the second night.
We watched with joy and triumph on Tuesday night as 70 students got saved, and the last night 20 more surrendered their lives. That alone brings it all in perspective.
As a small team, we began to wage spiritual battle. We spent a night of intercessory prayer and worship that refocused us and literally transformed the lives of us in that room. It “happened” to be the exact time Paul was in the operating room.
The next day services and worship began to take on new meaning.
Thursday, the last full day of camp, we did a Jericho / Joshua like prayer walk around our auditorium. We anointed everything with oil and did a walk followed by shouts and worship.
The Spirit was there and he was moving like a mighty wind.
That night’s worship was the most indescribable worship set.
It had nothing to do with us or anything we did in our own strength.
If I could have walked off that stage I would have.
That’s been the lesson for me. I can’t get on stage and do things out of habit or a sense of pride, or anything I think I have figured out. I am nothing. My own strength and merit counts for nothing next to His holiness.
My mind is empty of the junk. I am learning the true meaning of being still and knowing…..knowing that He is God. Being here in the Georgia wilderness has been transforming.
All of this is hard to explain…. it’s hard to put into words. The beautiful thing is that God is bigger than our language, His spirit moves in ways we can’t understand. Everything is more colorful and more real.
The experience of that week, whether I can explain it or not, whether I can share it with you or not, was real and the reality is that He desires us to seek Him extraordinarily.
He will answer us in mighty ways when we run after who He is with everything.
