Hello everyone!
Tomorrow marks the start of the last two weeks of youth camps here at LLBC. It is literally insane how fast time flies by here! I wish this summer would slow down...but who doesn't?!
Anyway, last week was my last week being worship leader. It's a little bittersweet, but I'm super excited to counsel again for the last home stretch we've got here! Leading worship was such an awesome opportunity and showed me a different way that I can impact the campers without being directly involved in their lives. It was a very humbling experience and made me realize that the most important thing about that role was that I would simply bring glory to God and not myself in any way.
If you're at all curious, a really popular song that has been requested over and over again by the campers here is "Lifeline" by Hillsong Young & Free. It's so fun to lead and the lyrics are great! You should all check it out. :) My favorite version of the song is by Hannah Kerr. Back in March I was actually able to see her perform in live at the Cup O Joy! I miss that place a lot actually, but I'm excited to get back in the open mic groove this fall. Come visit me!! :D (www.cupojoy.com)
So this next week we have our oldest group of campers...9th-12th grade! And I'll be counseling?! Yup...Pray for me! The SSTers joke that the teen weeks always scare us...especially if you're a counselor...but am I afraid? No way, man! I am trusting that God will use me in whatever ways He desires this week. I'm super excited! Teen weeks are always a lot of fun. Friday night we're going to have a party here at LLBC... black light 9-square, light up Nukem, s'mores, and more! I can't wait.
So TBH, I just scrolled through all my pictures on Facebook. Keyword: all. Now I'm getting all emotional just thinking about how fast our time here on earth goes. It's NUTS!!! I just want to take it all in...but is there really a right way to do that?! Even here at camp when there's like 0 data on my phone and we're all stuck out here in the boonies with no Spotify connection time still finds a way to fly by faster than ever. It's so important to realize how urgent the gospel message is and that our number one purpose here on earth as Christians is to spread it and spread God's love in every way, and in every day of our lives.
Let me repeat that...
Our number one purpose here on earth as Christians is to spread God's love in every way, and in every day of our lives.
No matter how we're feeling, no matter how close we think we our to God....we are called to fulfill this one purpose.
The past few weeks I was actually feeling very dry. I felt like I was just very used to everything...used to the routine, used to the staff, used to praying, used to the gospel, and even used to God. And let me tell you...this is not a good feeling. It's hard to describe to others and it's hard to get through dry patches in life like this. But did I? Eventually, yes. And here's how. :)
So while I was worship leader this past week, I had the opportunity to teach the Bible Study activity class. For the first half of the class I gave the campers just some tips on how to study the bible and stuff like that. For the second half, we went through the first paragraph of James and practiced studying it in depth. Here's how it goes:
"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."
-James 1:2-8
I gave the kids 10 minutes to dive into this passage and discover something about it that they didn't know before. With popular passages like this, it's so easy to overlook important phrases or words that show up. When I was reading it, I noticed that in the first verse it says "when you fall into various trials," meaning that as a Christian, we're all going to fall into various trials. My trial at the moment just happened to be my loss in awe of God and the gospel. Man, but God is faithful and He will bring you through it.
Last night I spent 2 hours just looking at the stars and it was almost scary to think about how big our God is, and how powerful He is. Like, woah! We say it all the time like it means nothing, but it means everything! Maybe that's the problem...we need to just stop talking about God so casually all the time. God is...God. He is the Creator, the Ruler of all things, the Maker of you, of everyone, the Supreme Being that holds everything...EVERYTHING... in His hands.
That is not something to say to just say something.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, when you talk about God or the gospel, talk about it like you mean it. Don't just say stuff about God with indifference in your heart. You will cause yourself and others to stumble because they won't see the awesomeness of God in You....their impression of God will be their impression of you, which is boring and bland. Christian friends, promise me that you will try your best to never, ever, ever let the cross lose its wonder in your heart, because what's in your heart will be reflected in your words and actions.
Anyway, thank you guys so much for sticking with me this summer through these updates. I'll probably give ya two more after this, so keep checking in! Also, if you would still like to support me financially, I'm not stopping ya!! Go to www.llbc.org, click "give", then "donate now," and from there you can send support to me and/or other SSTers if you feel led.
Thank you so much for all your prayers! You can continue to pray that I will just be able to focus on God these last few weeks, and that the awe of God will be shown in my heart whenever I talk about Him and what He has done. You guys rock!
-Mackenzie
P.S. If you're friends with me on Facebook, you're probably wondering who the dude is in almost all my recently posted pictures. Well, his name is James and we make a great pair of goofballs together. That's all for now. More on that later. ;)
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