Something New

I couldn't really tell you why I chose to head to a "new" camp this summer instead of going back to Grace. In trying to persuade me to head back to Michigan, my friend Cathey said something about needing something comfortable and safe to come home to after a year of brand new. I'm not going to lie, that would've been nice, but I think one thing I learned this summer is that comfortable and safe aren't synonymous with good - instead, God provides in the new and unfamiliar as well.

Not only was it a good challenge for me to incorporate what I've learned from past leadership training into a brand new setting, to have the chance to restructure, to pick and choose, to start from scratch and see what happened, it was also a good challenge for me to be at a camp in which I had no preexisting relationships. I knew no-one and therefore I could build relationships off of the here and now, who I was and what I was contributing to the community. I was able to take the confidence that I gained from being so deeply loved and fed at Grace, and apply it to a totally new situation.

I got to work with four other incredible people.





And in my need, whether struggling with exhaustion and frustration from the job, or whether grieving the death of my Grandpa and just needing someone to hug, I learned to trust people in my most vulnerable times and realize that they love me because they are a part of Christ's body.

I found out on a Sunday afternoon that my grandpa's organs were shutting down and that they were going to take him off the ventilator and let him pass away. My co-counselor, Paul (in the black spandex above) had the day off and so it was the kids and me for the day. It was overwhelming how supportive and loving they were. Later that night, just after dinner when my mom called to say that grandpa had died, I walked out and sat on the dock and just cried. A few minutes later I heard footsteps behind me. Dustin and Johnny, two of my campers, came out and asked if it would be okay if they just sat with me. I felt so loved.