Jaime here. I've never written for a blog before but when Andrew set this up and asked if I would be interested, well, here I am I suppose! Let me just jump right in...
This morning was a good one! I met with Brandi for coffee. She's our admin. guru on staff, Women's Ministry leader extraordinaire, Mending the Soul coach...you get the idea. She rocks. As if she wasn't already doing enough, one more important role that she played this summer was that of fearless Kid's Camp cabin leader. For some, this may not seem like any big deal...but let me assure you that these folks that volunteer to go to camp and be in the trenches with the kids are absolute saints!
Anyway, back to coffee. The purpose of our meeting this morning was to talk over Kid's Camp. I'll be honest with you...when she asked to meet I couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. Not everything was like clockwork this year at camp and I was hoping that it wouldn't be one of those, "it was great James but I'm never doing that again..." type conversations. It most definitely wasn't! In fact (thank you Jesus) she's hooked! There really is nothing quite like going to camp. And for me, there is NOTHING like Kid's Camp! If you have been before, then you know what I mean. If you have never been, then I urge you to go!
As we sat talking over the weekends events, and laughing over silliness, and tearing up (ok, that was just me) over the victories in each of the kids' lives I was reminded of this blog and that I never got a chance to stop and share anything during camp. Not enough down-time at camp to write the "in the moment" experiences like Andrew (thanks for doing that, by the way!). But I didn't want to get too far from it before sharing a bit about what God did that weekend.
Our verse for the weekend was 2 Timothy 1:9 - "He has saved us and called us to a holy life - not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time...”. As one might deduce from the verse...the whole weekend was about Grace. We looked at it through one of the most grace-filled stories I know - The Prodigal Son (from Luke 15). I believe that the kids all benefited from hearing that God's Grace is for them and that it's never to late to receive it. More than that, however, I know that our kids each had victories of their own throughout the weekend. Whether it was conquering fears, or learning to have God's grace for one another in real-life ways, or coming out of their shell and learning how getting silly or messy can break down walls...each one took a step forward in their relationships with Jesus in their own way. And THAT...my friends...is what it was all about!
There are SO MANY things I could say about camp...but I find that often, pictures speak volumes so here are a few from the weekend...
Some of our kids dancing during worship! I can't think of many things that I love more than helping to lead 175 kids in praising the Lord!
One of my favorite memories was Sundaes from Heaven. In a metaphorical sense, this event was to help seal in the kids' mind that all good things come from our Father in Heaven. In a very practical sense...we literally rain down every kind of ice-cream topping you can imagine from the roof and the kids become human Sundaes...oh...and some of it lands on their ice cream. I love it!
Then there was Messy Mania...mud pit + bubble machine = good times!
That's me in the middle (oh hello!), Becky on the left and Brandi on the right. They were amazing cabin leaders hand-picked by God for these kids this year. So thankful for their willing hearts!
And a special (read: personal) thank you to my amazing hubby for coming and hanging with the baby boy all weekend so I could have him close and fulfill my roles at camp!
Our small but mighty New Hope group. What a fantastic weekend with a great group learning about and serving an amazing God!
Until next time...
Jaime
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