A little paving…

So we have had a few roads around camp that needed constant attention. Marty (sometimes mistaken for Jack Bauer) would be on his tractor weekly scraping the roads and keeping everything smooth. But never the less, there would be some rough spots. I recall hitting my head on the roof of a camp truck a few times b/c the roads were so bumpy, and at least one of those times Ron was driving…

In an effort to prevent major problems in the future, we have paved a strip of road leading up the hill towards TBI and the old infirmary…just up that first hill. We also paved the driveway and parking area around the Chapel. These minor additions look great and should make it a little easier to get around camp!

This ws just a short strip to the top of the hill…the main problem area. The rest if still gravel and works fine!

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All-Encompassing

Read This Passage: Colossians 3:12-17
And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. —Colossians 3:17

As Christians, we should be the most thankful people in the world. After all, we personally know the Creator of the universe and have received all of the benefits that come with knowing Christ. We have received forgiveness. Every sin that we have ever committed has been entirely forgiven. We should have an attitude of gratitude considering all God has done for us.

Unfortunately, most of us do not. I must confess that, far too often, I find myself complaining rather than expressing thanksgiving. Even when I’m here at camp, I find myself looking at the problems to fix, rather than the incredible life Jesus has given me… I mean after all, I basically live at camp!

Today’s Scripture passage shows three elements of our Christian walk: the peace of Christ, the words of Christ, and the name of Christ. Applying the truth about these three will result in a thankful heart.
First, the Lord’s peace guides us. The presence of His peace indicates that we are moving in the right direction. When we want to know His will, we wait for His peace.

Second, the Word of God must transform the way we act and think. Having a Bible beside your bed does not mean that you have any of it in your heart or mind. God’s Word should dwell in us and saturate every part of our lives. It becomes a part of who you are!

Third, the way we live our lives—what we “do, in word or in deed”—should point others to God. God’s call on our lives as Christians is all-encompassing. It isn’t just going to church or being active in a youth group, or coming to camp in the summer. It’s living out our faith every day, when it’s easy and when it’s not. We are called to do all things in the “name of the Lord,” even in the very grit of life. You belong to God. Live like it!

Real Choices
How has today’s devotion challenged your ideas about what it means to be a person of faith? Does your faith make any difference in your daily life? Why or why not?

Digging Deeper
Read Colossians 3:1-11, the prelude to the passage you just studied. Carefully observe the differences between living to please yourself versus living to please the Spirit.

Pray
Ask the Lord to help you avoid living a mediocre life. Pray that in everything you do and say, in every part of your life, you might honor His name.

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All-Encompassing

Read This Passage: Colossians 3:12-17
And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. —Colossians 3:17

As Christians, we should be the most thankful people in the world. After all, we personally know the Creator of the universe and have received all of the benefits that come with knowing Christ. We have received forgiveness. Every sin that we have ever committed has been entirely forgiven. We should have an attitude of gratitude considering all God has done for us.

Unfortunately, most of us do not. I must confess that, far too often, I find myself complaining rather than expressing thanksgiving. Even when I’m here at camp, I find myself looking at the problems to fix, rather than the incredible life Jesus has given me… I mean after all, I basically live at camp!

Today’s Scripture passage shows three elements of our Christian walk: the peace of Christ, the words of Christ, and the name of Christ. Applying the truth about these three will result in a thankful heart.
First, the Lord’s peace guides us. The presence of His peace indicates that we are moving in the right direction. When we want to know His will, we wait for His peace.

Second, the Word of God must transform the way we act and think. Having a Bible beside your bed does not mean that you have any of it in your heart or mind. God’s Word should dwell in us and saturate every part of our lives. It becomes a part of who you are!

Third, the way we live our lives—what we “do, in word or in deed”—should point others to God. God’s call on our lives as Christians is all-encompassing. It isn’t just going to church or being active in a youth group, or coming to camp in the summer. It’s living out our faith every day, when it’s easy and when it’s not. We are called to do all things in the “name of the Lord,” even in the very grit of life. You belong to God. Live like it!

Real Choices
How has today’s devotion challenged your ideas about what it means to be a person of faith? Does your faith make any difference in your daily life? Why or why not? 

Digging Deeper
Read Colossians 3:1-11, the prelude to the passage you just studied. Carefully observe the differences between living to please yourself versus living to please the Spirit. 

Pray
Ask the Lord to help you avoid living a mediocre life. Pray that in everything you do and say, in every part of your life, you might honor His name.

