Success! in higher ground

As mentioned in the last post, this past week we had Cornerstone University Leadership Journey going on here at camp, and my dad was here working with a group of students. During some of my down time I had the opportunity to hang out with and get to know them a little bit. Because I had gotten to know them a little bit, it was very exciting to work with them at the high ropes course on Wednesday because I knew most of their names and knew a little bit about them. We had some sweet things happen during their high ropes experience.

The first was a girl in my dad’s group who is deaf, but has a cochlear implant and thus is able to hear some things, but lipreads as well. I was blessed to be able to work with her during her entire higher ground experience in that I belayed her into the course, transferred her to each of her elements, and belayed her back down to the ground. Her path was not extremely elaborate, it was not the most physically difficult, and from the ground, it didn’t look like she struggled a whole lot on her elements. However, each time she made it to a platform after the completion of an element, she got this big, huge grin on her face! It was like she was so proud that she actually did it! That was VERY awesome for me to see.

Another girl did not feel comfortable going into the course due to some physical disabilities, but as the time block drew to a close, she decided to give it a shot. We helped her into the equipment and I got to belay her as she climbed up four rungs on the ladder. To many people, that may not seem like much of an accomplishment, but it was a huge deal for her and everyone was so proud of her! What a great day!

So many awesome things happened throughout the week! I was able to spend some down building relationships with some Cornerstone students and having very encouraging conversations with some of them, which was very exciting for me. It was a long and tiring week, but a good one, and I find myself missing those people that I spent time with now that they are gone.

Changing Beautifully.

Last night I had the opportunity to go with the Cornerstone University Leadership Journey group to the Silver Lake Sand Dunes where they would have some time to run around before going through a prayer walk and then coming together for some worship. We headed out after dinner, walking the mile or so to the dunes. When we got to the top we pretty much dropped our stuff and ran off to go climb dunes and run down them, just having fun.

Based on the last time I had been exploring in the dunes, I thought I knew where the farthest dune was at. I knew the dunes changed some, I could see that, but it looked pretty similar to the way I’ve always known the dunes to be. As I approached the top of the dune I thought to be the farthest, I could see not one, but two more dunes past the one I was standing on. I decided to head out there and check out the view.

I reached the top of the farthest dune not long after a SCUF (Student Cornerstone University Facilitator). She looked around for a minute, then held out her arms and just let the wind take her, spinning, until she sort of fell onto the sand, where she just layed. It didn’t look like she wanted to talk a whole lot, so I decided to take that time to do something I hadn’t had much of an opportunity to do since arriving at Grace; stop. Just stop. Stop. Look. Listen. Think. Pray. I looked around, sat down, and just marveled. I started thinking in terms of Leadership Journey and how various things that I saw from atop that sand dune related back to the things the students were learning and that I had learned in past years. Something struck me. Hard. The beauty. The beauty of the water. The beauty of the surrounding trees. The beauty of the sun as it began to think about setting. The beauty of the sand. The beauty of the sand. The sand. That HUGE hill I was sitting on top of, that I was pretty sure had been just lake, not a dune, not long before. The sand that changes constantly as the wind blows it.

Pause. I am not a huge fan of change. If you know me, you know how true that statement is. I know that change is necessary, and can be a good thing, but that doesn’t always make it easy. Change is (often) good. Change is necessary for growth. But can change be beautiful?

Back to the story. I am sitting on this huge, tall dune, a couple yards from this SCUF who is still sprawled out on the sand, eyes closed, probably praying. I continue to look around at the sand. The ever-changing sand and how beautiful it is. How beautiful it ALWAYS is. After awhile, we headed back toward the rest of the group as they began the prayer walk. I decided to head to another, closer, dune to watch the sunset, this time, alone. I reached the top and just looked around, took some pictures, and looked at the sun as it began to set over Lake Michigan. As I sat and watched, I thought back to the changing sand and the beauty of it all. But then, the SUNSET! So beautiful and glorious! And ever-changing. I continued to take pictures of the sunset for awhile because it kept changing! And in fact, it became more and more beautiful (in my mind anyway) as time went on.

So I just kept thinking. What if the sand and the sunset are like the lives of Christ Followers. Beautiful, wonderful, but continually changing as we follow the path that God has laid out for us. He refines us, challenging us, giving us trials and hard times and good, sweet times as well as He shapes us. Much like the wind shapes the dunes, and while you may not be able to tell that the dunes are changing while you visit, if you come back in a year, you can tell changes have been made. And when we are changed and renewed to become more like Christ, are we not becoming more and more beautiful as those changes take place?

Working the Ropes

So, I’d say it’s about time for an update. I have now been at camp for 5 whole days! Things have been pretty crazy around here…but I love it! I’ve worked in the camp store, on the waterfront, gotten a little sunburnt, in the nursery Sunday morning, cleaned, worked the zip line, and the ropes course.

My absolute favorite is the ropes course. This week we have a group of college students (mostly starting freshmen) from Cornerstone University. Today some of them did the high ropes course, and it is always so cool to me to see the kids who get up there and just fly through the course…doing elements as many different ways as they can think of, meeting their goals and being challenged. But what’s even MORE awesome is the kids who get up there and freak out or start crying or get exhausted or whatever AND THEY STILL MAKE IT AND ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS!!!!! Such awesome growth! I LOVE seeing that growth happen and those kids get challenged and have the opportunity to challenge them and encourage them and I just think it’s SO cool!

Well, sorry this is so short…but dinner calls. Hopefully more updates will follow in the near future!

Peace out!

Upside-Down

On the last day of BigStuf, they showed a SWEET video that I have been waiting to see online. I finally found it! Check it out: