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Breakaway…what a great name! The North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church holds a camp for middle schoolers and high schoolers every summer at lovely Louisburg College. Almost 400 youth gathered to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as well as having a blast! We made our own slip and slides. We made silly home movies. We had worship everyday…Liz Roberts was the preacher…amazing! We studied the scriptures and played silly games with cheetoes and shaving cream. We ate 80 pizzas! The men marched over to the women's dorms in the rain and serenaded us with golden oldies!
Well, that all sounds gloriously boring in print. Luckily, a great time was had by all! No one went home for poor behavior! There were no major injuries! The Gospel was proclaimed and shared with a smile. All in all, a great week.
One thing happened to me personally that will make it a memorable camp experience...
It is a shame that the church forgets how to be the church sometimes. Someone assumed something about me. Instead of speaking about it to me directly, the rumor mill began. Having people talk about me hurt my feelings, certainly. Yet, I had this peace that could only come from God. I hadn’t done anything wrong, so I prayed and waited it out. When the appointed person from the group of people discussing me came to me, I spoke the truth, again with peace. I, however, was hurt more by the process than what was said. It took someone until Thursday to talk to me directly. After the someone talked to me, I was angry and even contemplated going home like a grumpy 5-year old.
Then things began to get in balance again. The person who had initially started the discussion came to me and apologized. The church began to function like a church again.
That is what we do as Christians. When we are wrong, we ask for forgiveness and repent of our wrong doing to God. My friend did just that. I really appreciated her guts for coming to apologize to me. I also admire her for that. She had the courage to admit wrong and mend a broken relationship. What a great thing! That is another wonderful thing about being a Christian. We can turn away from God, yet we can always repent and return to that right relationship with God and our Christian friends.
So, all in all, Breakaway was a difficult yet fabulous week for me. I got to see old friends and make new friends. I also got to see the church at its worst then at its best.
God is so good!
Peace out,
Mary
2 comments:
It IS amazing how satisfying it is to work with kids praising Jesus. This year a friend and I tackled the task of being VBS directors for our tiny church. We enrolled 91 kids and it was absolutely fantastic!
Sorry you had a negative experience (rumors are the worst!) but it sounds like it all worked out in the end. And the camp sounds like a lot of fun!
I'm always so impressed with the way that you find a way to reflect on and grow from every experience that life throws your way, big or small; positive or negative. That's part of what will make you a wonderful minister -- that ability to see every experience as an opportunity to learn about yourself, to grow in your faith, and to connect to the wonder that is out there in the world. Some future congregation is going to be blessed indeed.
I hope you and the girls are well -- give us a holler over email or on my cell if you have some time to get together.
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