Blakeyblog

It’s ten minutes to midnight and I am up with a growling stomach and a cup of soup. With these new changes I find my diet increasing and decreasing at any and all hours without notice. But being the food-lover that I am, I am happy to oblige. At camp last week I filled the role of “Dean of Women” which had me doing rounds late at night around camp to make sure things were in order, particularly students in their sleeping bags. I always found myself near the kitchen area at the end of my rounds sneaking around for crackers or fruit…anything to hold me till morning. By the end of the week I was sold on the cheezits-nectarine-bottle-of-water combo.

Earlier today a blog entry caught my eye that has a relevant and profound quote by A. Murray:

“Desires for other things…” (Mk 4:19) is an enemy. And the only weapon that will triumph is a deeper hunger for God. The weakness of our hunger for God is not because he is unsavory, but because we keep ourselves stuffed with “other things.”

The writer then states that God’s glory is what is at stake when our desires go astray. “The fight of faith is a fight to feast on all that God is for us in Christ. What we hunger for most, we worship.” I can see the reality of this statement on so many levels. From proclaiming the pure Gospel free from man’s baits and misrepresentations; learning to be content in all circumstances; denying myself to follow Christ, ceasing to sin so I can glorify Him…in all of these things there is a battle of desires, my desires against God’s perfect will. The writer of this blog helped me see that this battle is not just a simple matter of disciplining myself to surrender, but rather it is, “an internal, spiritual matter of finding more contentment in Christ than in anything else.”

Hungry I come to You
For I know you satisfy…

The process of recuperating from Survival Camp is just about done. All the laundry is finished, kitchen restocked and our place is almost back in order. However, Bobby and I are still feeling tired. At first we weren’t sleeping that great at camp with the geese honking at one and five every morning. Waking up in a 85 degree tent didn’t help much either, but we quickly adapted and surprisingly began sleeping well there. Now we’re trying to adapt back to the comforts brought on by the quiet and the cool air from the fan. I’m sure with only three weeks of summer left I’ll figure out a way to sleep better or sneak in some naps.

Tonight we attended a goodbye BBQ for our good friend, Andrew who is moving to the Midwest to attend seminary. I was struck by how many people came and had kind words for him and so many memories of the times they shared with him while he lived here. I’m always amazed when one can see how many lives can be impacted by just one person. Andrew was a fairly quiet guy but dedicated and always serving. Several people even stood up and testified to the work God used him to do in encouraging and challenging them. It wasn’t hard to see that he had touched many people there. I was encouraged by this and wondered if as much could be said of me. I interact with many people each day, how am I reaching out to them in truth, kindness, love and humility? I was sobered as I wondered how many people could honestly say that I have ministered to them. I am convicted facing the reality that I often stick with my own circle of friends, am quick to judge others and don’t go out of my way to put others above myself, seeking ways to serve them.

I’ve been most convicted about the way I use my words with others. Last week at camp I had a horribly eye-opening moment of self-confrontation. I was sitting with some other staff members at a table as we discussed how the camp’s games had gone so far that week. One of the women in charge of the games shared that she was so glad that she had only made one mistake and spelled out what it was. For some reason–which I have yet to realize–I piped up reminding her of another mistake that she had made only the night before. I didn’t consider that this mistake had brought her some grief that night as many of the campers gave her a hard time for not being prepared in the game. I didn’t even hesititate realizing that my words were not loving, because I was “keeping a record of wrongs.” What I said was true, but my speech was not seasoned with grace. The second the words left my mouth I felt terrible. I wished I hadn’t said them but there was nothing I could do to take them back and I saw the hurt in her face. She looked down and said, “Yes, there was that.” There was an edge in her tone and I couldn’t blame her. I apologized profusely and thankfully she was quick to forgive me, but I learned a valuable lesson that night.

Today I was encouraged by more thoughts from Paul David Tripp as I continue to read his book War of Words. His words show the hope we have in speaking according to God’s will rather than letting our talk go undisciplined and driven by our flesh. The Lord is showing me in more than this one instance that my words are important because they can hurt or heal. I want to grow more to give them up to His will and learn to speak for His glory:

We have returned from nine days at Lake Camanche hosting the previously mentioned Survival Camp. We spent the week in 100 degree weather, sleeping on an air mattress in a tent and grew strangely accustomed to being covered in dust and dirt and having spiders all around and sometimes on us. But the Holy Spirit does not require a comfortable setting or air conditioning to work in the hearts of the individuals He is seeking and we saw Him work as we had a great time learning from challenges and growing in encouragement. At the end of the week four students even confessed that they wanted to follow Jesus as Lord. Glory be to God!

The teaching this week was based around the medieval theme. We focused on the reality that Jesus is King and will come back to reign some day. This time Jesus will not come to die on the cross and save mankind, but to judge mankind. There is a sobering passage addressing this event in Matthew 25:31-46. Matthew 24:29 says, “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” This presents a chilling moment for people. Jesus is coming back and yet we don’t live in this light. We often are far too caught up living for today and our happiness or pleasure. We think we have time later to take Jesus seriously, but the reality of this passage shows that the earth mourned. Why did they mourn? Because they were not ready for Jesus to come back, but were caught living in sin and denying Him as Lord. The constant question during the week was: Are you ready?

Much of the small group time challenged the students to ask whether they are slaves to sin or to Christ. In our society obedience is not a very popular word, but is crucial in the life of a believer. Obedience, not just good intentions, must characterize the life of every believer. Jesus says in John 14:15, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” We could also see how those who are children of God do not need to fear His coming because their lives are marked by seeking first His kingdom (Matthew 6:33). Jesus is coming, and we must be ready. One passage particularly encouraged me as I was personally challenged to be ready and obedient for Christ’s coming: