A mid-Summer note from Stacy...

I’m sick.  After several days of not feeling well, I’m finally admitting it and letting my husband take care of me in the midst of his busy schedule.  As I try resting, the Lord put this analogy together for me from a conversation I had earlier this week.

We all know that we rarely take time to truthfully answer that question of “How are you/ How are you doing?” as it’s much easier to reply positively in some way.  This week I caught myself saying, “great” when I felt miserable~ and then changed it the next time to “OK”. (Some kind of downgrade, eh?) I wonder if this sets us up for putting a positive spin on our own spiritual inventory…

The YAPS are memorizing Col. 3:1-18 this summer and we just memorized v. 9-10: “Do not lie to one another (or yourself!), seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”  Needing to work on your renewal…?

Someone told me of a conversation that occurred with a camper the other week in regards to what they thought of their counselor.  To mostly quote the camper, “He (or was it a she?) is always talking about sin.  I don’t like that. Why does she (or he) spend so much time talking about sin?”

How would you respond to this “complaint”?  Now take a few moments and ponder what your reaction would be if you were in this tribe of kids and your counselor kept “talking about sin”.  Uncomfortable? Bored? Confused? Broken?

I knew I was getting sick on Saturday yet didn’t take the necessary steps to help combat it due to the “urgency” of the schedule for the next several days (camp, guests, Jon driving bus Mon./Tues., a funeral, Hannah’s 16^th birthday, Hannah and Natalie camping).  I kept ignoring the signs and pushing on.  Now I’m at home on “bed rest” and it’s hard.  This parallels so well with how I handle sin in my life too often.  Can you relate?

I John 1:8-9 tells us, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins,  he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

As we have past the halfway point of our summer ministry here at Barakel, pray for us as staff to rightly model confessing our sin, combating sin and reigning victoriously over sin so that more of our summer staff would “spend so much time talking about sin” to the kids and adults who come our way.  Pray that the Holy Spirit uses that powerfully in everyone’s life to obey Colossians 1:28-29 – “warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.  For this(we) toil, struggling with all His (Christ’s) energy that He powerfully works within (us).”

The following provides you with a snapshot of what the remainder of our summer of ministry holds as of this moment.  We’re grateful for your prayers on behalf of our family, resident staff and the summer staff!

Week 6 (this past week) Middle School / High School kids

                Jon running ES waterfront; Hannah and Natalie camping; Stacy sick

Week 7  4^th -6^th graders / 7^th -9^th graders

                Jon leads chapels; Hannah techs as a lifeguard for the first time!

Week 8  4^th -6^th graders / 7^th -9^th graders

                Hannah Techs again; Jon leads the Bible study time for Techs and Engineers (HS kids who volunteer to come and work for a week or 2)

Week 9  Middle School / High School kids

    Jon works at the waterfront; prepares for the lifeguarding class and fall retreats;

            Natalie Techs; Hannah’s last week as a Tech

Week 10 His-Ability Camp / Lifeguard Class / Work Week

                Jon teaches the 8^th Lifeguarding class; Stacy helps with cleaning WS of camp;

                        Katie turns 13!; fall sports practices probably begin…

Week 11 Our Summer Vacation

Regrouping and making the transition from summer camp to fall retreats;

       anticipating time together as a family!

Also happening each week:

Thursday nights spent hanging out with the YAPS group

Friday evenings girls’ and guys’ Bible Study and scripture memory

Sunday mornings at 9:30 Jon teaches from the book Colossians

Jon and Stacy (and many others!) meet weekly with “assigned” summer staff to encourage and challenge them in their walk with the Lord

 

Colossians 4:2-4

“Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the Word,

to declare the mystery of Christ, …that (we) may make it clear, which is how (we) ought to speak.”