Starting at a Run...

Well, summer staff training is over and done with. I didn't have to be there for much of it, cause I'm already a pro. :P
Not much to say about it... When I wasn't in training (which was a lot of the time), I was on camp work. Great fun. We finally finished building the basement that has been a year long project. Everyone was very excited. It meant that Brad and Jess could move out of their mobile home into the basement, which meant that Migges could move out of the girls basement into the mobile home, which meant that the 2 extra girls upstairs could finally move downstairs. Heh.

This weekend was a good'er. We finally got some sweet weather... like 30 degrees yesterday. Leah and I spent from 10:30am-2:00pm outside, sitting on the dock. It was great. I got a pretty sweet burn on my legs, but that's it. Then Leah, Steve, and I went into Rocky to get Slurpees and some groceries.
Today I decided not to go to Church, cause it was already 25 degrees out by 10:45am... Steve and I hung out at the beach for a bit. Did my devotions, and helped Steve out with some homework he has that's long overdue.

And now I have to go prepare myself physically, mentally, and spiritually for the upcoming week. I am cabin leading right away today for the Senior High Wilderness camp. I'm super excited, but also really nervous as well. A lot of the girls coming are regulars here, so I am a bit intimidated by their high expectations. But God is really exciting and energizing me so I have faith that He will work everything out.

Praise:
-The Beautiful weather.
-A God who fills me with Love, Joy, and Passion.
-That God cares so much about us that He gives us the desires of our hearts.

Prayer:
-For the campers who come this week: that God would really work in their lives.
-For energy, wisdom, and patience for me for the campers.
-That God would work in my life and that I would fall more and more in love with Him everyday.

Chasing Daylight

"You were born to live a great adventure;
You were created with a divine destiny;
You are called to fulfill a great mission.
You were designed for a unique purpose.
Now you are called to live it out."

"Jesus Christ has come to free us from a meaningless existence and liberate us to a life filled with adventure.
He has come to lead us out of the mundane and into the extraordinary."

"His promise it that in Him we will find the life our hearts have always longed for."

-Chasing Daylight by Erwin McManus

These quotes stand out to me every time I read this book. They are right at the beginning, so every time, I start back at the beginning just so I can read them.

I think they stand out so much because, my heart really does long for adventure. It longs for a life so deep in God that a radical, liberated, energized adventure is the only possible road to take.


But yeah.

I guess this is more of a spiritual update than anything.

Adventure may be what I long for, but the devil sure has fun telling me how hard, discouraging, and lonely it will be. I've been feeling really attack lately. Like Satan is trying to pull me back under.
It's hard finding balance here. We're always feeding others, giving our time, energy, and love. And then when it comes time to feed myself, I feel too tired or discouraged to get into the Word, or too distracted to pray.

I've really been struggling with what my faith looks like for me. You know, you can see other peoples faith and how they act, communicate with God, grow and stuff... but when it comes to me... I have such a hard time personalizing it, or even defining it.

God is everything to me. Without Him I would be a piece of poo.

I can say that. And mean it. But how does that change how I act, communicate with God, or grow?

We are reading through Romans right now as a Bible Study group and today we read Romans 4. Up to now the topic that has obviously been surfacing is Faith. But I've always had the same questions and doubts about my own faith. Until today. Here's the verses that really hit me:

"Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!” And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead—and so was Sarah’s womb.

Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous."

And it was like - this is what my faith should look like. Not some blind optimism, but a realistic, practical faith. Abraham knew that physically it wasn't possible for them to have a child, but he had such a deep faith in God, that the only possible road was to trust that God is able to do whatever He promises.


I have no idea if any of this is even making sense...

But it's way past my bedtime so some quick prayer requests and praise items.

Praise:
-That we serve a God who will never leave or forsake us, no matter how much our faith wavers or how many doubts we have.
-That we are invited to live in God's great adventure.
-For the camps we've already had (safety, great times, God's Word spread).
-For my housemates here. The encouragement they are, and how we're growing together towards Christ.
-Summer!!

Prayer:
-Energy, wisdom, and love for campers.
-That my faith would really become real to me.
-For my future as I decide what to do... that God would be at the head of me decisions.
-For the campers who are going to come to camp. That God would be working in their hearts even now.


I love you all!!!!!!!!


Grace and Peace.

Liz

Whaddya 'Merican?

Hey Ya'll.

(Try to imagine me telling you this with an American accent)

It only takes a week of Americans to go from saying "God" to saying "Gad".
Heh.

I just got off from hosting a youth group of 50 from Colorado. They were here for a week. Most groups only stay for like 2-3 days, so it was nice to actually be able to get to know the kids. I am SO tired though. Hosting a group is pretty hard, cause you have to get up when they get up, and go to bed when they go to bed, plus hang out with them during the day. It drains ya pretty good.... but is so much fun.
This group was such an encouragement to me. They were all so open and honest about their faith. Every night they would have a "fireside" where 4-5 people would share testimonies, we would sing worhsip, and do a devo... it was intense. God was present and really moved in our lives. The kids had such a heart for Him... their passion and longing to know God better was a challenge to me to get my act together.

This week taught me a bit about flexability as well. We had to play every day by ear. It rained just about everyday... it was ridiculous. The first day we had some regular activities (biking, rockclimbing, rappeling, traversing). The next day the weather sucked so we had a work day. (to save money, every year this group does a day of camp work... it's a cool idea.) I was in charge of "brushing" - forest clean up basically. It was a pretty boring job, but I found out that with a bit of competition and a prize, you can get anything done. It turned out really fun. Day three was rainy again, so we went on a hike with the whole group. It was cold, foggy, and wet... but I think everyone had fun. The weather was a bit nicer on day four so we did our regular activities. I was on moutain biking. Because of the rain, the trail we were on was almost half in the water. It was great. There was a few of us in the back of the group that fell off our bikes more then we stayed on. At one point I just about peed my pants I was laughing so hard. :) Yesturday was their last day of programming and I was on canoeing. The day started out beautiful, so our hopes were high.... then one of the canoes tipped before we even left the put in spot, then we had to get out of the water 2 extra times because of lightening, then it started hailing (!! the second time I've gone canoeing and it has hailed. Stupid.), so we were like an hour late. But whatever, we had some good laughs. Then today they had to leave early, so on my day off I had to get up at 5 to help make breakfast. Last night we (Phil, Leah, and I) had the brilliant idea to do a polar bear swim to wake ourselves up... well, this morning when we woke up I'm pretty sure there was frost and when I looked at the temp later it wasn't even 0c . So, we met down at the lake. It was beautiful... there was a thin layer of fog and the sky was starting to turn a purpleish blue. But all we were thinking at the time was that this was the worst decision we had ever made. I was perfectly awake, and had no need to do this. But we had come this far... so we just went for it. It was cold. Period. After that we made breakfast and said our goodbyes. And now I have 2 days off. (!!)

Last weekend 4 of the guys and I went in to town (that was supposed to sound really exciting... but somehow I don't think you will think it does...) Anyways, we don't get into town much. Got some serious stuff done, got some silly stuff done, acted like kids, and just had a good time... then one of the guys (Tim) told us about this long cable across the North Sask River he had seen and we decided to traverse across it. So we grabbed our climbing harnesses and some other gear and headed over. [For those of you who don't know much about traversing, there's a few different ways of doing it: Traversing is basically getting from one side of something to the other. Traversing with a rope involves either hanging hand over hand (like monkey bars) across, "crawling" upside down across (Holding on with your hands and feet), or else trying to slack line across (which is basically tightroping it) ] We did a combo of slack lining and "crawling". It was so much fun.... but SO tiring. My fear of heights was a bit hard to get over, but when 4 guys are there pressuring and watching you... you just pretend everythings great. :P Actually, I was a big baby in front of them... whatever...

Well, the sun is actually out today, so I'm gonna go get some rays.

LOVE YOU ALL!!!



Grace and Peace,

Liz