We're Baaaaaaack.

We arrived back from camp last Saturday at like five or six. It was a pretty rocking time. 

This past week I went on an oatmeal/pudding slipping slide, made a home in the Lazy River, sweat off like a million pounds, woke up at five a.m. and rediscovered myself. :)

I suppose when people come back from church camps that's typically what they say: I rediscovered myself! But I'm going to say the most cliche thing possible by telling you (whoever you are) that this was different. 

Out of all the camps we've done and I can't say I've ever been at one like Come Awake 2011. There was so much joy. So much spiritual warfare. So much energy. So much peace. Every year I leave thinking I can't happily come back to reality, but this year although I still didn't want to leave, I rode that bus home confident that returning back to reality could only mean God would do greater things in me than He already had. In all of us.

The most beautiful sight and sounds in the world were surely discovered this week: Kids with all their hearts, KNOWING and not just believing that they were destined for a divine destiny. Born to change the world. Its a sound I still can't get out of my head, and a picture that I know I'll be holding next to my heart for the rest of my life. Because God didn't just do something in those kids, He did something in me and the other workers. He awakened something, I mean I don't know about anyone else but for me it was just to chill and be confident in His plan for me, because He really does have one. 

I'm going to stop myself short because there is so many hilarious things I could say about camp, and some really touching stories too, and if I allow myself to start I won't stop. 

So Hey, Might As Well, stay awakened.

It starts Tuesday

Come Awake Kids Camp 2011

I've been waiting for this since 2010...

It starts Tuesday, and I once again have the honor and privilege of going to camp with amazing children and workers. This is my fourth camp, I've gone every summer except one for the past five years as a youth worker. Every single year it tops the year before and every single year it changes my life in ways only a Creative God like mine can.

The theme this year is COME AWAKE, I have to say that I absolutely love it. I love what it stands for. The dictionary says the Come means to approach a specific thing, to arrive on time and in the midst of progress. Awake means to rouse to action, to bring awareness. So here is why I love those two words put together: To approach a specific thing: Destiny. And to take action towards said destiny and in progress of that, bring awareness to the world that they have a destiny too: Come awake. 

All of me is just stirring with excitement. People talk about how wonderful it is to take a week and devote it to children and Jesus, but I honestly don't think a lot of people understand just how impacting the experience is. Because until you go and see a child who is totally broken inside, who has never been to church come awake and realize they are royalty, you don't know just how capable of fixing lives God is. Until you absolutely pour all of yourself out as a service to other's you don't know how wonderfully exhausting  it can be. And until you spend a week falling in love with kids who are going to be and are, the pillars of the world, and with them you cry out to a God who is bigger than all that's around you, you have no idea how permanently life changing it really is. 


The idea is crazy. To bring slime, creeks, water parks, and worship services all into one huge plot of land, but it is the most ingenious idea in the entire world. 


So by this time next week I will be in recovery from camp exhaustion, but I get the feeling I'll also be a new person. I will discover things about myself only children can teach me, and I'll open up to a new season the way only God can make me do. 


Hey, might as well come awake.

Legacy

What is a drem if it's not chased?

If it's left unguarded,

Malnurtured, 

Abandoned,

Stolen?

What is a song if it's not sung?

If it's not poured into,

If it's not your's?

What is a life if it isn't risky?

If it isn't acknowledged,

If it's isn't lived?

An unfufilled destiny,

A heart without a melody,

And a lifeless breath

All posses a common attribute:

They're nameless.

Never to be remembered,

Lacking in legacy.

Thus we must surround ourselves with legacies!

With dreamers who chase,

Singers with a voice,

And adventurers who are

Addicted to Life's essence.

We must approach opportunity

With Destiny in mind.

We live Life with the knowledge 

That we were all meant to be legacies.