RECAP: Winter Camp 2012

Winter Camp has already come and gone, and what's really funny is that we've had more snow at home over the last few days than we had all weekend at Winter Camp. This year we had 26 students and 16 adult leaders attend at Camp Koinonia in Cle Elum, WA. We were up in the snow from Friday night through Sunday afternoon and it was an amazing weekend. There was time for sledding, games, playing in the snow, making friendships, lots of laughs, and of course our annual snow football game.

Not only did we have a lot of fun and grow relationally, but it was also an amazing time of spiritual growth. We had great times of worship through songs as students took time to glorify God and focus on Him. Our guest speaker, Kyle Veach, inspired the students with messages from the book of James. In fact our theme for the whole weekend was AUTHENTIC and it was derived from the book of James. James' letter to the early church focuses so much on people putting their faith into action and being authentic in their worship, obedience, love of people, and their devotion to Jesus. Over the course of the weekend we covered various sections from the book of James and by Sunday afternoon we had all read and learned about the ENTIRE book. So whether it was through workshops, games, sermons, prayer times, or morning Bible times, every student had the chance to learn the practical lessons from James' letter. We can praise God that over the weekend we had a handful of students make decisions to become Christ-followers, plus we had over a dozen students recommitted to authentically follow Christ with their lives. Winter Camp 2012 was a great experience for the students and leaders and will definitely be a life changing and unforgettable weekend.

Tomorrow's New View of Today

John 13:3-7

³ Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; ⁴ so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. ⁵ After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.⁶ He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” ⁷ Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

Many of us are familiar with this text of Jesus washing the disciples' feet. In response to Peter's question he makes a very interesting statement that we can quickly overlook. Logically this didn’t make any sense for the teacher to be doing such an act of servitude for his students. On any other day it would have made sense for the students to care for their teacher/master. Then after this completely selfless and unorthodox gesture of servitude, Jesus says there will be things in life that we don’t always understand or don’t make logical sense. We can’t always make sense of God’s plan or intention, but we must continue to faithfully follow and obey; trusting that God's will is supreme. Especially since in the moment our narrow perspective can inhibit us from realizing the true magnitude and significance of God’s actions. The disciples were probably struggling the grasp the huge significance of having the Savior of mankind rolling up his sleeves and doing the job of a servant/slave. Isn't it true that in heat of the moment its easy to find ourselves questioning God and his master plan?

• "Why didn't He heal this person?"
• "Why can't He just provide the money for this situation?"
• "Why are my parents getting a divorce?"
• "Why shouldn't I mess around with my boyfriend/girlfriend?"
• "Why can't I smoke this or drink that? If I don't I'll get made fun of."
• "Why do I have to be nice to the awkward kid in class?"
• "Why can't I yell at my parents like my friends do to their parents?"
• "Why do good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people?"

It is super easy to question God, but it takes real faith to continue to follow Him when you don't get the answer you want. We can't forget this amazing promise that Jesus makes with Peter, we may not completely understand things right now, but there will come a day and time that we will. Can you imagine what it would have been for Peter when the lightbulb when off for him one day. "OHHH...now I get why Jesus wanted to wash my feet." One day we'll see the BIG PICTURE and we'll be able to understand why God allowed those things to happen, why He chose not to do a miraculous event in that moment, or what He was trying to teach us. The point is don't give up, instead ask God for HIS perspective so that you can see the world through his eyes. Then tomorrow you'll be able to have a new view about the things you're going through today.