12:10

Romans 12:10 says, "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.  Honor one another above yourselves."  The ESV says, "Love one another with brotherly affection.  Outdo one another in showing honor."  Last summer this became kind of a theme verse a few of the counselors at Camp Highland.  Our only "rule" at camp is that we show honor toward each other and toward camp property.  Any time this was not happening, a quick reminder of "12:10" would bring to mind the verse we had been focusing on all week.

This year, Romans 12:10 became kind of an unspoken theme among the counselors, especially the second half of the ESV translation.  It became a joke among the summer staff that if we were to ever be in a burning building, we would all burn because we would be so insistent on putting each other before ourselves—we would fight to hold the door for each other and let others go first, and eventually the fire would consume us along with the building.  It became almost a game to be the first to finish at meals in order to collect and clean everyone's dishes.  Sometimes the game broke out into races to the dish room.  One counselor even sabotaged me with honor one night by convincing my campers to let me take the first shower of the night.  This was partially in response to his campers from a few weeks earlier, who had been determined to honor their counselor so much that he would be utterly unable to serve them because of how quick they were to serve him in the ways he wanted to serve.

If there was any underlying theme for the whole summer, it would have to be the theme of "[outdoing] one another in showing honor," and also that the greatest challenges bring the greatest rewards (James 1:12).  The theme verses of the sessions were John 15 (abiding in Christ), Colossians 3:16 (letting the Word dwell in us richly), James 1:1 (being transformed from skeptic to willing servant through a deep personal relationship with Christ, just as James was after his encounter with the risen Savior), and James 1:27 (being found pure in the sight of God by the blood of Christ, and living in that identity as one who is unstained by sin).  These themes also played an important part in my growth this summer leading into this present semester.  They seem to me like themes for my own personal devotion to God though.  If you were to ask me what I took away from the summer, I would probably bring up the first two themes I originally mentioned.  But though I don't immediately think of the session themes, they have been key in bringing me out of the slump I found myself in last year.  Going into the summer, I had my fears and insecurities because last year was a strange year for me spiritually.  Since my response to the Lord's call in January 2010, Scripture has been my place of refuge and refreshment when it comes to my growth in my walk with Christ.  But after spending an entire summer leading elementary and middle schoolers in the basics of TAG time (Time Alone with God), I found myself feeling comfortable with what I already knew of the Bible.  Instead, my growth last year focused primarily on prayer.  Ironically, as the year came to a close, I felt very uncomfortable about the fact that I had felt comfortable with my Scripture knowledge.  So the start of this summer was the start of another turning point, bringing me back into a daily time of reading, in addition to a constant connection in prayer.  My fear at the beginning was that, having not consistently been reading for a year, I wouldn't know what to teach my campers or how to lead them this year in comparison to last year.  But another key theme of the summer was this truth: I don't have what they [the campers] need.  In and of myself, I have nothing of value to offer.  God pointed this out to me right away.  He had a purpose for keeping me from reading the Bible like I was used to: to humble me and to make me dependent on Him in order to lead the campers into a personal knowledge of Christ.  And as soon as the campers arrived, I began to notice that the Lord had blessed me beyond what I could have imagined coming into the summer by calling to mind Scripture references and memory verses I didn't even know I still remembered.

He also blessed me with fantastic co-counselors and an incredible team of fellow staff.  Vinnie, who was my co-counselor for four weeks last summer, was my co again for six out of the seven weeks of camp this summer.  The way that he modeled the wisdom he shared was a huge inspiration to me because he truly lives out James 1:22, not merely listening to the Word, but also doing it.  His is a James 3:17 kind of wisdom.  This convicted me at the beginning of the summer to seek to live out wisdom rather than share it verbally.  The wisdom that comes from God comes with humility and love, and is the kind of wisdom that is displayed, not spoken.  So for the summer, at least toward the beginning when it was fresh in my mind, my task was to live and do what could be done without words, and to speak only the wisdom that had to be spoken and could not be outwardly displayed.  How well I actually followed through with that goal, I'm not sure, but I bring up the point now so that I can renew my prayers and efforts for such wisdom.

There's still a lot more I want to share about camp, but I'll leave it there for now.  I'll have more about day-to-day life and the wins for Christ I saw this summer next time.

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Recap:
I don't have what they need.
"We're going to burn!"  Outdoing one another in honor.
Wisdom: Doing what can be shown without words, and saying only what cannot be communicated otherwise.