Mortality, Judgmental Attitudes
Good morning! I woke up extra early this morning (had something to do with a cat clawing at my door, begging to come in) and since I don't have any lessons to prepare, I thought I'd write a little here.This has been quite an exciting week, but a lot of work, getting all my messages ready. Thursday was a hard day because it was the day that my advance preparation sort of ran out...I had been keeping ahead all week, but the trip to the beach on Wednesday left me without any prep time, so I was scrambling on Thursday to get things put together for my teen lessons.
Since we were in James 4, and I knew I wasn't going to have time to teach all of James 4, I had to make a choice; I was either going to teach a lesson on judging others, and judgmental attitudes, or I was going to teach on mortality (James says that our lives are like a vapor)
While I was puzzling over which I should do, I got an email, telling me that a good friend of mine is in the hospital with appendicitis. This made me think of something I hadn't thought of in quite awhile...the weekend about eight years ago when, in one day, my nephew Daniel went in the hospital with a burst appendix, and a teen from my church flipped a tractor over on himself, and was impaled in the chest with a shard of metal. It was a tough weekend, not knowing if either of them was going to make it through. But the verses from James about our mortality came to my attention that weekend, so the email about Nate's appendicitis sort of made the decision for me about which lesson I was going to teach; I taught on mortality.
It turned out that the lesson was quite a catalyst for some very deep discussions on the girls side of the camp (I was reminded of the verse in Ecclesiastes which says God has set eternity in our hearts - I think any time we discuss mortality and what lies beyond this life, we are wired to respond strongly to it)
The girls really wanted to "talk to Pastor Doug"...even told their counselors they didn't want to talk to anyone else. But I was over on the other side of camp, so no one could find me. I think this was actually a very good thing as their counselors were perfectly capable of answering their questions, and it was good for them to have the opportunity to do so.
Last night at campfire, I heard several of the campers say "I learned a lot this week about having a judgmental attitude", which was really wonderful, because that was the lesson I had chosen not to teach, yet for whatever reason, in whatever way, God had taught them that lesson anyway, so...in reality, all of James got covered!
God does work in mysterious ways, doesn't He?
Well, today I head home, after the closing meeting, and it'll be nice to be able to kick back and relax today. But I'm going to miss the campers, and especially the teen camp staff. I was impressed with them; six people, most of whom are still teenagers themselves (at least a couple of them are 19) who were entrusted with planning and running the teen camp...and they poured themselves into it wholeheartedly, and really did a great job. I get excited to see that kind of dedication and enthusiasm.
I hope that in future summers I get invited back to speak at teen camp again; while I do enjoy speaking to the children, working with the teens is really where my heart is!
Well, speaking of God working in mysterious ways, here's the hymn by William Cowper:
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.
Posted On Jul 9, 2005 at 2:21 AM
On Jul 9, 2005 Doug wrote: I'm home from camp now. And I'm going back in two weeks. I found out that they had a week that they didn't have a teen pastor lined up, and so I talked it over with Mr. Romano, and said that I didn't want to miss my Wednesday night meeting with my youth group, or my weekend outing with them, so if they would cover for me on Wednesday night, and let me get done on Friday night, I would do another week. Mr. Romano said that would be fine.
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