Living With Purpose: 06/30/13

BABR Summer 2013 Week #3

As the summer goes on, I see God doing more in me and through us here at Broken Arrow. Last week was our first teen week of the summer and we didn't quite know what to expect. There were 110 campers. The work team was a group of ten from Green Valley, Illinois. It was a small team, but hardworking! Pastor Nate came with his family and a few others. It was such a breath of fresh air to see familiar faces. Nate was the speaker for the week and his theme was grace. I had eight girls in my cabin- five of them I've had at least once before. It was great to have girls I've already begun to build relationships with. Teen weeks are always more difficult even with a good group of campers, because of the late nights, extra activities, and a lot of times harder issues to deal with. God proved to me all week that He will give me exactly what I need as I ask Him- physical strength for each day, strength to get up when I stumbled spiritually, words for my campers or staff when I didn't know what to say, courage to open up my heart, and encouragement when I was emotionally depleted. God gave me several great conversations with staff and campers that really uplifted me. There were a lot of campers that stayed after skits to talk and pray. At campfire, a lot of people got up to share about close friends or relatives who have died, when they were saved, what God is teaching them, or just throw out questions they haven't had answered. They had to cut the time short at midnight. One of mine got up and shared that she had gotten far from God, but God brought her back and she rededicated her life to Christ. So much pain, so many questions, one amazing night! We ended up winning cabin of the week (which surprised me), only because my girls put in a lot of time and hard work to learn their memory verses and books of the Bible. It was really hard to say goodbye to my campers, because of how attached we had become. Many tears were shed and lots of hugs were given. I'm praying a lot of them can come back for one of the two teen weeks at the end of the summer. God has started teaching me a lot about what grace is, and this week He decided to pour it in. Our chapels were about grace, our summer devotions are about grace, and I was given an amazing book that is changing my life called Captured by Grace. Pastor Nate talked about why we need grace (we are sinners who need saved and can't do it by ourselves), grace came through Jesus Christ, God showed grace to us because he loves us, grace transforms us from the inside out so we can be who God created us to be, why God allows suffering (to make us more like Jesus- He doesn't waste our pain), and where grace can take us (to our ultimate destination- Heaven). The things God has taught me this week about grace have left me overwhelmed and speechless. To see the campers start to grasp this concept and then share it left me in awe. What a great God we serve!

"I Will Go"

To the desperate eyes and reaching hands
To the suffering and the lean
To the ones the world has cast aside
Where you want me I will be

I will go, I will go
I will go, Lord send me
To the world, To the lost
To the poor and hungry
Take everything I am
I'm clay within your hands
I will go, I will go, send me

Let me not be blind with privilege
Give me eyes to see the pain
Let the blessing You've poured out on me
Not be spent on me in vain
Let this life be used for change

I wanna live for you
Go where you lead me
I wanna follow you

BABR Summer 2013 Week #2

This was our second junior camp week. I had six campers in my cabin (a nice number to work with). They ranged in age from 8-12 years old. We had two work teams to help this week (35 or 40 people), which was wonderful after not having one last week. For chapels Pastor Matt took miracles Jesus did (the paralytic man whose friends brought him to Jesus, the woman with the blood disorder who touched Jesus, the blind man that Jesus healed) and showed how they applied to our lives in very practical ways. He used games to review each morning, which insured the campers listened to the messages. Later in the week I was able to share my testimony with two struggling campers. One of them said I was like her second mom. This confirmed why God has me here- to allow Christ to shine from me and draw these girls closer to Himself. After skits, my sister Beth came up and shared with me that she "gets it" now. God clearly showed her what Broken Arrow Bible Ranch is all about- leading campers to Christ and giving them hope beyond their difficult lives. My heart was so moved to hear this come from her. It's exactly what I've been praying for. At campfire 5 of my 6 campers went up and shared they were saved at some point in their lives. Beth also got up and shared how she was saved when she was little, rededicated her life last year at camp, being adopted, and how God is working in her. God showed me this week how far I've come in my relationship with Him and those around me. Sometimes it's hard to see where I've come from. I had a lot of fun connecting with my campers and we had many moments of laughter! It was wonderful to talk with the parents when they came to pick up their girls and have them be so appreciative for what we do here at Broken Arrow. I watched several of the girls go from timid, shy girls who wouldn't really participate to girls that were playing and interacting with others by the end of the week.