SUMMERTIME!

I just got back from a Younglife camp in Arizona, where 200 Austin Younglife Leaders, and myself completed a Work Week. Our goal was to make the camp as beautiful as possible, so that kids might taste a bit of Heaven when they come this summer. It was a life giving trip; we spent the mornings silently in the Word; the days working, and the nights playing. We even made the infamous roadtrip out to the Grand Canyon, where we watched the sunset, and a solar eclipse! Joy is the only word I can use to describe the entire week, and what it brings to my heart. Each day I would wake up, and give my worries over to the Lord; my worries about housing next year, my internship in Colorado this summer, relationships that need improvement, and the Lord took them, and replaced my worries with peace. After a draining year of school all I needed was a playful trip to be reminded that I am Gods child, and rejoice in that truth. However, our speaker Billy reminded us that God doesn't just speak to us in camp settings, or as he refered to it as on the "mountain top," but He seeks us out in the mundane (driving, class, work, cooking, cleaning etc.), basically anything that causes us to want to live in the past or future. Instead God is speaking to us all day, and is wishing we would be with Him in each moment. He said the best thing we can do is speak the Gospel to ourselves all day long, and remember that He is right there with us. I am thankful for this reminder, because even on the ride home, I found myself wishing we were home already, but then I thought about Billy's talk and I reminded myself that God is right there with me, and I rejoiced in that moment. The point of it all is that if we as believers only rely on the "mountain top" moments to last us a lifetime; it isn't going to work, and eventually we will get burned out. This trip came at the perfect time, and completely filled me up, and reminded me to live in that mindset, especially this summer when I will be away from my friends, and family in Colorado.