Heartburn UGGH

Why else would someone be up at 3am in the morning? This time it's not my kids. I woke up with heartburn if that is what you want to call it. I swear... after my surgery from having Izzie things have never been normal again. I am wondering if they placed everything back the way it was? What can you do? I am just annoyed.

Decided to catch up on camp from Dave so I can sit in an upright position and not be in pain....

Tuesday night:
Camp Pastor Dave Rhodes gave the students an opportunity to continue in Worship by asking anyone who wanted to read any scripture that had grabbed a hold of them in the last week or month. Like popcorn students stood and began to read scripture. After a few minutes, Dave expressed how cool it is to hear the passages read because they are not just random words but words that God had spoken to through the students. “God still speaks in the Here and Now,” Dave said.

Dave opened with an illustration of a little boy who wanted to play with his dad, yet his dad tried to buy a little time to unwind by giving his son a torn picture of the world. He told his son to tape the world back together and then it will be time to play. The little boy amazed his dad by coming back in 5 minutes with the world all put together. When asked how he new how to tape the world back the boy explained that on the back of the pieces their was a man, and once he got the man together the world came together too.

Dave challenged that illustration by expressing to the students that often people are better at getting their world together then the man. The more we know the person of Christ; he not only brings our world together, but flips our world upside down. “Normal becomes abnormal just to be normal again,” Dave said.

Dave took the students to John 1:35-42: Jesus calls His first disciples, in particular, Andrew. After Jesus telling Andrew to follow Him, Andrew immediately finds his brother, Peter, to share the news. Andrew sees God for who He is, and wants in on the conversation. The presence of God isn’t just something you find or see but engage in. We are waiting on God, yet maybe He is waiting on us.

“When’s the last time you stayed in conversation long enough to hear God’s heart?” Dave asked. Often when our life falls apart or a crisis is at hand, we beg God to pull our life together. “Instead of going to God with an agenda, go to God for an agenda,” Dave said. Dave emphasized how a lot of people have watched God put there life back together, yet don’t stay long enough to hear God’s heart for freedom in the world. “Are you just coming to God and asking Him to get your world together or have you stayed long enough to let Him flip your world up-side down?” Dave asked.

Andrew hears God’s message and the first thing he does is find Peter so he can experience what he just witnessed. “Peter gets a lot of credit for changing the world, but it was Andrew who brought Peter to Jesus,” Dave said. We all have different gifts and abilities. Dave urged the students to use their unique personality, in the Here and Now, to breathe out what God has breathed into them. God wants people to stay long enough to have the courage to expand His conversation in their world.

“Tonight we’re asking you to join a conversation,” Dave said. Dave introduced Camp Event Coordinator Laurabeth Emory to share her experience of staying in a conversation long enough to hear God’s heart. This last September, Laurabeth felt God calling her to become apart of an organization called Compassion International by sponsoring a little girl named Susan.



Tuesday morning:
Camp Pastor Dave Rhodes reiterated that last night the students focused on the two truths: God is present and when we see Him it changes our identity. This morning Dave focused on the truth that when God is speaking, we find our purpose. “Where are you going?” Dave asked. Is the road we’re walking down a road to life or death?

Dave took the students to Hebrews 11:23-29; the Hebrews our forging their identity because to be a Christian meant to be persecuted. In this passage the Hebrews are hearing stories of people who had chosen the way before them like Moses. By faith, Moses “persevered because he saw Him who is invisible” (verse 27). Life is a choice. “The lives we live tomorrow are determined by the choices we make today,” Dave said.

Robert Frost wrote about coming across two roads one day, and by taking the one less traveled that has made all the difference. Dave emphasized that life is determined not by what you can do but the choices that we make today determine the lives we live tomorrow. “God did not just speak, but is speaking,” Dave asked the students if they would join the conversation. “Will you walk down the road less traveled and allow Him to flip you life upside down?”