Camp Re-Cap (The Story)

Camp=Emotional High. To convey what could be possible in a Christian life if such a person dedicates time to spend in the presence of God. The temporary intimacy of being secluded from the world.

I may be a pessimist, but that is what I have come to find to mean "Camp".

Well God can change your perspective, can't He? He certainly changed mine.

I have been down the road of camps. It was great while I was there. I got in God's Word more, because there was a designated moment for it. And that made a pattern for the rest of the week to follow. But when I got home, the first couple of days I would try to make time and then other things became important. Also worship. At camp you worship like never before. You know that you have set aside a week of your summer, maybe even paid for it, and you are going to give it all you've got. The music is great. The lyrics are inspiring. And everywhere you go you hear of an awesome God. YOUR ARE OPEN TO AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE FOR THE WEEK.

What is different this time around? The experience did not start at Camp.

God had been moving in the hearts of the Impact Youth Group even before camp started. For awhile God has been calling Impact to a higher standard of living, intimacy, and fellowship in Him. Slowly but surely we have answered that calling.

When we arrived at camp it just further affirmed what God was doing. I found a deeper freedom in worship and praise. I saw a whole new side of God. One that I had heard about but not seen. I saw a God that wants to be a part of your life and He wants you to be a part of His.

I praise God because Impact has been open for an amazing experience for awhile. I've been astounded to see the excitment that GOING TO YOUTH GROUP has brought. It's not about what the pastor can do, but what GOD CAN DO.

This is a passage that God has revealed to me before and during camp. God is moving, I am following.

1 Peter 1:14-21 (New Living Translation)

¹⁴ So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. ¹⁵ But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. ¹⁶ For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

¹⁷ And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time as “foreigners in the land.” ¹⁸ For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. ¹⁹ It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. ²⁰ God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but he has now revealed him to you in these last days.

²¹ Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory.