MY RUN-INS WITH NATURE
By Janice Mitchell, Summer Ministry Team
A
few weeks ago, I was sitting in the doctor’s of?ce with another staff member when a large
insect began crawling up the wall. She never
saw the creature, and our conversation continued
on as before. About thirty seconds later it dawned
on me, “This is a doctor’s of?ce, and bugs shouldn’t
be crawling up the wall!” I nonchalantly removed my
shoe and “KABAM!”—it fell to its death. My friend
was quite startled by the gesture and asked about
the sudden outburst. I said that I had seen the bug
and did not think anything of it. I mean, we do live at
Camp Tejas and the site of such a thing is far from
rare. However, when I put together “bug” and “doctor’s of?ce” the result was sudden and passionate.
My friend just laughed at my silliness.
A few days later I was walking back from worship
when I saw a snake slither across a pathway and into
the reeds by the lake. Chills ran up my spine, and I
could suddenly feel every beat of my heart as it raced
in my chest. What should I do? Who should I call?
Was it poisonous? Run! All these thoughts began to
?ood my mind. So, I did the most logical thing I knew
to do. I picked up some pebbles and sticks and began throwing them into the reeds at the snake. I told
my friends later about what had happened, and again
they only laughed at my folly.
However, the more I thought about the situation,
the more I thought of the many occurrences of similar instances in our lives. Speci?cally, I thought about
sin. Like the insect in the doctor’s of?ce, on so many
occasions I have become so comfortable and accustomed to sin that I never even think twice about
its disgusting nature and consequences. I just let it
creep up on me or those I love as if it is a normal part
of our lives. And when I do ?nally realize the extent of
the situation, many times I just throw pebbles at the
lingering snake and never take an appropriate action
to truly remedy the problem at hand.
Sin never has been and never will be a small thing
to God. The Bible says, “Hate what is evil and cling
to what is good” (Romans 12:9), and of course, Jesus
is the perfect example of such a standard. We see
Him indignantly turning over tables in the temple and
strongly rebuking the Pharisees for their legalism and
hypocrisy. Then He can be found loving His neighbors
and af?rming the faith of children. Ultimately, God sent
Jesus to the cross so that sin would no longer triumph,
and we could walk in freedom through the blood of
Christ. Because of the cross we are no longer slaves
to sin. We don’t just have pebbles to throw at the sin
in our lives. We have the blood and the nails of the
cross. There is no greater sacri?ce and no greater way.
Praise God that through Christ we don’t just live, we
conquer sin through our Lord and live abundantly!
country has been very humbling when a person grows
up being told that America is the best country in the
world. God loves their countries just as much as He
loves mine.
Before this summer began I was asked what I was
most excited about in coming to Camp Tejas. My reply
was getting to know the internationals that the Lord
is going to bring. After I said this I almost could not
believe I said it because the previous summer I really honestly had no desire to learn more about other
cultures or even to get to know the people from those
other countries. This summer, however, my heart has
just swelled with love for our staff, especially those
from other countries. I have enjoyed every moment
I spent with each of them and just learning to better
communicate with them and teach them new English
words and to learn new Spanish, Korean, Russian,
Ukraine, and Dutch words that I would probably never
learn if I had not come to Camp Tejas. Also seeing
a lot of the internationals work so hard to memorize
scripture i En lis and participate n the Bib e stud
the Bible studsc ipture in Engl sh a d parti ipate in th B ble st dcri tu e English
ar ici at
ies has been so challenging to me, because a lot of
them have to focus really hard about what they are
saying and reading in order to know and understand
what is going on. It has challenged me because I can
understand English and have spoken it my whole life,
but I still should be putting just as much of the effort
into learning God’s word and participating in Bible
studies by truly understanding what each word means
and to also put myself in a vulnerable position to be
corrected and to learn from others.
I never knew I could learn so much from people.
It has totally been by God’s grace that He has given
me the desire and the will power to get to know the
staff this summer, but I thank and praise Him for it. I
don’t think my life would have been as rocked as it has
been this summer if He had not brought people from
all over the world to serve here at camp this summer.
I’m just standing in awe at how our God goes beyond
our expectations by going further than what we ever
imagined.
BEYOND EXPECTATIONS
By Julie Burchfield, Summmer Ministry Team
“M
ay God be gracious to us and bless us
and make His face shine upon us, that
your ways may be known on earth, Your
salvation among all nations. May the peoples praise
you, O God; may all the peoples praise You. May the
nation be glad and sing for joy, for You rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth. May
the peoples prais ??????