Sunday's Coming

There are times when you run into something both convicting and funny - in the last few days I have been hammered by a couple different videos, one of which I posted above. Seriously, it's like laughing while someone punches you in the gut. Then milk comes out your nose and you're a mess. But watch the video above, laugh, then spend some time thinking about how we approach the Lord in our Sunday services.

There are two dangers here for us, as Christians. The first is that we self-righteously laugh, not at ourselves but at those who are "doing it wrong," because our church is so much better than their church. We watch something like this, say "that's certainly not my church!" and then we feel pretty good. Except for the part where we do the exact same thing this video is criticizing: we make "the show" more important than the Gospel. Here, the show is lights, and music, and casual dress. In your church "the show" might be the lack of those same things, and you're sinfully prideful about what you don't have instead of what you do. But it's about Jesus, not us, and He doesn't care about your worship style, your dress code, or the other silly things we argue constantly about in Christendom.

The second danger is that we get offended because this humorous warning hits too close to home. If you see this model as the right way to do church because the other guy is sinfully legalistic... listen to what you just said. Repent, stay humble about the crowds the Lord has blessed you with, and use your epic church setup to point people to both Jesus and repentance. Fact is, We all need to ask a few questions as we approach Sunday mornings (or whenever your church meets):

What is the Gospel really about?

What have we made it?

What do we need to do to get back to the Gospel?

What do we need to stop doing that's detracting from His message?

This coming Sunday, enjoy your church, but more importantly, glorify God in your worship: in your learning from His word, your singing and your prayers.

Extremism

Extremism is defined by wikipedia as"a term used to describe the actions or ideologies of individuals or groups outside the perceived political center of a society; or otherwise claimed to violate common moral standards."

Everyone from President Bush (in the days immediately following 9/11), to the imam behind the World Trade Center mosque/cultural center, have told us our problem is not with Islam, but with Islamic extremists. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf expanded the problem when he explained it, saying that extremists from all religions are the problem, and religious moderates just need to come together.

But labeling "extremism" as the problem is a slippery slope. Our society speaks of common moral standards, but rejects the idea that there is a knowable, reasonable and ultimately true ethical norm that we should look to in forming our morality. Morality is what a society actually does; ethics is what a society should do, and with our loving embrace of post-modernism our society essentially turns to its own morality for its morality. If you think this sounds like nonsense, it is; it is a logical absurdity to say that nothing is absolutely true ethically.

The real problem is, if we have nothing to look at but our own morality, and we reject all ethical norms, then anyone who even suggests there is an ethical norm can now be labeled as an extremist. If in church I preach the final authority of the Bible, I am a religious extremist. If in government I preach the authority of the Constitution as it written by the Founders, I am a political extremist. And since we have labeled extremism the problem, I am only safe so long as I never stand up for anything and say "this is truth; we should do this for this reason."

This really defines much of our lives as Americans. We have become a nation where our highest virtue is expressed in the phrase "live and let live." Very few are threatened by Christianity, if all we make it as the church is a feel-good social experience we have on Sunday (Wednesday is also largely permissible). But if we dare to say "as we study Creation we hear the spoken Word of God; here in the Bible we read the written Word of God; here in the person of Jesus Christ we see the incarnate Word of God," we have committed that gravest of cultural sins, extremism. We have said that something is absolutely true - and in a nation of people striving to be seen as caring, knowing and tolerant, we find that this rigid stance on our part cannot be tolerated.

And isn't that intolerance, in the end, just a tad bit extreme?

On the Nature of Sovereignty

On rare occasions in this life you will encounter art - a book, a film, a poem, a picture - that moves you profoundly. You find truth of such beauty it brings a tear to the eye; for a moment, it becomes hard to breathe.

Gates of Fire by Stephen Pressfield is such a work for me, historical fiction written about the Spartans at the battle of Thermopylae. The narrator here is the Spartan slave Xeones, and he is giving his Persian captors an account of the battle from the perspective of the Greeks. In the passage I quote below, he is summarizing the last stand of Leonidas, the Spartan King destined to die at the hot gates. Xeones speaks of the man, yes - but beyond this, he speaks of the very nature of sovereignty itself.

