Another Start

A second session came to a close and once again transitions in Young Life are hard. We literally watch a group of fellow believers leave who we have just spent a month of pouring into and learning from, and say hello to a new group of excited friends who we need to be just as excited about getting to know. The two groups basically just trade spots on the Princess as they arrive and leave. But within this heart break of trying to adjust to a new group the Lord has blessed getting to know these wonderful new people.

Within three days I started to bond with one of my summer staff on ODC. He and I just felt a really quick connection with one another that just took off. Within 72 hours of knowing each other he found out that I would be going home for a week during his session. His comment was something like this, "What am I going to do for a week?" And after about 96 hours him and I were sharing one on one conversations about doubting and how the Lord can teach us so many things. I can just tell that this is a relationship that has been appointed by the Holy Spirit. I just pray that the Spirit leads me in it.

Tonight I started to chat with these two girls on summer staff regarding the book Forgotten God and the mainly the Holy Spirit. It was another conversation that was totally annointed by the Holy Spirit. We talked about how the Holy Spirit is working in us and let me tell you it was awesome. I am just excited to see what different conversations I have with them throughout this month.

Kramer and I got our Erasing Hell books from the store the other day. We are stoked to read them. We are trying to see if some of the other interns would be interested in reading it with us. I would love to make it into a sort of Bible study. When I read the first line of the introduction it said something like this, "If you are excited to read this book you have issues." That kind of made me rethink my motives in reading this book. For some reason.. still excited but maybe I am not all that excited in the news that I will hear I suppose.

Tomorrow is my day off. I expect the Holy Spirit to turn my head and make me have intentional time with Him. We need to expect God to show up because if we don't then what is faith really... because last time I checked the Bible it says

"Faith is being sure of what we Hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1

Lets be sure and certain and expectantly looking for God to show you something. If we don't we are just putting God in a carrying bag that we just like to pull out whenever He is convenient. Whenever we want Him to show up then we will ask Him and really believe, only when you really want to see Him. What we need to do is constantly be in touch with what God wants us to do and look for and see. We need to expect Him to be there... ALWAYS.

Joy and Peace

Intern fun nights are definitely highlights for the each week. This past intern fun night was CRAZY. We decided to try to do as many things in camp in one night. One of the coolest things about the intern fun nights is that they are always a surprise for the interns except for those that plan them(me, cody, emma, and katie). So the night began with all the interns running through the ropes course. We then got them together and told them to follow us as we ran them through the obstacle course. So as we are muddy and wet and starting to get cold we lead the group to the outer dock. As we arrive we tell the group that we are going to go night zip lining into the inlet. And the night doesn't end there... We then run into the camp and jump into the 80 degree pool to warm up a little. After we get out we head over to Hamiltons for some coffee and cocoa. Needless to say it was a solid night.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy. Romans 15:13

So lately I have been going through every verse that Forgotten God mentioned in one chapter of the book regarding the Holy Spirit. When this one popped up the other day I knew God really wanted me to focus on it. I love that the Holy Spirit will overflow hope which fills us with peace and joy. If we stay in touch with the Holy Spirit and trust in its leading then joy and peace won't be something we have to learn or try to have. It will be natural for us.

Needtobreathe

My favorite band is Needtobreathe. There love for Jesus and music is evident in a lot of their songs. Their songs just make me happy. I was talking with my fellow intern Kramer, who also shares in this love for Needtobreathe and he asked me one day if I had heard how they got that band name. He followed by telling me this story...

When Bear Rinehart(lead singer) was 18 years old he went to his father(who is a pastor) and asked him, "Dad when do you know when you need got enough?" His father took him down to the water by their house and had Bear go in with him. He then grabbed Bear by the neck and held him under the water. Just when Bear was about to drown he brought his son out of the water and he said, "When you need God as much as you need to breathe, that's when you know you need him enough." Pretty crazy cool way to get a band name. I would speculate that Bear's experience with his father is something that has changed his life forever because I know when I think about it gets me thinking of how much I want to know God. Am I wanting Him enough? Am I wanting Him as much as I need to live? That He is my substance to life. I want to live this way. I want to breathe in His Spirit. I want to be reminded that every breath is for Him. It isn't my own.

But, as it is written,

"What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him"—

these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 1 Corinthians 2:9-10

When I read this verse I knew I was reading something that was thought provoking. Through this passage I see how the Holy Spirit POWER is something that we can't even imagine. This passage talks about the Love of God and how God himself reveals the depth through His Holy Spirit. If that doesn't motivate you to find the Holy Spirit yourself then I don't know why you are wasting your time with the whole Christian thing. We are always trying to pin down how to define God's love and how it works. NEWS FLASH---- we aren't supposed to totally figure it out on our own. That is what the Holy Spirit is doing within us. Just reread that verse. It is sooooo deep I just have to keep reading it over and and over and I still don't totally comprehend the power and magnitude of this sentence. All I can do is seek the Holy Spirit. I'll let Him reveal to me in His time.

Came down with a bit of a fever today.. Pray for healing so I can serve up to what God wants me to do.

