Productivity or Mediocrity?

The last couple weeks have been a whirlwind of camp planning. This past week was staff training up at camp and then we spent the weekend at camp-meeting. Now I'm home again helping with the house and continuing to work on the camp program. Here's a few things that have been on my to-do list:

Done:

1 Mount Nebo

1 Abraham's Well

1 Passion play (7 pages)

1 Pharaoh costume

1 Egyptian Princess costume

1 Egyptian Prince costume

1 Passover doorpost (thanks Teddy!)

1 Moses' Staff (thanks Teddy!)

2 Angel costumes

2 Passion play rehearsals

2 Daily skit rehearsals

3 Pyramids (4 ft, 6 ft, and 8 ft - thanks P. Dan and Amanda!)

4 Pharisee headdresses

4 Egyptian servant costumes

4 Amelekite costumes

13 Moses skits (22 pages)

+ countless other props, casting lists, and schedules.

In the works:

1 small chariot (thanks Teddy!)

1 red sea (thanks Jen and Caitlin!)

1 Staff Intro

1 Egyptian Banner

7 one foot high tables for Egyptian teen night (thanks Teddy!)

10 ten-commandment activities

+ a host of other details

(And that's just programming! That's not counting CPR re-certification, the hours in staff meetings, waterfront drills, and so many other staff-training work assignments.)

Seems like I've been pretty productive lately, right?

Yet, have I really? Or have I been hovering in the life-draining bog of mediocrity? Have I really been pursuing excellence for my King?

What you don't see in that list is the time I've wasted; the times that I have just wanted to do nothing. The times that I knew I should be working on something but didn't. Like right now, for instance.

No matter how successful or productive I may appear, God and myself are the only ones who accurately know the true measure of my achievement. It matters not what others think; if I know that I could have done better, what satisfaction do I really have in what I have completed?

How much more could I have accomplished if I had pursued excellence in everything, at all times!

I want Camp Cherokee's program this summer to be the BEST! But not so that I may gain glory. I want it to be great because God deserves my best, my all, my everything. He deserves excellence! When I give Him that, my other goals will fall into place:

1. Campers will gain a better perspective of God and His incredible, personal interest in their lives.

2. Others will be able to see God's strength in my weakness.

Are you pursuing excellence? Or are you doing less than you could, even though everyone else thinks you are doing amazing?

Your King knows.

Extravagantly Simple

Rain is tapping on the roof. Loons are calling far off across the lake. The evening’s sky is gently darkening from one shade of blue-grey to the next. I am about ten feet away from the lake, where the sky is reflected on the placid waters. No, I’m not sitting on the cold clammy dock. I am sitting on my bed.

Yep, that’s right, my bed is 10 feet from the water. I am staying in the premier nesting spot at camp (at least in my opinion. Fortunately for me, not everyone agrees with me.) It’s a lean-to that opens right out to the water. I can’t tell you how ecstatic I am every time I come to my “room.” I’ve been sitting here grinning at the gloriousness of it for going on 10 minutes now!

Tonight I am going to bed with the sun and tomorrow I will rise with the sun. Life is extravagantly simple here in this lean-to next to this incredible lake. Simple because I am unencumbered by the clutter of life. I have what I need: my sleeping bag, my water bottle, my Bible, my guitar, my webbing, my backpack, and a few other odds’n’ends. Only what I need is here. Simple. Yet incredibly extravagant because I feel so wondrously blessed to be here in this place, surrounded by such majesty. Extravagant because my God is here with me. He is so big and so deep and so wide, that He fills every piece of nature in my sight with messages of His boundless love.

Now, I will sing a hymn, climb into my cozy warm sleeping bag, and go to sleep, acknowledging my God’s infinite goodness. Good night :)

**Note: Now, two nights after I wrote the above blog, I have discovered two down-falls to my still-incredibly-awesome resting place. 1. The mosquitoes seem to be attracted to my hair conditioner. My solution: wear a hoodie to bed. 2. I just killed a rather LARGE spider that crawled out from UNDER MY PILLOW! Yeah, um, not so cool. So then I decided to shake out all my blankets. I was not at all consoled to find another spider (thankfully it was only a daddy-long-leg) hiding beneath my sleeping bag. Solution: ???. I guess I’ll just have to deal with the spiders. *sigh* But that’s OK. I am still incredibly psyched with my little house!

thoughts.in.visual

I've really enjoyed this project. It is a collection of my thoughts expressed in an artistic format. I've been adding onto it for about two weeks now but I figured I'd better post it before it becomes obsolete! I'm heading to camp tomorrow and a shift in thought patterns will often accompany a change in scenery.

(Click the image to get a larger view in another window.)

Just As Moses Lifted Up the Serpent in the Wilderness...

This week I've faced a hard task. On Sunday, I finished writing all the Moses skits for camp. That just left the Friday evening program: the Passion Play.

Today I faced an even harder task. It was time to write about the crucifixion.

To be honest, I haven't spent much time in the New Testament in the last couple months. But today I spent the whole day thinking about the most pivotal moment in our world's, no - our universe's, history: the death of Christ.

My life was changed.

Submission. Humility. Surrender. It is written all over the scenes of Calvary

Now I understand why EGW says that we should spend time each day reflecting on the Cross. From now on, I'm going to begin my devotional time with Calvary.

I went out to the back field this evening. I found my favorite rusty metal chair that sits abandoned in a thick patch of grass. The sun warmed my skin and rustled the tall grass. And all I could do was worship the incredible God who counted it a joy bear my shame. My selfish prayers fell away in light of what He did for me. I could not think of myself when all day long I had been thinking of Him.

Solemn Joy. It filled my being. It begged to be expressed in some tangible form. I began to run and twirl, just for some visible way to show God the wonder that was spilling forth from my soul.

Darkness falls now and the creek is loud in my ears. Tears are streaming down my face as I write this. I want so badly to convey to you how wonderful, how wide, how deep, how fathomless Christ's love is for you. But my words fall short. Words will never do justice to Love itself. So please, from the bottom of my heart, stop whatever you're doing and go read the story of Christ's death. For He is infinitely Holy. So go, and

Behold the Lamb