I will tell His Majesty [Xerxes] what a king is. A king does not abide within his tent while his men bleed and die upon the field. A king does not dine while his men go hungry, nor sleep when they stand at watch upon the wall. A king does not command men's loyalty through fear nor purchase it with gold; he earns their love by the sweat of his own back and the pains he endures for their sake. That which comprises the harshest burden, a king lifts first and sets down last. A king does not require the service of those he leads but provides it to them. He serves them, not they him.
In the final moments before the actual commencement of battle, when the lines of Persians and Medes and Sacae, the Bactrians and Illyrians, Egyptians and Macedonians, lay so close across from the defenders that their individual faces could be seen, Leonidas moved along the Spartan and Thespaian foreranks, speaking with each platoon commander individually. When he stopped beside Dienekes [Xeones' master], I was close enough to hear his words.
"Do you hate them, Dienekes?" the king asked in the tone of a comrade, unhurried, conversational, gesturing to those captains and officers of the Persians proximately visible across the oudenos chorion, the no-man's-land.
Dienekes answered at once that he did not. "I see faces of gentle and noble bearing. More than a few, I think, whom one would welcome with a clap and a laugh to any table of friends."
Leonidas clearly approved my master's answer. His eyes seemed, however, darkened with sorrow.
"I am sorry for them," he avowed, indicating the valiant foemen who stood so proximately across. "What wouldn't they give, the noblest among them, to stand here with us now?"
That is a king, Your Majesty. A king does not expend his substance to enslave men, but by his conduct and example makes them free. His Majesty may ask, as Rooster [a fellow slave] did, and the lady Arete [Dienekes' wife], why one such as I whose station could most grandly be called service and most meanly slavery, why one of such condition would die for those not of his kin and country. The answer is, they were my kin and country. I set down my life with gladness, and would do it again a hundred times, for Leonidas, for Dienekes and Alexandros and Polynikes, for Rooster and Suicide, for Arete and Diomache, Bruxieus and my own mother and father, my wife and children. I and every man there were never more free than when we gave freely obedience to those harsh laws which take life and give it back again.

In all my studies, I have found many men who attempted to live up to this standard of kingship. In all of human history, there are few men we can look to, men who for a moment or a short period of time attained the ideal.

But there has been only one man - and he, no mere man, which in itself is instructive - in all of human history that lived out the ideal every day of his life: the Son of God, Jesus, the Christ. In Him alone do all the sovereigns of this world find their standard for the governance of those entrusted by God into their care. In Him alone all men find a True Sovereign worthy of their utmost devotion. For it is He alone who, through the brutality of the Cross and the triumph of the Empty Tomb, truly takes our lives, and gives them back again.

Rejoicing in Our Insignificance

Today I was studying in the Word and it struck me just how little I truly matter in the scheme of things. Not in the sense that God does not care for me, but with a sense of awestruck wonder that He does.

Consider the infinite Being that God is. When your head starts to ache, read on. We have trouble understanding the little He has revealed to us about Himself in His Word, let alone understanding the totality of who He is. Our brains literally can't do it - we can't think in terms of the infinite. I think of Job, standing before God in the midst of his suffering, as God appears and questions him (Job 38-42). Can any of us control a tiny thing - a creature like a dinosaur, the weather - something that God created with barely a thought and a word? Consider that it doesn't take even the smallest fraction of God's power to cause the wind to blow, and yet in all our vaunted wisdom we have barely come to the point that we can track where it blows, never mind the very thought that it blows.

And so this insignificance can lead us down one of two paths: we can react with pride, saying 'I am more important than this!' and live a life based on our wisdom, in the way we think best, doing everything we can to increase our standing in this world. Or we can react with humility that leads ultimately to joyful security: we are nothing compared to the vastness of God! And yet he cares for us, elevating us into relationship with Him as His children should we respond in faith to His calling (John 3:16, Acts 16:31). With the merest whisper of a thought we came into being, and with the a similar whisper we leave this earth. But in between God has a plan for us, because he loves us - not due to our significance, but due to His Grace which surpasses all things. From before the foundations of the world we were chosen by Him (1 Peter 1).

So we can rejoice in our insignificance! God's plans - and His ability to enact those plans - far exceed our ability to understand. May we always remember this, that every human in existence bears His image (Genesis 1), and we can be saved through His grace to spend eternity with Him (Ephesians 2). Why does He choose to do this? I have no idea! But I know that He does, and His promises are true (Psalm 146). Amen.

