I'm going to share a story about myself that is pretty embarrassing. Ok, it's really embarrassing. Like so embarrassing I think I've only ever shared it once to another person, and now I'm deciding to share it to the entire internet.
When we're young (and even though we pretend we don't when we get older) we really care what others think about us. No matter who you are, at some point in your life, I am assured you have considered what others would think, and changed your actions accordingly. Some people try to act really tough to impress others, some people tell jokes and act crazy, and some people are really nice to people to gain their affections. I was kind of a chameleon of sorts, growing up. I could change the way I acted, the way I talked, even the way I carried myself seamlessly to fit the situation. At school I was the funny guy who picked on people. At home I was the weird kid in the family, who although didn't make the grades the other kids did, made up for it in other areas. At church I was the kid who cared more about having fun than learning about God and living like Jesus. At camp I was the talented young man who really cared about God, the Bible, and his deep and meaningful relationship with Christ. Makes me sick. You see, many of these attributes make up a small part of me, but almost all of them were a sham in one way or another. I tell you all this to give a little bit of insight into what I am about to reveal. This story revolves around the Carter who was a counselor at Camp Ba Yo Ca and had a "great" relationship with God. The real Carter only acted like he had a great relationship with God because he was surrounded by guys who actually did, and wanted to be like them, or maybe more importantly, there were pretty girls who valued a guy's Christian walk. So as I was working at Camp, I started to notice that approximately 10% of people were praying with their eyes open. I don't remember specifically, but I would venture to guess that a pretty girl was in that 10%. After I noticed this, I realized how I could make people think I was really "holy." So during every prayer, whether it be during a prayer where someone was praying in front of everyone, or we were having silent prayer time, I began to move my lips alot and contort my face like I was really concentrating on meeting God. It gets worse. Not only would I openly move my lips with the words I was saying when I was "praying," but if I ran out of things to say to God I would keep moving my lips, not even actually mouthing real words. The Holy Spirit must have given me the gift of tongues. This is ridiculous. Jesus must have known I would do this, because he talked about me in Matthew 6. Jesus said, "Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites (Carter). For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles (Carter) do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matthew 6:1 & 5-8)" My afflictions however, could not simply be fixed by praying in secret. My real problem was how awesome I thought I was, and how lame I thought God was. Whether I was acting like I didn't care about Him, or like I was the holiest of all the holy, I was simply bragging about how awesome I was, instead of how awesome God is. In Galatians 6:14, Paul shows us that he has overcome this way of thinking when he says, "As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world's interest in me has also died." If anyone had reason to boast because of his "holiness" it was Paul, but he realized how insignificant he was in comparison to Christ. I am here to tell you I am a ridiculous person. I have realized how insignificant I am in comparison to Christ. I still struggle with pride, but God has shown me that if I can learn to make myself smaller and Him bigger, there won't be a need for me to show off. Jesus will shine so bright through me that He will do all the "boasting" for Himself. "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)" The best life you can live is nothing in comparison to the life Christ can live in you.
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Do you ever feel like every time you try to follow God's will for your life, you are immediately tempted? I know I do. It seems that virtually every time I finally get back on track with what God wants for me, I am tempted immediately and almost inevitably fall into sin. This is a bit embarrassing for me to admit, but I normally don't even last one temptation before I fall back into the "sin that so easily entangles" me (Hebrews 12:1). After this happens I am normally so ashamed of my sin that I feel that I cannot even "face God" that day, so I skip my prayer and Bible study. The next day the sin is even easier to commit, so I do it. But then, of course, I can't look God in the eye yet again so I avoid Him at all costs. This then becomes a daily habit and then I am back to where I started. Has this ever happened to you?