Exciting night

There is nothing like getting called from the intern office by Sharon(head of kitchen) to come quick because there is something going wrong. At about midnight, Sharon came rushing into the intern office asking for Andrew and then requested that the rest of us (me, james and joel) come as well. We come to the kitchen to see that the food storage's roof seems to be raining down. We quickly run up to Capilano which is a cabin right above the storage space to try to diagnose the problem. As we arrive we are welcomed by an inch of water covering the entire floor. We are soon to find out that this water is all caused from an overflowing toilet that hasn't stopped running. We quickly plunge the toilet and stop the water. We close down the night by mopping up the remaining water on the bathroom floor, as well as taking care of the water in the store room. Just a regular emergency call at Malibu at midnight.

The night began with an amazing Thai dinner over at the Goff's with the entire intern community plus the Goff's and the Richerts. The food was amazing and the fellowship was even better. It was a good night to get away from camp.

Let your Light SHINE!

1 Peter 4:10

Day 1/7 is not named 1/7 because it is the last day for our departing campers and the first day for our incoming camp. I think it is called this because it literally feels like two days are in one. I wake up at 7:30 am to help start loading departing campers bags, this continues through breakfast until the bags are all fully loaded on the outer dock waiting for the arrival of the Princess. The remaining gap between 10 and 1130(lunch) is used for preparing camp for the next camp. After lunch which consist of mac n cheese(in my opinion worst boat day meal), I have about a half hour to rest up before the boat arrives.

As the boat rounds Patrick's Point the camp horn is fired off and everyone heads to the outer dock. Once the boat pulls in I am in charge of catching the bow line and tying it off. Once we get the go ahead from the captain we rush on the boat to prepare the unloading of baggage and freight. The next 45 minutes consists of constant moving of bags on and off the princess. It is quite the extreme process. During this time we will move around 700 total bags and between 10,000-20,000 pounds of freight and freezer.

We get about a 30 minute break and then the ODC heads down to the THQ(trash headquarters). This is where the trash rodeo takes place. During the next hour or so we all sort through trash of campers pulling out nonburnables and recycling. This is also the time where we search for thrown away clothes and food that campers just got rid of just hours before. The last two weeks I have found a pair of jordan shorts, two pairs of nike high top socks, a sweet t-shirt, and a pair of NIKE Ids. The Nike Ids were embroidered on the back with the verse 1 Peter 4:10.

"Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of Gods grace in its various forms." 1 Peter 4:10

It was a verse that I found really applicable for our intern community here. Needless to say I am keeping the shoes.

My night seems to never end because at about 9:15 I go into the kitchen to prepare juice for the leaders to get for their campers after the obstacle course. And by the time all the leaders make it the clock hits midnight. But wait there is more... The left over and extra pizza which was made for the leaders is given to us interns and the boys in Chinook(where i live) stay up until 1 am swapping man stories.

I love Boat Day!!

Going Fast

This week flew by so fast here at camp. The second session is already half way through and I feel like they just arrived. It is kind of scary. Time really flies by when God is in the center and you are having the time of your life. Broken Heart went really well last night. Every week is different. Every week a different response from the campers. This week when the new heart(orange) was revealed the kids wanted to clap and cheer(first time that has happened). After the drama a leader came up to me and thanked me for what we put on. I reassured him that it wasn't us but God. He then went on to tell me that it was the most spiritual thing he had seen all week. It was crazy to hear. He then told me about his cabin and I could just feel the passion he had for his guys. He was starting to break down when he told me how much he just wanted his guys to get the whole God thing. These moments are the ones that remind me that it isn't about me. It isn't about this drama. It's all about getting this kids to get a small glimpse of who God is.

Went skiing tonight for the first time this summer. Kind of forgot how to get up at first... then once I was up forgot the technique of the cut. By my second go around I received some pointers and was ready and it was a blast.

"But God doesn't call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn't come through"
— Francis Chan

Day 5

Hey y'all it is day 5 again. I will be performing in Broken Heart. Please lift up our team in prayer as we present the Gospel in a different way for these kids to see. There are some inner city kids who might need to see something different, so this could be it for them.

Ryan Smith one of the main program guys here on assignment had to leave on a family emergency today, so if you guys could lift him up in prayer that would be great. Prayer for him and his family as well as the program team here to readjust in how they will go about program for the rest of the session.

Thank you all so much for your prayers. God really has blessed my summer so far and I know it has a lot to do with the prayers that you lift up for me. Thank you.

God is good... all the time.

The 4th of July

I decided that I would try to get on here more frequently to write a small blog rather than write a huge one every month or so. Today was my day off, only fitting that it was also July 4th. My day off didn't consist of much... I slept in for too long, and then went with some of the boys to check out a water fall. After we adventured for about 2 hours we decided to visit the Malibu neighbors the Goffs. While we over there we spent time together hanging out. I was able to get away for a bit and have a great quiet time with the Lord.

I just finished Forgotten God. The book really opened up my views on the importance of the Holy Spirit. It really is an aspect of my Faith that I never really recognized or believed in it enough. If any of you are interested in reading I would definitely recommend you to check it out. It is a very eye opening and convicting book.

So if I graduate with a Health Fitness teaching certificate, I limit myself in areas where I can get a job. I recently was looking at Young Life's job listings. Just browsing. But I came across a job titled Teacher Staff International. It kind of sparked my interest. It would allow me to teach and be on young life staff. Just an interesting thing to think about. Still a ways off before I even have a teaching certificate so really this job listing was just something to check out.

May the Holy Spirit consume you.

"You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence." Acts 2:28