Boating on the lake. Freezing under piles of blankets. Eating food cooked over a fire. Spending nearly 5 hours playing Monopoly. Singing worship and having devotions in the woods. Cribbage tournaments. Video shoots. Dusty feet, mosquito repellant and sunscreen. It can only mean one thing...
CAMPING!
How amazing the last week has been! I spent the last four days camping with families of my church and it was fantastic! I just returned home, washed the last of the lake from my hair and the campfire smoke from my clothing and I cannot keep my mouth silent from praising God. I am overwhelmed with the great joy it is to be a Christian. I am so thankful to get to be a part of walking with Christ and walking alongside so many others who share the same heart and walk in the same direction. I realize that "Family Camp" as we have always called it, is not merely about camping with my biological family, though that alone is most assuredly wonderful. It's spending time with the family I have within the Kingdom of God, the people I love the most though most of them I have only known but a few years. We have so much more in common then just that we all go to the same church together. We do our lives together. Yet it doesn't work because we have similar interests or are just a bunch of nice people. I believe that it's because we know that we truly are a part of the same family and we have the same Spirit working in and through us all. This is what is so awesome to me about Christian relationships. When Christ is at the center, it's almost like we can all then speak the same secret language. We love each other deeper than surface interests and see the image of God in one another. It's simply beautiful.
I have often prayed that I would love God so much that nothing else in all the world would matter to me. It does seem like quite a lovely prayer. What a great thing it would be if I really did not care for, get pulled by, strive after, love, burn for or have anything matter to me but Christ. Yet, as I enjoyed so much great fellowship and felt spiritually sharpened even through the simplest of forms, I realized that my prayer for nothing else to matter could never be fully accurate. Afterall, these bonds, these people do matter to me. My prayer changed. " Lord, I pray that I would love you so much that everything would matter." I realize that it is only in light of Christ that anything can truly be of value. Only when the world is viewed in light of God's love, grace, mercy and glory can it ever be seen properly and beautifully. This is why I can spend a week in the woods awestruck by God's creativity. It is why I can laugh as stories are shared around a campfire. This is why I can thank God for such an enjoyable week of rest and rejuvination. It's because these things, I believe, matter to God. And the things that matter to my God, who is at the center, can then truly matter to me as well.
