Spring has once again worked its magic and found a way to cram an event into every nook and cranny of these bi-polar May days. The weather simply refuses to co-operate and rain rapidly chases sunshine away for days at a time, only to give way to the sun again. It doesn't stop, and neither do I. I haven't stopped since April, May is manic. Beach trips, coffee shops, ladies' luncheons, girls' nights, brownie sundae Sunday's, graduations, retirement parties and so goes the circus. Oh, and finals, too. I managed to incorporate Calvin and Hobbes into my psychology final. I was immensely pleased with myself for finding a textbook example of the Pre-operational period in Cognitive Development. Running on a combination of coffee and adrenaline and sugar seems to be par for the course these last 2 weeks. This week, I'm heading full throttle into summer and pulling together all the last minute odds-and-ends before camp on Sunday.
Tonight I decided I would crawl into bed while the family was otherwise occupied and just read. I've been doing a ton of that lately, mostly for school and then because I want to finish all these books before I leave for camp. Otherwise they end up on the I-became-otherwise-occupied-so-abandoned-you-to-remain-forever-here-shelf. Those of you who read undoubtedly have a similar sort of location for those books. I just finished up Unfashionable by Tullian Tchividjian this afternoon and my next stop is Think by John Piper. At the same time I'm trekking my way through 993 pages of glorious fantasy in The Wise Man's Fear. Honestly, this is my favorite item on my "To-Do-Before-Camp" list. I love reading, especially in my backyard with iced coffee and strawberries. (I'm considering making that a part of my daily routine). Another thing on my to-do list is finishing the 5th season of E.R. My friends inform me this is old school, but I love the show and mom and I are trying desperately to finish before I go. Also on the list are important things like packing.....but that's boring, so I won't elaborate.
Sunday morning the sunday school lesson was on Psalm 16- God is for Us. Psalm 16 is one of my favorite Psalms, and I'm going to try and memorize it this summer while I'm away at camp.
"I say to the Lord, 'You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.' As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight." (vs. 2-3).
Two things come to mind reading these verses:
Firstly, there comes a point during camp where you truly say "I have no good apart from God"- the point where you're so exhausted emotionally, physically; when you don't want to think through yet another mealtime conversation; where you have such a tendency towards irritability it's obvious any good is not from you. This is not what I want. I want to be able to say I have no good apart from God right now. When my only problems are how to pack my suitcase under 50 lbs and finishing required reading before camp.
Secondly, "saints...in whom is all my delight." I meet a lot of people throughout the course of 8 weeks. Fellow saints. Some I rub shoulders with from 7 am to 11:30 pm for 5 days straight. Those are my students- my girls. The rest are my teammates. We work together all day, every day. Sometimes we rub each other the wrong way. Mostly, though, we learn to work as a team. From the very moment we step onto the Oklahoma Weslyan Campus, it is my prayer that my team sees each other as "excellent ones" in whom to delight.
For the next 8 weeks, then, I will travel all over the East Coast with Worldview Academy. As much as it is possible, I will update you weekly. This will probably be in the form of pictures more than writing, but we'll see. In the meantime, I ask that you would keep the Northeast team in your prayers. We need as much of it as we can get, as it is only God's grace that keeps us running strong for His glory. Here are a few specific things you can be praying for during our first week of staff training:
1. Pray for unity in our team. This first week sets the tone for all 7 weeks of camp and is crucial to developing the sort of team that will encourage, edify, and build up its members.
2. Pray for energy. For all of us it is an adjustment to a non-stop schedule, but for those of us coming from the West Coast (me!), it's also an adjustment to the time zone, which is 2 hrs. ahead of CA.
3. Pray for love. Amidst all the logistics of camp crammed into 4 short days, it's easy to let quiettimes and my desire to love God fall to the wayside. I get so caught up in doing and glorifying I forget I must first love God before I can glorify Him. Pray then, for love, that the faculty and directors and staff would not forget why we have gathered together in the first place.
My room is in turmoil at the moment. Everything needing to be packed is half in my suitcase, half out. I am excited! I am confident God will work marvelously this summer, in Worldview's three teams, in all the students attending camp- and I can't wait to see it. I can't wait to share it with you, thank you for all your prayers!