Why does this happen? Why are we so easily drawn into sin? Why is it then, in turn, we feel as though God will be somehow angry with us and won't want to talk to us? How can we let this happen? I don't have the answers to most of these questions. Actually, I really don't have the answers to any of these questions. What I do have is the Bible, which gives many answers to these questions, along with my own personal experiences. First, and most importantly, I believe following what Jesus told his disciples at Gethsemane is the best way God has given us to defeat sin. In Matthew 26:41, Jesus says, "Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Jesus pretty much hits the nail on the head there. My spirit wants to follow God and do His will, but my flesh is paper thin. Therefore, the way that Jesus tells us to overcome this problem is by watching Him (studying the life of Jesus) because He was sinless on this earth, and prayer. In Hebrews 2:18, the author speaks of Jesus' temptation when he writes, "For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted." You see, Jesus was without sin, not without temptation. Because He was tempted and overcame it, he can help us to overcome it too. When temptation comes our way, if we do those two things, God will help us overcome it. Other scriptures have great insights into temptation as well. In 1 Corinthians 10:13, Paul writes, "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." This passage is very encouraging to me, because I often forget that our enemy is not allowed to do anything without God allowing him to. This means that whatever Satan decides to throw at me, God sees that temptation and says, "Carter can make it through that unscathed." It seems as though God has a little more faith in me than I have in me. My spirit is willing, but my flesh is weak. Because I have seen the weakness of my flesh, I have found that God has given me a few weapons to battle against the enemy. The first is, as stated before, God. If I simply watch Him and pray, he will deliver me. The second is also vitally important, especially at a place like Camp Ba Yo Ca, and that is the people around us. God has placed people in our lives for specific purposes, and I believe he wants, and even expects us to lean on those around us for support. Remember earlier when I was speaking of that "sin that so easily entangles us?" Well this is what the Bible has to say about that: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. (Hebrews 12:1-2a)" This verse outlines both tools that I speak of, but I want to focus on the "cloud of witnesses." Hebrews 11 is what many Christians refer to as the Hall of Faith. This chapter outlines the life of many important people in the Bible who lived by faith. The cloud of witnesses are those who lived for God before us, and those who are living for Him around us. God has given us these people to help in our battle against sin. If you need a log sawn in half, but you never pick up a saw, will the job get done? If you need a board nailed to another, but never pick up a hammer, will you be successful? God has given us the tools to succeed. All we need to do is use them. I have failed miserably in writing this blog so far.
Before this post, I have written five blog posts. These posts have been meant to be insightful and encouraging to counselors, staff, and anyone else who stumbles upon my weekly rantings. Most of my posts have something to do with camp, possibly a little blurb about what is going on at camp, maybe a story about a character from the Bible. You know, devotion stuff. The things I talk about in this blog are ideas and doctrine that I really feel strongly about. Most weeks, I feel that God has legitimately laid something on my heart to share with the Ba-Yo-Ca family. So in this I am not saying that what I have been posting is rubbish. On the contrary, the lessons that I am trying to teach are lessons from scripture, which we know is "God-breathed and useful for teaching" (2 Timothy 3:16). However, virtually every week I have missed one major aspect of the lesson: Jesus. This can't be true, right? I looked back over my posts and found one time that I talked about or quoted Jesus. Jesus is the base of everything we believe, right? How many times in church is the name "Jesus" never said or our savior never quoted in a sermon? Think about it, and I bet you'll find that it is more than you imagined. How many times in your small group, Bible study, or Sunday school class do we study Romans, Ephesians, Isaiah, or Psalms? Again, not that there is anything wrong with those books, but how many times do we study the life of our Savior? To an outsider who knows nothing about our faith, it would seem as if Jesus is simply a side note to the bigger story. HE IS THE STORY! Some of you reading this may be disagreeing with me on some level. I am not trying to say that we shouldn't study all scripture. I am simply stating that all scripture points to Jesus, which is something we miss quite frequently. Even Paul, the writer of those letters that we study so fervently, says in 1 Corinthians 2:2, "For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." The chapter goes on to say that we speak a message of wisdom to the mature, so I am not saying that we should stop studying other scripture. But this passage tells me that even Paul, one of the most well read people in the Bible, understands that the most important topic a Christian should talk about is Jesus. Without Jesus, Abraham is nothing. Without Jesus, Paul is nothing. Without Jesus, I am nothing. Without Jesus, you are nothing. Jesus said, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5) Don't let Jesus be an afterthought. What if we treated evangelism as an emergency? How would the way we interact with others change? How would our daily lives change? How would we change? I began pondering this today as I was watching our Child to Camp video that will be shown tomorrow, March 21st at our Child to Camp Celebration at Wallace Memorial Baptist Church at 7 (shameless plug for our event). The song in the video is "Tears of the Saints" by Leeland, which if you haven't heard it I will put a link to it, because the message is life changing. The lyric that really gives me a sense of urgency says, "There are many prodigal sons, on our city streets they run, searching for shelter. There are homes broken down, people's hopes have fallen to the ground, from failures. This is an emergency!" This idea of lost people's situation being an emergency is an odd but critically important concept to grasp. Romans 10:14 gives us an insight into why people must hear the Gospel from God's children: "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" And then in Matthew 9:37, Jesus says,"The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few." If you can understand the urgency of evangelism, you have two choices. First, you could simply say, "I don't care." The only other choice is to say, "I am going to do something about this." In an emergency situation there are those who stand and watch, and the heroes who do something. Many times there is nothing special about these "heroes." They are normal people who decide to do something about an urgent need. I ask today that you wold be one of these heroes. Knowing that people will only believe if told (Romans 10:14), and that there are many who would trust in the Lord but only a few who will tell (Matt. 9:37), how could this change our lives? There are people that would put their faith in the Lord, but there is no one to tell them. What will you do about that? There are people hurting and without hope. What will you do about that? There are people who have lost faith in God and His Church. What will you do about that? There are people dying in our world who have never gotten the chance to hear the Gospel. What will you do about that? I am not asking these questions rhetorically. If you have an idea on how to reach the lost, please post it in the comments and I would love to help in any way I can. As a camp family, let's make a conscious decision to reach the lost and be heroes. This is an emergency. Father, we will lead them home. Abraham is one of my favorite characters in scripture. I sometimes think about him as some superhuman who is almost an ethereal creature, or perhaps a man just below the status of Jesus. In other words, unattainable Godliness in human form. However, when I read the accounts of the life of Abraham, I realize he is just a normal man in whom God chooses to do a great work, and he obediently follows. When it comes down to it, Abraham really doesn't do anything all that special. He simply says "Yes" when God asks him to do something.
