Tonight I kicked off a new week of camp speaking at Camp Timber-lee. I’ve been a camp speaker here since 1997. They keep having me back, even after I moved to Colorado, which is an honor.
This year’s theme is ‘Anchored’ and it’s a super topic – for when we have our lives anchored to God, we can survive the storms of life. I’ll be covering the ‘Water Stories’ of the Bible. Tonight we began with the Wise and Foolish builder in Matthew 7:24-27.
For each story we will be looking UP (something we learn about God), IN (something we learn about ourselves), DOWN (identifying a ‘bottom line’ Eternal Principle) and then OUT (what will we DO differently as a result of this story?).
One of the neat things about tonight’s chapel was when I introduced a new puppet tonight, named Shredder (a skater dude). He embarrassed to share his real name, so he goes by this cool nick name. He mentioned that he ‘s got some ‘stuff’ going on in his life that he could use God’s help with. When I asked what he meant, he said he didn’t want to give details in front of all these kids, but just described it as “stuff.” So I asked the audience if any of them, without any details, had “stuff” in their lives they could use God’s help with. Perhaps trouble in their home, or with a friend, or just something they are struugling with. I was overwhelmed by how many hands went up, and not just campers either. Shredder was encouraged that he was not alone. Frankly, I was too.
I guess we all have “stuff,” huh? I plan to let Shredder be someone they can relate to, and perhaps as the week goes on and we apply God’s Word to our lives, he’ll even find the courage to tell us his real name. Do you have any guesses? The campers are already guessing his name. It’s fun.
I’ll keep you posted on the week if you’d like?
