I spent the last week in the most beautiful of places.
I spent the last week in a place where young people are able to come and meet the risen Christ. It's a place run by people who know how to love, serve, and to sacrifice far better than I. A place where the girl brushing her teeth next to me knows so well how to just love souls and where college students spend weeks upon weeks showing Christ to hungry teens - college kids willing to give up summers of paid jobs, nights out with friends, sleeping in, and so much more, so that even one teen could come to know the Jesus they know and love the Jesus they love. I spent the week around families who live in this place - families who have dedicated their lives so that young people would come to know Truth - families who truly do live simply so that the thousands of teens who come through their home may simply live. In just six days, these people showed me a beautiful kind of selflessness that can't be found many places in this world.
I spent my last week in a place where camp activities aren't just camp activities, but an opportunity to grow - to grow in trust, to conquer fears, to build bridges, to build friendships, and to experience God. It's a place where teens are able, in the sight of their peers, to admit their wrongs and without shame receive the mercy of God. A place where people affirm one another, show compassion to one another, love one another, and lift each other up. It's a place where teens are free - free to be young people - free from expectations and pressures and free to just. be.
I spent the last week in a place where Christ breaks heavy chains and calms fears and instills joy. A place where young people can see God in the service offered to them and in the love freely given to them, and where a campfire can create a space for them to step out in courage and testify to their life in Christ.
There is glory all around there - in that kitchen and on the field and in the woods and in the bunkhouses and on the roads and in that glorious white chapel.
It was in this chapel where the nightly song of those college students rose to the sky and pulled me right into heaven for a moment - a song of tired and passionate souls who want Jesus and who teach me how to sacrifice.
That beautiful little chapel is the center of a stunning and holy place that holds the stories of thousands of hearts mended, put back together to overflowing with His joy, His grace, His glory.
Thanking God today for placing a small camp in Georgia where He planned for so many souls to come alive.
Photo by my friend Rhett Pringle, Life Teen.