Many times in my life I have found myself trying to figure out what my life is meant for. I spend hours in scripture, prayer, and simple thought about what I am supposed to do with my life. I sometimes get frustrated because I feel that I am willing to serve, yet God doesn't have a direction for me. And then I look at the life of Abraham. Abraham, or Abram, was not called by God until he was 75 years old. We don't really know anything about the time before this in his life. I suppose Abram was probably following the Lord diligently, but God had a bigger calling for him later in his life. God had a purpose for this, because if he and his wife would have been younger, the miracle of the birth of Isaac would not be near as incredible. This helps me understand that God's timing is infinitely better than my timing. More importantly to me, however, is looking at how readily Abraham simply replies "Yes" to the requests of God. Abraham doesn't spend long hours weighing options. He doesn't test the waters before he dives in. He doesn't really even do much that has an effect on a large group of people in his lifetime. He simply says "Yes" when God calls him. I wish I could have the simple faith that Abraham has. Not the kind of faith that asks "How" and "When" and "Why," but the kind of faith that says "Yes." Abraham is nothing special. Actually, when it comes down to it, I probably know more scripture and have studied the Word more than Abraham. Where Abraham excels, however, is in his ability to simply trust God. Sometimes trusting God seems like the worst idea possible. Remove the fact that it is a story from the Bible, but if you heard about someone who was going to sacrifice their child because God told them to, you would assume that person is crazy. Many times following God seems crazy. Most times when you follow God, people around you, even those closest to you (or maybe even your own wife, in Abraham's case), will tell you that you are crazy for doing so. However, if we as Christians can resolve to stop asking "Why" and "When" and "How" and simply say "Yes," we will finally know what it means to live a life of faith. Am I crazy for following God? Possibly. Am I foolish for following God? Hebrews 11 tells me otherwise. Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." If we as Christians can start to live like this, asylums just may become the new Church buildings. So be it. Many times we have heard of the power of prayer. We've heard it from scripture, our pastors, our Sunday School teachers, our grandmothers, and many others. However, sometimes it seems like, to me at least, I am talking into nothingness. However, there are those times in our lives when God miraculously and very obviously answers a prayer, and we are able to firsthand see the power of prayer. We see in Genesis 18 where Abraham seemingly changes God's mind. I don't know if God changes his mind because of what we say or do, but we see that God cared enough about Abraham to listen to what he had to say.
Yet still, even when God shows up in a powerful way in my life through an answered prayer, I continue to forget the importance of it. I feel this is why the children of Israel were constantly turning from God, because God knew I would do the same, yet he still loves me. Many times, even when I am consistently bringing my concerns and thanks to God, I feel as though I don't know what to pray for. God gives us an amazing promise in Romans 8:26-27 concerning this matter: "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will." Because we know the power of prayer, we need not forget to pray for what is important to us. God wants to hear what we have to say, just as he wanted to hear what Abraham had to say. Therefore, this week let us commit to praying for camp. This week at camp we have a mission team here from Rome, Georgia. They are working on making camp ready for the summer. Sometimes for mission teams such as this, it can be hard to see the bigger picture since they have never been here when campers are here. Pray that they will continue to work hard and be able to see that they are doing the work of the Lord. Also, be praying for the staff and volunteers that are here year round, that we can keep focused on the goal of camp, which is bringing people closer to the Lord. Second, begin praying for our counselors and staff that are here during the summer. Pray that they will be prayerfully considering working at camp, and making sure that camp is where God wants them. Also be praying for their spiritual growth and maturity as they are preparing for the summer. Last, be praying for the campers that are coming this summer. Be praying that God will prepare their hearts for what they need to hear this summer. Also, be praying for Child to Camp, that we will bring in enough funds so that every child who wants to come but cannot afford to will be able to attend. God knows exactly what we need and when we need it, so take heart in knowing that the Spirit is constantly interceding for us to the Father. At some point in our lives we all run from God.