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Reconciliation

Read This Passage: Colossians 1:15-20
For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross—whether things on earth or things in heaven.
—Colossians 1:19-20

From Genesis 3 onward, sin stands as a barrier between us and God. Sin enslaves us and devastates our relationship with God. Sin is deadly. It is the power of sin that we must grasp in order to fully value what Christ has done for us.

God took a look at this hopeless situation and created a plan through Jesus Christ. In Colossians 1, Paul said that God “was pleased” to reconcile all things to Himself with the work of the cross. That extraordinary act of God at Calvary was His deliberate choice because of His great love for us. It was His decision to start a process of reconciliation that would remove that barrier of sin and restore our relationships with Him.
In other words, because of Christ’s death and resurrection, sin can no longer stand as a fence between us and God. He’s taken care of our sin, once and for all.

But that’s not all. God has not only pardoned our sins; He wants us to live in relationship with Him. In our sin, we were helpless to restore our relationship with the Creator. God chose to reconcile that relationship through Christ’s blood. Jesus took on our sin and died so that we might live each day in relationship with His Father.

We don’t often like to recognize that we had any role in Christ’s death, but we did because of sin. God deliberately set up a plan to bring us back into full relationship with Him through Christ. Don’t miss that!

Real Choices
If God is convicting you of areas of sin in your life, find a quiet place to get alone with Him. Search the Scriptures for relevant verses and spend uninterrupted time in prayer. Humbly admit your sin to the Lord and watch as He once again reconciles you to Himself.

Digging Deeper
The English word reconciliation is from the Latin reconciliare: re means “again” and conciliare means “to bring together, to unite.” For further study on reconciliation, check out Ephesians 1:7-8.

Pray
Thank God for His deep love for us. Thank Jesus for His willingness to give His life for yours. Ask the Lord to reveal your sin. Confess it as He reveals it.

Posted in Devotions | Tagged Colossians, Weekly Devotions | Leave a reply

Reconciliation

Read This Passage: Colossians 1:15-20
For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross—whether things on earth or things in heaven.
—Colossians 1:19-20

From Genesis 3 onward, sin stands as a barrier between us and God. Sin enslaves us and devastates our relationship with God. Sin is deadly. It is the power of sin that we must grasp in order to fully value what Christ has done for us.

God took a look at this hopeless situation and created a plan through Jesus Christ. In Colossians 1, Paul said that God “was pleased” to reconcile all things to Himself with the work of the cross. That extraordinary act of God at Calvary was His deliberate choice because of His great love for us. It was His decision to start a process of reconciliation that would remove that barrier of sin and restore our relationships with Him.
In other words, because of Christ’s death and resurrection, sin can no longer stand as a fence between us and God. He’s taken care of our sin, once and for all.

But that’s not all. God has not only pardoned our sins; He wants us to live in relationship with Him. In our sin, we were helpless to restore our relationship with the Creator. God chose to reconcile that relationship through Christ’s blood. Jesus took on our sin and died so that we might live each day in relationship with His Father.

We don’t often like to recognize that we had any role in Christ’s death, but we did because of sin. God deliberately set up a plan to bring us back into full relationship with Him through Christ. Don’t miss that!

Real Choices
If God is convicting you of areas of sin in your life, find a quiet place to get alone with Him. Search the Scriptures for relevant verses and spend uninterrupted time in prayer. Humbly admit your sin to the Lord and watch as He once again reconciles you to Himself.

Digging Deeper
The English word reconciliation is from the Latin reconciliare: re means “again” and conciliare means “to bring together, to unite.” For further study on reconciliation, check out Ephesians 1:7-8.

Pray
Thank God for His deep love for us. Thank Jesus for His willingness to give His life for yours. Ask the Lord to reveal your sin. Confess it as He reveals it.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Colossians, Weekly Devotions | Leave a reply

Redeemer

Read This Passage: Revelation 5:8-10
“And they sang a new song: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals; because You were slaughtered, and You redeemed people for God by Your blood from every tribe and language and people and nation.’” —Revelation 5:9

Can you imagine being a fly on the wall in this worship service? John takes us into the throne room of heaven. Christ, through His humiliating death and victorious resurrection, has gone into heaven after redeeming His people from the bondage of sin. He is welcomed by a new song because of His worthiness to be our king, because of what He did on the cross. What words can more fully declare the greatness of Christ than the lyrics of this song? He literally purchased people from every people group in the world, a price tag that cost Him His own life.

It is Christ’s work on the cross that gives us victory. It is the work of the cross that gives life. He has fixed our sin problem, taking what was destroyed by sin and restoring us through His sacrifice.
Picture yourself attending this worship service. (If you are a follower of Christ, you will be there.) Christ is your Redeemer. He gives you freedom to live life to its fullest.