The True Defender of Our Faith

The darkness recedes on waves of agony, and reality slams back into focus. Searing pain rips through your midsection, and your hands involuntarily close on the broken spear shaft sunk deep into your belly. The body of an enemy lies nearby, his hand clutching the other part of the shaft, your own sundered blade through his neck. The wound is on fire. Breath comes in short gasps. Glancing left and right, you see that no one lives on this hill - bodies of friends and foe lay all about. For a while, the line had held, but the attacks were relentless. Hours ago the line had been severed into smaller groups, each trying to make a last, desperate stand. A few minutes ago a hard blow had finally split your shield, and that had been the beginning of the end... with your shield gone, it was only a matter of time.
Another wave of pain forces a grimace; this was not the end you’d imagined. The shrieking of the enemy horde reaches your ears - they are massing for another attack, and this time there’s no one left to stop them. Such a sad waste. The shrieking is getting louder, but already the world is growing dim. The pain is getting further away, and you’re getting colder. Try as you might, you can't move your hands from the weapon that has killed you, not even to die with your sword in your hand.
The hatred of their screams hits you like a physical force as the enemy closes. The first of them run right past, but then a pair notice you still draw breath, and they pause to savor their kill. Determined to give them no satisfaction, you stare as defiantly as you can directly into their eyes, and they raise their cruelly barbed spears for the killing blow. The blows descend –
And a shield slams down into place, both spears deflecting wide and leaving the enemy open to your savior's counterthrusts. In the second it takes you to register that you still live, they are both dead.
Down on the ground, you can't get a good look at this soldier, but he seems as fresh as when the battle began. Others of the enemy horde have realized his presence, and you catch just a glimpse of a strong jaw line, of a terrible, righteous anger in the eyes. Shield and sword ready, he stands over you as if made of stone. A sea of enemies converges on your spot, far too many for this one man to stand against.
Yet stand he does! And more than that – the enemy is falling like wheat to the harvest. Every blow is dispatching more of the foe to eternity, but he has to tire at some point. Now the screams of the enemy shift to a cry of recognition – they know this champion, and they come at him in a snarling rage.
For a moment it seemed as if you might live, but your vision is dimming again, and you're shivering with cold even though the sun blazes overhead. No one survives wounds like yours; you've been around long enough to know a mortal wound when you see it. Whispering thanks to this fellow soldier for his efforts, you close your eyes...

-This-
booms a voice above you. You have never heard a more beautiful sound, as if an entire song has been sung in a single word...
-one-
The champion is speaking! Each word trembles with barely restrained power. Opening your eyes again, the world has come back into sharper focus...
-is-
Growing slightly warmer as the words flow over you, you watch as his sword flashes and another enemy spins away. The very air around you bristles with electricity, like a storm about to break...
-MINE!-
The word itself bursts forth as a mighty shout, cutting through the enemy like a scythe. The ground beneath you shakes, and one last thought drifts across your mind as you finally lose consciousness...
Who is this man?