No matter how much we try to follow Him, we inevitably begin the think that we know better. I've been personally thinking about this a lot recently. As camp begins the process of hiring our new staff and counselors, this is especially heavy on my heart. God's will is, many times, a difficult puzzle to decipher. We often have many different life decisions and opportunities that arise and we must make the huge decision of what it is that God wants for us. Sometimes, I genuinely believe that God puts these opportunities in our lives and He is happy to let us take the wheel for a bit and make the decision for ourselves (as long as that decision is pleasing to the Lord, of course). However, other times I think God has one specific task or goal that He wants to see accomplished, and He wants us to be the tool that He uses. In the case of Jonah, he was in the latter situation. Of course we all know the story of Jonah. God has given Jonah a specific task: to bring the word of the Lord to Nineveh. Nineveh was the capital city of the Assyrians, a nation bent on world domination who had been essentially a constant threat to the Children of Israel. Jonah disobeyed God's very specific orders to go to Nineveh and basically went as far away from the Assyrians as he could to Tarshish. I see myself in Jonah's shoes often, giving God the excuse, "God, I'm still doing ministry. It may not be THAT ministry, but it's ministry all the same." I say all this to remind all the current or hopeful staff and counselors and those of us who are now working in the "real world" to really pray and listen to God's calling in your life. Before you decide to spend your summer working at Camp, I would ask you to seek God's will in your ministry. You may be at a spot in your life where God is happy with you simply living out the Great Commission in any way you choose. If you are in this category and are thinking of working at Camp, I hope to see you this summer. Others of you may be being specifically called to a certain ministry (all of us are called into the ministry). If you are in this category I would ask you to really pray and seek the Lord's will in your life as well. Do not let Camp become your Tarshish, simply an easy and comfortable place to run to this summer. If you use Camp as a shelter to run to and hide from God's will, you will be (metaphorically, of course) swallowed up by the big fish that is Camp Ba Yo Ca. However, for others of us Camp may be our Nineveh. If God is calling you to work at Camp this summer, but your plans tell you otherwise, I would encourage you to really seek the Lord in this decision. If God has called you to a place, he has your best interest in mind. Things may not always turn out like you want them to, but God will surely take care of you. As we were promised by our Lord in Matthew 6:25-34, "25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[e]? 28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Therefore, for every major decision we make in our lives, whether we are considering working at camp this summer or are already past our time at camp and making decisions in the "real world," let us rely on God first and ourselves and others second. At some point in our lives we all run from God. Let's make a conscious effort this summer and beyond to run to Him. Hello all current and former staff and counselors! We have decided at camp to start a weekly blog every Tuesday to keep the former and current staff and counselors connected through our website. So tune in every Tuesday to find out what new is happening at camp and what God has placed on our hearts. Feel free to comment! How many of these staff members and counselors can you name? Each of the people pictured above has had a lasting legacy in camp, whether they know it or not. Without Bobby Brown, Caroline Eichhorn would have never been able to save children in three feet of water. Without Leah McRae, Heather Moses wouldn't know where to file binders of paperwork from the past twenty years. Without Charlie Spencer's flowing blonde locks and tan Josh Cobb wouldn't know what to do at camp. Without David McGinley, Jon Davis would have no ground work in how to be the manliest man at camp.
In all seriousness, without the work of all the people who have served at camp through the years, camp would not be what it is today. However, I would venture to guess that most of us can only name around ten people from these pictures at most. These people, who in their time were essential to camp and the ministry that we do, are mostly all but unknown to the current staff and campers. However, the legacy of all those who have worked at camp, whether they were as important to the ministry as Lloyd Powell or simply volunteered their weekend raking leaves, they have all played a part in the ministry of the Lord. 1 Corinthians 13:8 &13 (8)Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. (13) And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. All of the things that we have done through the years will pass away. Many of the memories are already beginning to fade. However, the love that we have shared to children at this great piece of land that God has blessed us with will have eternal consequences. So as former and current staff/counselors, let us live by these three: faith, hope, and love. The greatest of these is love. |
AuthorMatthew Archives
May 2018
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