Pray
Be excited that Christ loved you all the way to the cross. Praise Him for the freedom His sacrifice brings to you.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Revelation, Weekly Devotions | Leave a reply

Redeemer

Read This Passage: Revelation 5:8-10
“And they sang a new song: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals; because You were slaughtered, and You redeemed people for God by Your blood from every tribe and language and people and nation.’” —Revelation 5:9

Can you imagine being a fly on the wall in this worship service? John takes us into the throne room of heaven. Christ, through His humiliating death and victorious resurrection, has gone into heaven after redeeming His people from the bondage of sin. He is welcomed by a new song because of His worthiness to be our king, because of what He did on the cross. What words can more fully declare the greatness of Christ than the lyrics of this song? He literally purchased people from every people group in the world, a price tag that cost Him His own life.

It is Christ’s work on the cross that gives us victory. It is the work of the cross that gives life. He has fixed our sin problem, taking what was destroyed by sin and restoring us through His sacrifice.
Picture yourself attending this worship service. (If you are a follower of Christ, you will be there.) Christ is your Redeemer. He gives you freedom to live life to its fullest.

Pray
Be excited that Christ loved you all the way to the cross. Praise Him for the freedom His sacrifice brings to you.

Posted in Devotions | Tagged Revelation, Weekly Devotions | Leave a reply

New Staff Cabin – Apache

Back when I was an Apache we didn’t have the new fancy Apache bathhouse. Our old bathhouse was in the bottom half the two story Apache Cabin…connected to Cabin 3. Well, Marty has spent weeks renovating this old bathhouse. He is turning it into a brand new Staff Cabin. The Apache TL and a few other Central Staffers will be the first to live in the cabin with new walls and a new ceiling. They will be living in perhaps the nicest bedroom in camp. Although it’s still a construction zone, you can see Marty’s project is coming together! We have a few more buildings breaking ground soon. Be sure to check back for those pictures.

I have also posted here a picture showing the progress on the new Shawnee Cabin! They have the pillars finished and they are in the process of filling them with concrete. The floors system will start going in tomorrow! Things are moving along…and should be ready for you this summer! More details and pictures coming soon…

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Worthy

Read This Passage: Revelation 5:1-7
Then one of the elders said to me, “Stop crying. Look! The Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has been victorious so that He may open the scroll and its seven seals.” —Revelation 5:5

Today’s passage opens with John watching events unfold in the throne room of heaven. God is seated on His throne, holding a scroll no one seems worthy to open and read.

John’s weeping is evidence of the importance of that scroll. Notice the difference between what is announced (“The Lion from the tribe of Judah”) and what actually appears (“a slaughtered lamb”). The triumphant Lion is the slaughtered Lamb. The supreme King is the crucified Savior. One, and only one, is found worthy. No created being—not an angel, not Billy Graham, not your counselor from camp this summer – no one but Jesus is worthy.

Christ alone, because of His humility on the cross, can unveil the will of God for the world found in the scroll. Envision Jesus as both the Lion and the Lamb. If we want to see the Lion as our Savior rather than our judge, we must first find Him in the Lamb, the very substitute for our sin on the cross. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:18, we can’t know Christ’s saving power without knowing the humility of His crucifixion.

Pray
Read Philippians 2:5-11 as a prayer. Praise Jesus for being both the Lion and the Lamb.

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Worthy

Read This Passage: Revelation 5:1-7
Then one of the elders said to me, “Stop crying. Look! The Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has been victorious so that He may open the scroll and its seven seals.” —Revelation 5:5

Today’s passage opens with John watching events unfold in the throne room of heaven. God is seated on His throne, holding a scroll no one seems worthy to open and read.

John’s weeping is evidence of the importance of that scroll. Notice the difference between what is announced (“The Lion from the tribe of Judah”) and what actually appears (“a slaughtered lamb”). The triumphant Lion is the slaughtered Lamb. The supreme King is the crucified Savior. One, and only one, is found worthy. No created being—not an angel, not Billy Graham, not your counselor from camp this summer – no one but Jesus is worthy.

Christ alone, because of His humility on the cross, can unveil the will of God for the world found in the scroll. Envision Jesus as both the Lion and the Lamb. If we want to see the Lion as our Savior rather than our judge, we must first find Him in the Lamb, the very substitute for our sin on the cross. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:18, we can’t know Christ’s saving power without knowing the humility of His crucifixion.

Pray
Read Philippians 2:5-11 as a prayer. Praise Jesus for being both the Lion and the Lamb.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Revelation, Weekly Devotions | Leave a reply