It seems as though I am always saying that it's been a while since I've last posted (and it's usually true), but this time I really do have a good reason: I've been gone! A few weeks ago, I was teaching 5-day clubs, which are Bible clubs that reach children with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I was gone all day teaching multiple clubs each day! Even though I didn't personally lead a child to Christ that week, there were at least 13 salvations from other clubs! Altogether this summer, over 60 children have made decisions for salvation through a 5-day club, here in my district! Then this past week, I was a counselor at camp. Camp Good News! I've been a camper there for about five years, but this was my first time to be a counselor...and it was awesome!!! Instead of just boring you with any more of my rambling, I'll just show you some pictures.
Me and Olivia...she was a junior counselor with me.
Me and Olivia with our amazing campers!
Apparently, I'm the only one who heard "silly picture."
Awesome people...
Multi-colored tongues are just a part of camp.
There was never a dull moment. :)
Wonderful friends!
I loved every minute of it and can't wait to go back next year! The kids have a ton of fun, but also hear the gospel everyday, as well as learning more about God and how they can follow Him everyday! Camp Good News is like one big family reunion where we can daily serve the Lord!
Well, it might be a while before you hear from me again. I'm volunteering with my church to help out with a VBS at John 3:16 Missions! And then school starts up! Where has the summer gone? Hope you all have had a good one!
Don't Waste Your Life. It is the book by John Piper that I'm currently reading. I have gained so much from what I've read so far...and I have yet to finish it. (If you haven't read it, read it!)
Chapter five of Don't Waste Your Life is titled "Risk Is Right - Better to Lose Your Life Than to Waste It." Around the time I was reading chapter 5, I saw this video:
God doesn't call us to safety or comfort. The life God calls us to live means taking chances for His glory...taking risks. We might stumble, we might fall, but that's part of what it means to trust God.
John Piper defines risk as "an action that exposes you to the possibility of loss or injury." Everyday we take risks because we are finite creatures, we do not know the future. But would you be willing to deliberately take a risk to achieve something great for the cause of Christ?
After reading books like Crazy Love by Francis Chan, and (part of) DWYL, I've come to see that safety is a myth, a mirage as Piper puts it.
"The tragic hypocrisy is that the enchantment of security lets us take risks everyday for ourselves but paralyzes us from taking risks for others on the Calvary road of love. We are deluded and think that it may jeopardize a security that in fact does not even exist...[I]t is right to risk for the cause of Christ, and not to is to waste your life." (Don't Waste Your Life, 81. Emphasis mine.)
The video by Francis Chan reminds me of the parable in Matthew 25, when a lord gave his servants different amounts of money. You know the story: The ones who received the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant," were the ones who took the chances of investing the money. The one who the lord rejected was the one who played it safe, who took no chances.
You won't get human applause when you live the life God calls to (you'll probably get called crazy and even foolish); but you will get applause from the King of kings. Think of Stephen, the martyr, who before he died, saw heaven open up and the Jesus standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:56). Stephen risked - sacrificed - his life so willingly, that the Son of God actually stood to welcome him into eternity.
So I would encourage you, live not the safest life possible, but a life that's passionate about following Christ, no matter the cost.
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