“All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.” – Acts 2:42
I love the simplicity of this verse. After Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven, his apostles led the disciples in a simple life, a life driving towards community, good living, and shared experience.
The camp experience is not so far off, is it? We focus on the ingredients of living a beautiful life, share meals in an orderly way, and pray together (although sometimes boisterously!). The result of such intentional lifestyle for our campers and staff is often an increase of peace in mind and heart, the deepening of friendships, the ability to enjoy our lives in a steady and abiding way, and more openness to hearing whatever it is that our good Father wants to speak in the silence of our hearts.
Often I travel to visit with camp families in different cities throughout the year. I frequently hear camp is a place where our staff and campers feel close to God. They also share they feel more free to be themselves and to make authentic friendships. They feel safe, seen, known, and loved. This is something I’d like to pause and focus on: SEEN, KNOWN, LOVED. This is the goal for the CKC staff: to help our campers realize that they are truly seen, known, and loved! This is true even and especially with all of the natural ups and downs of the topography of their unique and unrepeatable hearts! With all of their mistakes, weaknesses, and misgivings, they are still seen, known, and loved. When our campers experience the deep knowledge that they are SEEN, KNOWN, and LOVED, then this knowledge becomes a bridge to the growth of faith in the One who is the source of all love in our lives. Our mission, like the first Christians in Acts 2:42, is to share our lives in such a way and direct our actions towards the teachings of our living God so that the confidence we were made for can catch fire in our hearts. When this happens, when our hearts are set on fire with the love of our loving God, then we become more free to walk in courage towards our individual calls in life.
All things are possible with God! He can invite us to follow him in many different ways. In his goodness, camp has been a place where many have experienced deep changes of heart that inclines them more towards serving others than serving themselves. It is in the SIMPLICITY of our camp community, the purity of the ingredients of our camp life, that we can become people with “ears to hear”, as Jesus so often said! Let us continue to dedicate ourselves to “the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer”.
We continue to pray for our camp community and for all of your intentions in every one of our staff meetings throughout the year. If you feel moved, please feel free to share your intentions with us here. We will pray for you by name or for anonymous intentions. God bless you.
