Summer Camp 2007

i got back from summer camp a few weeks ago, and it was awesome. Tom talked about faith, what it is and how important it is, and it was really encouraging. there were a few things i didnt completely agree with, but thats a subject for another time...

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Anyways, camp was a lot of fun, the games were sweet, and it was great to hang out with my friends and to talk about stuff. i was fortunate enough to get to know some new people at camp, as well as to grow closer to old friends. All that stuff is great, but my favorite part of camp has to be the services. The worship at camp is amazing, and i love the whole atmosphere - there's just something really cool about being in a room with about 1000 people worshipping God...and then Tom does a really awesome job of teaching.

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This camp was different from past camps for me, mostly im comparing it to last year, because thats the camp that i remember most, but it felt different than what i remember others as being like. Last yeat i was dealing with some problems in my life, a lot of it steming from how my group interacted, but that has completely disappeared over the last year, and now we've all grown a lot closer, and we have very few problems, and this year we were able to just grow closer to each other.

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also last year i was struggling with some sin in my life, and camp kinda was a...i guess repentant...experience, but this year, while i still struggle constantly with sin, and still fail, i wasnt in the same place i was last year in dealing with it. so this year became more of a "let go and let God" experience, there were, and have been since camp, some things that are...difficult...to deal with and understand...some of them have lasted longer than others, but as a sinful person, i have a tendency to try to fix them myself, rather than let God deal with them. during camp i began to realize that i couldnt do anything to fix one of the things that i was trying to, and i started to understand that i had to just pray about it and trust God. then not too long after camp another thing happened that was completely beyond my control, and left me feeling kinda helpless, and that just forced the issue even more. then on top of that all Tom talked about faith at camp, and one of the things he talke about on the first night was how God has a different perspective on things than we do, and that if we have faith then we will trust God with everything. so all those things kinda combined together to emphasize the point that God is in control, and im not, and theres a good reason for it.

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the last thing from camp is that i tend to focus too much on the things ive done wrong - the sins ive committed, and i need to just let go and trust God's grace. On Friday night Tom said something that i though was really cool and encouraging: "God knows everything about you, and He loves you anyway, and He proved it by sending Jesus." i keep telling myself that i cant focus on my mistakes, that im human and i wont be perfect until im in heaven, but part of me still want to beat myself up over them, even though i know that God's grace is bigger.

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camp was awesome, i wish it didnt always go so fast, but it was a great time to grow closer to my friends, and to have fun, and to grow closer to God. i want to say thanks to all my amazing friends that have helped me through everthing thats happened recently, thanks for your support and prayers. i would ask that you keep praying for me as i continue to struggle with sin, and also pray that i would trust God with everything, not just the things that i dont want to, or cant deal with.

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"Lift It" by Thousand Foot Krutch:

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Through my temptations to walk away,

and through the endless troubled days,

there's a hundred million ways,

for me to release your praise;

and by and by, and through the tears,

and things you've taught me through the years,

my whole life was designed by you,

I'll never know anyone half as true.

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I lift it up, I lift it up,

lift it up so you can see,

I lift it up, I lift it up,

lift it up from inside of me.

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So I lift it, I lift it up to you,

and I will never forget,

the times that we've been through,

so I lift it, I said I lift it up to you;

And I surrender all of me, to you, to you, to you,

and everything I'll ever be, to you, to you, to you,

and I surrender all of me...