Awakening this time is somehow more peaceful; the pain remains, but something is different. The world around you is silent - the battle must be over! But how can it be? Looking up, you see your deliverer looking down on you, face covered in grime and sweat. He smiles and leans down, and it strikes you that this might be the most genuine, honest face you've ever laid eyes on. Overcome with gratitude, you move to speak. With a gesture he silences you.
"Listen, friend. The wound need not be mortal, but we have to remove the spearhead." He continues, answering the fear in your eyes and the slight shaking of your head. A voice inside screams at you: the spearhead is all that's keeping you alive! If he pulls it out your lifeblood will soon follow! Your shaking hands grip the spear even tighter.
"There is little time left. You have to trust me. Let me help you... let go of the spear. It's killing you." His hand on your shoulder is strong and comforting at the same time, but the voice inside cries out again. No one can save you from this! If that spear comes out, you die!
Looking into his eyes, you try to take your hands off the rough wooden shaft, but the muscles have been gripping it tight for too long. It will take more strength than you have. In a voice barely more than a gasp, you ask him to help. "I-I can't-I can't do it. Can you help me let it go?"
"You had but to ask. I won't lie to you; this is going to hurt." In a single motion he effortlessly moves aside your hands, and pushes the spear the rest of the way through the wound. A ragged cry rips from your lips. Before, you were in pain, but this! You didn't know there was agony like this in all the world –
And then it's gone, so quickly you wonder if you imagined it. Looking down, expecting to see blood pumping from your stomach, you stare for a moment in shock.
Not only is there no blood, there's no wound. Your armor is whole again, and shining like new from the smith. In amazement, you look up again, eyes wide. And then you recognize your deliverer, your champion...your Savior.
"My Lord!" As fast as you had started to sit up, you throw yourself face down on the ground before him. How did you not see it before? Shaking –this time with reverence and awe – your breath is once again coming in short bursts.
"Rise, faithful servant." He reaches down and helps you up to stand before Him, a wry smile on His face. "I think you've spent enough time on the ground for one day," he continues. Was that the faintest hint of laughter in His voice? You can only match His gaze for the briefest moment, and then you lower your eyes in respect. He speaks again, and His voice is a melody that moves your soul to tears.
"You have stood for me this day, and I will remember it. One day all struggles will cease, forever... but until that time, go forth in my Name. And hold fast to this promise: no one who stands for me will ever stand alone.”
A moment passes. Daring to look up again, you realize everything has changed! Where your Lord stood, a bubbling stream now flows up from the ground. Its banks run thick with green grass, lush and inviting. Kneeling to drink, you hadn't realized until this moment how terribly thirsty you were. The water is pure and sweet. Having drunk your fill, you stand up and see the gifts He has left for you: leaning against a nearby tree rest your sword and your shield, restored to gleaming perfection once more. Taking them up, you set your foot on the path before you, in search of your sword brothers.

Ephesians 6:10-20 tells us to take up the full armor of God, that we may stand against the Evil One.

We are never instructed to remove it.

Politics & Priorities

So much has been happening in the realm of politics in the last month, and I have posted on almost none of it. Instead, I have been thinking as to what the most effective way is to spread Light in the darkness of this world. Does the world need one more blog out there, decrying the actions of President Obama, of Congress?

I think most people ignore politics - or stay purposefully away from it - because they think either its not their problem, or its not their calling, or its beyond them in some way. Until very recently, probably over the last year or so, I felt the same way. One person cannot really change much, when 90 million people vote... what can I do? What does it matter?

Here is what changed for me: I thought long and hard about my relationship with Jesus Christ. Accepting Jesus as my Savior and my Lord - what, truly, does that mean?

Should I be relieved that I am not going to Hell when I die? Yes! But is that enough?
Should I be reading the Word, and praying daily? Yes! But is that enough?
Should I attend church every week? Yes! But is that enough?

We live in a day and age that says you should own no man as king. We don't understand sovereignty, or what it really means. But if I have asked Jesus to save me, if I have acknowledged Jesus as my Lord, then I am sworn into his service. My life is no longer mine, but His. If there is a thing that I can do to serve Him, either with my life or my death, then that is the thing I have been called to do. Let me put it this way:

As I asked myself if I am doing enough as Christian, I am missing the entire point. I am showing that I don't understand the oath that I swore. For me, I came to realize that I am either a Christian, or I am not. If I am trying to live 50% Christian and hold back 50% for myself and what I want to do, then I am not fulfilling my vow - living that way is no different than living as an unbeliever. Please hear my heart; I am not saying there is anything I can do to be saved, or that Christ's work done at the cross and the grave was not complete. God has saved me by grace, through faith, and I cannot work my way to heaven. But once saved, what is my calling?

I have come to realize that from the morning into the deepness of night, I am either serving Christ or striving against Him. Period. In the realm of eternity, there is no compromise, and the world is truly as black and white as anyone could ever want. The lies of the Adversary, Satan, the Deceiver, are nearly endless. He seeks to confuse everything, to twist and corrupt. But as I turn toward Absolute Truth, the Truth found only in the Creator of All Things, God Himself, I must choose: I serve the Truth, or I serve a lie. And if I serve the Truth, then I must serve the Truth in every way; for if even one small part is a lie, then I no longer serve the Truth.

This is not to say I can live a life of perfection. I fail daily and well I know it. But it speaks to my deeper motivation, that of my heart: what am I trying to accomplish with the thing that I am doing, right now?

