Head of the GSD Department

Work has been about half stress/half a riot lately. I say a riot because they stress and craziness of it just kinda makes me laugh now. A lot is going on and my boss keeps throwing things at me that stress me out, but now it's almost a joke seeing that there is only about a week and half left. My friend Katie (she has worked summers in the past with us and it was really hard doing the first few weeks without her) is back for the last two weeks of camp which has been a huge help! Everyone has been asking what her official job title is and we decided that she is in charge of the GSD department (Get Shit/Stuff (as we tell the kids) Done) and she is doing a fantastic job of getting stuff done!

As far as everything else goes, I'm trying to tie up lose ends and finish up stuff before I fly out to Hungary on August 2. That's right. I am not sure if I mentioned it before but I am going out to the GEM-K conference again this year in Sopron, Hungary. I leave on Aug 2 which is less than two weeks away which doesn't leave me a ton of time to get things finished up. Please pray that I can manage my time well these next few days. Also pray for conference this year. I am really excited about going (I am also carrying on my own luggage... no losing anything this year). I will write more about conference before I head out, but for now, I'm off to work!

Jesus for President

It's here! The long awaited blog on Shane Claiborne's new book, Jesus for President. I finished the book months ago and never felt motivated or focused enough to actually sit down and write about it. What changed you might ask. Last night I went to the Jesus for President book tour at Ventura Vineyard church. The mix of music and speaking was really moving and inspirational... it sounds kinda crazy, but it was a super neat experience. Shane and Chris (Chris Haw, the co-author of the book) would stand up and quasi-preach the main outline of the book; from political structures of the bible to the political stands Jesus made to the political stands that we as His followers should be making as well. Intermittently between Shane and Chris speaking, two guys from Psalters would play some pretty powerful songs/chants/ and ultimately Psalms...

The book itself is really powerful and really makes you think about how you live your life. It questions who you are living for; Are you living for the Roman Empire (or in our case, the American Empire) or are you living as a chosen child of God - Holy and set apart from nations to be His own. The book really looks at the early church and the politics of Jesus. Someone asked me about a month ago if I thought "politics" should be brought into the church. My response was, the church itself is a political statement. Jesus' entire ministry was political and we, as His followers, should follow in the same manner. We need to be radicals for love and not war - loving our enemies, which I'm pretty sure doesn't include killing them - We are called to turn the other cheek, not to cower in fear but to look our enemy in the eye and pour Christ's love into their souls.

Everything that Shane and Chris had to say was super powerful, but one thing that really made me look at my own life was this: During Jesus' ministry, some of John the Baptist's disciples came to Jesus and asked him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" (Luke 7:19). Jesus didn't respond with a conceited "Yes." Instead he "cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind" and told them "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor." (Luke 7:22) Jesus essentially says to them, "Tell him what you see... look at what is being done and decide for yourself." I have always thought this response was pretty neat, but Shane challenged us by asking if we could respond in the same way? When people ask us, "Are you a Christian?" our response should be that like Christ's "Tell me what you see in my life." I know I struggle with that and always have to reevaluate my life to see if someone could look at my life and see Jesus at the center of every thought and action.

There were a ton of super cool parts about last night; including hanging out after with Paul, Kathy, Josh, Darren, Kate, Carl, Coco, and sitting chatting with Shane and Chris after most people had left. We stuck around for a bit and Paul just shared his heart with them. Then we helped them load up their Veggie Oil bus (I'm pretty sure it's normally the Psalter's travel bus, but they are using it for the book tour and driving it across the country. The coolest thing I probably can take from last night was reciting the Litany of Resistance and Confession that Shane, Chris, and some others had complied in order to pledge allegiance to our one true King (not a country, an empire, a flag, or president, but our one true King and Savior Jesus Christ):

One: Deliver Us, O God.
All: Guide our feet in the ways of Your peace.
One: In humility, we ask.
All: Hear our prayer. Grant us Peace.
One: In humility, we ask.
All: Hear our prayer. Grant us Peace.
One: Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world.
All: Have mercy on us.
One: Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world.
All: Free us from the bondage of sin and death.
One: Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world.
All: Hear our prayer. Grant us peace.
One: Today, we pledge our ultimate allegiance to the Kingdom of God.
All: We pledge allegiance.
One: To the peace that is not like Rome's.
All: We pledge allegiance.
One: To the gospel of enemy-love.
All: We pledge allegiance.
One: To the kingdom of the poor and broken.
All: We pledge allegiance.
One: To a King who loves His enemies so much He died for them.
All: We pledge allegiance.
One: To the least of these, with whom Christ dwells.
All: We pledge allegiance.
One: To the transnational Church that transcends the artificial borders of nations.
All: We pledge allegiance.
One: To the refugee of Nazereth.
All: We pledge allegiance.
One: To the homeless rabbi who had no place to lay His head.
All: We pledge allegiance.
One: To the cross rather than the sword.
All: We pledge allegiance.
One: To the banner of love above any flag.
All: We pledge allegiance.
One: To the One who rules with a towel rather than an iron fist.
All: We pledge allegiance.
One: To the One who rides a donkey rather than a war horse.
All: We pledge allegiance.
One: To the revolution that sets both oppressed and oppressors free.
All: We pledge allegiance.
One: To the way that leads to Life.
All: We pledge allegiance.
One: To the Slaughtered Lamb.
All: We pledge allegiance.
One: And together we proclaim His praises, from the margins of the empire to the centers of wealth and power.
All: Long Live the Slaughtered Lamb!
One: Long Live the Slaughtered Lamb!
All: Long Live the Slaughter Lamb!

Way better than pledging to the American flag. How incredible is it that we can pledge our allegiance to the Slaughtered Lamb! The goal of last night was not to tell us who to vote for or which party to join. Their mission was and is to unite Christ Followers to live lives set apart from the nations and empires of this world and to live lives that reflect Christ's love for us all. Long Live the Slaughtered Lamb!

Camp... And then Some...

I have now heard from about three people that they were SO happy that I FINALLY updated my blog... I know I am usually really good at updating, but it's been a rough last 5 weeks with trips, prepping for camp, and now running camp. The first three weeks of have been really hard on my physically, mentally, and emotionally. Things are starting to look up though. God has put two incredible co-workers on our staff this year that are so encouraging and loving towards me. God also has blessed me with some AMAZING friends and mentors and I am so thankful for having them in my life (you know who you are...).

So, camp... Where do I begin? I actually don't really want to talk about it. It's getting better and we are hoping/praying to hire Katie back to help us out for the last three weeks of camp. Right now it's kinda just been Dillon and myself doing everything with not a whole lot of help from out new Head Dorm Parents... they are doing their best, but they are new to the job and there seems to be a bigger learning curve for them (not to mention one is the laziest person alive and never wants to do anything he is supposed to... it's kinda annoying). So camp is crazy and stressful, but I am trying to find the joy in it where I can...

Chaos and then Some

This post is mainly for Martha (which, I didn't even know that you read my blog because you never comment on any of my posts...) but since it has been forever since I have posted, I thought I would throw out a brief catch up before taking my 60 children (camp has begun) to the fireworks.

So, we are just finishing our first session of camp (first two weeks) which means that all of our 2A campers will be going home tomorrow and all of our 2B and 4B campers will be moving into the dorms. This session was SUPER stressful with ACA accreditation and crazy children (one of which we sent home early) and the lice scare and the 4th of July... but things are getting a little better (just in time for out next group to show up...). I will have to do a full catch up later when I have more time, but for now, you will just have to be satisfied with the teasers (Martha...).