August 08, 2010

faces: provision

I got this idea a while ago. Now, I finally have time to share it with you. I'm going to try and do a little series over the next few days (before I leave for vacation! whooo-hooo!)

I realized how some of the faces at camp represented God in different ways. I would see a particular person and I could hear God whisper to me "in this person, you can see My peace.....My compassion.......My provision....My love....My grace." Here are the stories behind some of God's greatest lessons to me this summer.




This is the face of God's PROVISION.

The story...

This summer was in the top of the hardest, most challenging summers I have ever had in my 12 years here. And, as usual, when it's tough, God show up in BIG, big ways.

Without going into a lot of details, at the beginning of the summer, the middle of Week One to be exact, we had to let 4 people go. Yes, FOUR. That was shocking, terrifying and just plain hard. We were now faced with 3 empty counseling spots for the remaining 7 weeks of camp that we had left. Full weeks, too, which means we needed each and every counselors to be present to take care of the campers that were going to be there.

Panic, right?! We did some of that. Maybe more than some. We prayed constantly. We trusted that Lord would provide. We tried to be patient.

Enter God's provision.....
This guy came to us by way of a phone call from his friends, who were 2 of our day camp counselors. He, like the story of Ruth (Ruth 2:3), just so happened to have worked at a camp last summer. And not any camp, but a camp that our camp is good friends with. We love their staff and their mission. He also just so happened to not be able to work there because he was still in school when they needed him to start. He just so happened to finish school just a few days before we needed him. He also just so happened to work best with older kids, which is exactly what we needed. He was also able to stay for the rest of the summer. 7 weeks. Just so happens.

Oh, and he just so happened to get a long perfectly with the rest of the guys who were counseling the older boys this summer.

Each time I saw him this summer, I couldn't help but realize that he wasn't planned. He wasn't "supposed" to be here. God sent him here in His perfect timing. We could only be awed and humbled by His provision for us.

2 comments:

Gina said...

OK. Sooo excited for this blog series. The face/stories of the people and how God works through them each summer is what CW is all about for me. I can't wait for the next one.
And I got goosebumps from this one. I was there, saw that guy, didn't know what miracle he represented.
Very cool idea. Did I mention I'm excited?

Anonymous said...

Isn't that just like God???-mama