We all have a story to tell. Each and every single one of us.
As a child, I grew up going to church camp beginning at the age of 8. I loved it! I went every year until I graduated high school. I also went back to be a counselor from the age of 13 because I knew I wanted to work with kids from an early age. I mean, who wouldn’t want to spend their summer days at a camp with no air conditioning, a smelly, hot cabin packed full of kids who were away from home and missing their parents!?!
As I look back I realize that God placed a call on my life at a young age. He was the reason I was drawn to spend weeks out of my summer at a place called “Camp Warren.” It’s the place where I truly found MY faith and not my parents’ and accepted Him into my heart one evening at service. It’s the place where I drew close to Him sitting out on the benches in the early hours watching the sunrise and reading my Bible. It’s the place where I laughed, and made life-long friendships.
I had a dream of taking kids from Eagle Church to camp a few years ago, but didn’t know quite what it would look like or how to get there. I am grateful to those parents that encouraged me and supported me as I stepped out to make it happen. We had 15 kids this summer that ranged from those who had never attended camp or even 2 nights away from home to kids who were expert campers.
The relationships that are made through the camp experience are the most important thing that happens. I had the opportunity to have a front row seat to see some of our girls read their Bible and devotional during their free time. I heard a conversation between one of our boys and their counselor about Jesus and how He was already present at the time of creation and in the Old Testament. I was privileged to pray with our girls and worship with the kids. These are just small pieces of their stories.
What do you do when you hear a great story? You want to share it with someone, right? The camp theme for the summer is Storytellers – Be the Story (John 5:1-17). Whenever we accept a relationship with Jesus Christ we have our own part of God’s story to tell, and He wants us to share it with others. Our speaker, Pastor Josh Koskinen, continued to remind us that God is inviting YOU into a super story!
Around Eagle we always say that there is a story for every blue chair, meaning that everyone has a story. So, my challenge to you this week is to share your story with someone that has never heard it and then ask them to share their story with you.
What's your story?