What I Learned at Camp

Julie and I had an awesome week at Scott River Lodge. JH experiences always give you an opportunity to learn new things and be reminded of other important principles for life. Here are some of my thoughts from the content we covered during the week.

Invest in things that will outlive us. This may sound like a principle that is mostly relevant to someone in my season of life but I believe that it is a great guiding principle for all ages. As much as we can, we should be investing our time in things that will love us back - relationships with God and His people. Earthly idols always compete for our attention. There is nothing wrong with pursuing balance with hobbies and passions as long as we keep our investment with those things in check.

You will never know the fullness of Christ until you know the emptiness of everything else. Charles Spurgeon

Humility, Teachability, Transparency, & Vulnerability - These traits are the stated goals for the JH Staff. I love this mindset. It’s a great approach to ministry but i think that it is also very applicable to us individually. I believe that all of it flows out of a humble spirit.

James 4:6 God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

We need to be willing to take risks in life. A study was done with people in their 90’s. They were asked to identify their biggest regret in life. The leading answer was that they wish they had taken more risks. I think that all of us can look back and identify some of the peak moments in our lives and see that in most every case, it involved an element of risk. Life is not about comfort and leisure, we must be willing to stretch ourselves to taste life’s ultimate richness.

God doesn’t always call the most talented but the most available.

The biggest gains usually come from the uncomfortable times. Growth is borne out of struggle. Good physical workouts come only when we push ourselves beyond comfort. Spiritual and character gains work the same way.

Those who “work for God” will burnout, those who “walk with God” will work for God. We can’t work ourselves to heaven. God wants us to walk with him as followers of Christ. If we are in step with God in an intimate relationship with Him, we will see the “work” that He puts before us to serve Him and others.

We are saved by works, but not our works - the work of Christ.

Have a blessed week!

Stay hungry,

Big E

Matt. 5:6