As I sit to watch a movie, am I glorifying God in the viewing, or have I just paid to further the lies of the Adversary?
As I speak, are my words reflecting the Light within me, or am I slandering those I should be upholding? Am I speaking truth, or a lie?
As I eat my food, am I caring properly for the temple that my body now is, as the Holy Spirit dwells within me? Or am I satisfying a craving of the flesh?
As I perform each action of my day - be it working for a living, kissing my wife, surfing the Internet, using the restroom... am I serving the Lord in the manner I have sworn to do?

My life has become a wrestling match, it seems sometimes. So many of my prayers now start with "But God, I really wanted to-" or "But God, its only-" and then I think about the questions I just asked, above. And I still fail every single day. But my standard has changed; or to put it more accurately, I finally understand that my standard is a lie. I either serve the Truth of God's Standard, which He has defined in His timeless Word, the Bible - or I serve a lie. There is no neutrality, there is good and evil; all that remains between them is the choice that I must make every second of every day. And sometimes, let me tell you, it is very, very hard. But the difficulty does not change my calling; if anything, it affirms it.

And how does all this relate to politics, and current events? Because politics is just a word for the choices that our leaders are making everyday, the choices that affect us all. If the person making the choice does not believe the Truth, we will be given a lie as policy; we will be given a lie as a new law; we will be given a lie and told that it is true, because the giver dwells in the darkness and does not know the Light. As we cannot see the heart of our fellow man, we must judge their words and decisions: are they fit to lead us? Our politicians are merely reflections of ourselves. If we would change them, we must look within. We have to know what God teaches. We then have to align our beliefs with His Word. We then have to find leaders to represent us that will further God's purposes.

For as I have said here above, we either serve the Truth, or a lie. If our leaders show no interest in Truth, then we should not be surprised with what comes, but we must be prepared. We must find those for the next election cycle (2010) that will stand fast for the Truth, and we must elect them. I, for one, am tired of choosing the lesser of two evils. Let us pray for, and diligently seek, those who will make the best choices - not for us, but for the advancement of God's kingdom. And as we talk about politics, and our differences, let us speak with grace and love. We have to remember that we have been called out of the darkness of this world, but most have not been. As infinite Love has been shown to us, we must show it to others in our words and our actions.

God does have a place in politics; He should be at the forefront, and we should be following him in this area just like every other.

A Generation Cries Out for a Sign...

A generation cries out for a sign; a nation weeps for what has been lost, and what cannot now be found in all the land.

Hear then, O Sons of Dust! Hear and remember! Listen, now to the voice of the True Bard, the Goodly-Wise and Father of Bards, the High King of Heaven. For He is generous; His Swift Sure Hand is ever merciful, His Healing Hand ever gracious. Let the weary gather in the shelter of His Presence, and find rest!

You seek a sign, and see the silence of Heaven as proof that no sign will be given. Indeed, many believe that there is none to give the sign.
And yet I tell you this day, the sign has already been given!
Who are we, to tread upon streets of gold and yearn for pebbles?
Who are we, dressed in the finest garments of kings, to steal rags from the back of a beggar?
Who are we, to seek the living among the dead?
Why seek you the wisdom of Heaven among the foolishness of men?

For I tell you, the sign you seek has been given:
I give you the Arrow from the Quiver of Heaven, whose flight shows all men the True Path.
Surely an arrow, once flown, cannot be recalled!
I give you the Word already spoken, Truth that walked among us in the form of a man.
Surely a word, once spoken, cannot be unsaid!
I give you the Water of Life, poured out as the Offering to quench the endless thirst of those come from dust, and to the dust return.
Surely water, once drunk, cannot return to the jar!

Behold, the One who laid the foundations of the Earth knew from before the beginning that the sign was required. It is the glory of kings to seek out a matter, and this matter has been sought by the High King, Himself.

But the folly of men is ever such:
That those with two eyes to see would remain blind,
that those with two ears to hear would remain deaf,
that those with two lips to speak would remain dumb.

Rise up, Men of Truth! Oppose the false men in your midst, and take your stand upon the Rock of your Salvation. For I tell you now that a worthy Lord requires your service, that this world would not fall to darkness. His heel has been bruised by the Great Adversary; but the Ancient One of Evil has been crushed by the Hero-Feat of Righteousness. This, then, is the day foretold, as the ground itself trembles with the trumpet’s call; great armies clash.

Every man must take his place in the shield wall, serving the true Lord, or the false one. A choice must be made, and the battle joined. For the sign given is a call to fight; and the Great Mystery is this:
Life comes only to those who willingly lay down their lives in death. For flesh is born of flesh, and blood is born of blood; but spirit is born of Spirit, and Spirit ever more remains. A life given in this place is but a small thing, given for the Life to come.

Here end the words of the True Bard. Let him hear it who will.

Art

When asked about evolution sometimes, I will mention Art. How does our appreciation of the beautiful - the enjoyment of our senses in an experience that has nothing to do with the need for simple survival - how do these things reconcile with random biological processes advancing species to 'our level' over billions of years? Great Art elevates us, it gives a glimpse, it shares with us a tiny sliver of a single note of the Song that is Eternity. I submit to you that Great Art is the highest mortal expression of design, and it can be a powerful instrument (pardon the pun) to point us to our Creator.

But Art, like so much else, has become corrupted. Not so much Art itself, but our ability to recognize it, and label it properly. Like all else, Evil hates Art and seeks to corrupt it. Having no ability of its own to create, Evil seeks to distort, to subtly alter.

I am not reflecting on a specific piece of art here, but there are so many examples. As a society we have sacrificed our sense of wonder on the altar of the Now, always thinking more information is better, more input is better, and never focusing on the quality.

We (as a culture) don't have the attention span anymore, thanks in large part to technology. Our collective cynicism bars us from enjoying so many simple things in life. What passes for Art now seems designed to shock, to horrify, to do anything to jar us awake from our apathetic slumber. We have ceased to believe in a Creator, and so we no longer view the created as His handiwork, or ourselves as His image. We explore the dark recesses of the soul without any regard for the consequences of our discovery, thinking only that the discovery itself is what's important. We tear open box after box with speed that Pandora would envy. And with each new horror explored, as we further understand the human capacity for evil even as we deny it in ourselves, the apathy grows to consume that also; soon, we are no longer horrified, and that thought alone should horrify us.

We have become lost, disorientated, and the madness seems to be everywhere-it seems to be normal.

But there is a Compass (though not golden), there is a way to orientate ourselves in the darkness that surrounds us. There is a Light, if we will only be still and see it. For the Creator of all gave us Art; he gave us vision, and ears that delight in music, and minds to consider the great questions of the ages. He gave us mouths, to question and to answer, to speak Truth - His Truth. He gave us the divine spark, our ability to be awed, to look about the creation in wonder of the Creator. It is sad to me how many Christians seek to avoid the Arts whenever possible, instead of engaging in them in positive ways. Writing, music, dance, painting, photography; these have the capacity for some of the greatest Good (and Evil) a society can achieve. Great Art endures by it's very nature, and so we must strive - as Christians, as Americans - to do what we can to create art that both endures, and glorifies the Lord, the High King of Heaven, Creator of all.

When a song, or a poem, or a picture touches your heart, share it with me please. I will endeavour to do the same for you.

3 Simple Rules - for Camp, for Life

Living the Christian life is difficult, but it doesn't have to be complex. Jesus had an amazing ability to break down difficult truths into simple stories, to make them understandable by anyone. In Matthew 22:35-40 Jesus breaks down the entirety of Old Testament law into 2 simple rules. And to close the final loophole, he gave us the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10 (to clearly define who your neighbor is, and what being a neighbor looks like).

At camp, I enforce discipline - and somewhere, Jerry Roussard and Jim Solomon are laughing at me, I know. I believe discipline is easier to maintain when the rules are simple, clear and consistently applied. And so I break it down to 3 simple rules, 2 from Jesus and one from me, Mr. Baldon:

1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
2. Love your neighbor as yourself.
3. Give me your best in everything, all the time.

The application of these 3 into a life will result in all the other commandments being followed, as all the others just expand on these basic concepts. For the third rule, my own, I believe the entire Bible speaks to the concept of doing your best multiple times. We are created by God for a purpose, and to fulfill that purpose by definition we must give our best. We are to do all things as if we were doing them for God, because we are representing him in all that we do (3:17). As I discussed in a previous post, the lukewarm will be spit out of God's mouth (Revelation 3:15-16), so we'd better do our very best for as long as we are able.Anyway, I again ask for your prayers while we are at camp. These young people are our Christian leaders of tomorrow, and we have so little time to prepare them. Pray for us, that we would use our time wisely.