Growing
up, I always considered myself a Christian. My family attended Bethel
Church on Sundays and my older siblings got to play games and sing songs at
Awana’s. However, I cannot say I remember much of it. At the age of
three, when my parents got a divorce, church became a lesser part of my life.
Every other weekend consisted of visiting my father and attending his
church, but all I recall was playing games with the other kids. Jesus,
God- I did not understand the difference, nor understood how Jesus could die
for our sin. Up until the summer before entering high school, the idea of
being a Christian seemed pretty cool, but I thought that I needed to learn more
of the Bible stories for me to fit that label. The summer before entering high
school changed my life. Jesus became personal to me at Island Lake
Camp. Here I learned what it means to be a Christian through not only
being a camper, but also through ministering on the High School Leadership
Program at Island Lake.
Before my eighth grade school year ended, I decided that I wanted to go to
summer camp, a Christian summer camp. Why I wanted to go to a Christian
camp, I have no idea, but that was how I refined my camp search on the
Internet. Soon enough I found Island Lake, a camp located in Poulsbo,
Washington. Before I could blink, my wish to attend camp came true.
Each day was filled with refreshing lake swims, learning the art of the
game of paintball, weaving colorful friendship bracelets and buying soda and
candy and the camp store tucked in to the woods. Above all of this, it
was at the fireside evenings every night that God worked in my heart.
Each of the cool summer evenings I spent at Island Lake, my fellow campers and
I spent time sitting in half circular rows by the fire, singing both silly
songs and worship songs. Games challenging who could eat chocolate
pudding out of a plunger the fastest took place on the half covered wood stage,
amongst the drum set and guitars. The remainder of fireside I opened my
ears to hear what the speaker, whose camp name was Wi-Fi, spoke about the
Gospel. He always kept my attention and opened my eyes to stories in the
Bible. Thursday evening, after fireside Wi-Fi told us to spread out
around the grassy field and spend some quiet time thinking about the message.
Looking up to the clear blue sky, my eyes filled with un-controllable wet
tears, I asked God, “Why would you do this for me? What have I done to deserve
your gift?” It was that night that I met Jesus, and I let Him be a part
of my life. Ever since that summer, Island Lake Camp has become a huge
part of my life.
After
two amazing summers of being a camper, I started working at Island Lake through
the High School Leadership Program and got to see camp from the other point of
view. This ministry strives to proclaim Christ to each person that enters
through its doors, whether it during a traditional summer camp week or a week
where a guest group use the facilities. Serving hamburgers at a
summertime barbeque dinner, washing down the Island Lake motocross billboard
that was covered in dust due to campers revving their dirt bikes and cleaning
the not so clean boy’s shower house were a few of my jobs; all of which were a
lot of work, but very rewarding. When my own energy was not enough to
work through a meal crew, which included two to three hours of prep, serving
and clean up, God provided me with the strength to keep on serving. All
of the high school staffers participated in a daily Bible study that challenged
and strengthened my faith by digging deeper into the Word and building upon it.
Not only did I experience fellowship and study with other high school
aged students, but also with the entire staff during sunrise devotionals,
spirit filled prayer times and evening worship nights. We all had a
common goal: to serve God by serving people, which is the motto of the camp’s
ministry. Christ’s presence draws His people together and keeps a strong
bond between them. We could worship, learn, laugh, live and serve
together for the glory of Jesus.
In
James 2:26, it reads, “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also
faith apart from works is dead.” I believe James is speaking about works
in a sense of proclaiming our faith and living our lives fully for Christ.
Being a Christian to me is putting Jesus first in everything and not
being ashamed of spreading His name. We are called to do just this.
In Matthew 28:19, it says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit.” I believe faith is active, and God wants our lives to be
active for His Will and His Glory. The more time I spend with Jesus, the
more I want to spread His love to the World, not because I have to, but because
He lives in me. When we delight in the Lord, as it is said in Psalms
37:4, He will give us the desires of our hearts, and my desire is to live for
Him in every aspect of my life. When I was at camp, I truly learned what living
for Him really was.
It was at Island Lake Camp that Jesus showed me that being a Christian was not
about knowing all the stories and memorizing verses. Calling myself a
Christian means that I have accepted Jesus into my heart, and that He is my
salvation, and He died for my sins so that I could live for Him. As
Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” We do not receive peace
from God when we know a certain amount of biblical stories or memorize the
correct amount of scripture verses, or even work at a Christian summer camp.
Peace from God, peace that I experienced that Thursday night at Island
Lake Camp, comes when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior
