To say to least, camp was pretty amazing. God taught me things and opened my heart in ways that I didn't think He could; but then again, who am I to underestimate our King? The whole experience was completely and totally mind blowing. It's crazy to me how you can go into a thing like summer camp totally ready for fun, but walking out with a totally different perspective on things that are so crucially important. God taught me so many things during this trip, but a few things really stuck out to me.
I have a little brother and a little sister. Now, you have to know, Kyle, my little brother, and I don't exactly get along. Like at all. Maybe sometimes, but most of the time, we're arguing. There's a verse in the bible- Ephesians 4:29, and it goes like this "Do not use any foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful so that your words will be an encouragement to those around you." I can honestly say that when it comes to my relationship with Kyle, I am rarely what you would call encouaraging. A week before I left for camp, Kyle and I were having this heated debate about something probably really stupid, & my Dad walks in and he says, "Do you realize what you guys are saying to one another? Those things that you are saying, they're
evil!" That hit me hard. Because me saying those things, it was just something that kind of flew out of my mouth either in rage or annoyance, and at camp, God showed me that He put my brother in my life for a reason. That no matter how annoying, rude, or annoying Kyle may be, that's he's my
brother. Their is absolutely no excuse for me whatsoever for me to be screaming at him all the time and for me being the way I tend to be with him. This is what I wrote in my notebook on the last day of camp when we were having our quiet time- "My brother: I need to Love him. Thank God that he is in my life. Turn the cheek." Honestly, that is something I can say I don't do with him very often. This is raw stuff, and even though probably a few people are going to read this, it's still personal stuff and things that God has shown me over the past few weeks. I was living in sin in my relationship with my brother, and please don't get me wrong- I still am sometimes, but I can definitely say that since i've gotten home from camp, my relationship with him has truly gotten better. No, i'm not saying that now that i've had this absolutely magnificent experience at camp that everything is going to be better, but my eyes have been opened to the fact that my actions and the things that I say could affect my relationship with him in the future drastically and is already affecting our realtionship now.
Walking into camp, I knew that God was going to speak to me. It was something that was clearly obvious to me for whatever reason from the beginning. Our speaker, Skip Ast, who is the pastor at my church, West Valley Church, was pretty amazing. That man truly has a gift given from God, in that he translates the word of God so incredibly well. It's something that I enjoyed quite immensely at camp. One his points during one of his messages was that we have to have a "Radical Committment" to the Lord. Going into camp, I believed I was passionate for Jesus Christ, however, in order to be passionate about Jesus, you have to be in his word consistently. Although this may make me sound completely idiotic, that was something I honestly didn't quite have down. I was not in God's word everyday, maybe only once or twice a week. That had to change, and I knew that in my heart. I think the reason I had never been consistently in God's word was because I didn't necessarily have a set devotion. And that is no way an excuse, but after camp, things changed. Again, i'm not saying that things are suddently going to be better, but things are changing to the better.
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other." John 15:1-14.
We have to bear fruit. And in order to that, we must have a relationship with Him.
