Mood:  down

It's the end of the summer ministries. Day camp is over. OK, I know, there still is a lot to keep me busy. We still have to clean up everything. There's still the "community" garden that the community seems to have left to us. There's still the back to school bash that needs to be planned. And, there's still our Sunday afternoon ministries and ladies ministries and ...! I know, I know, with all that coming up, why should I be down?

I don't really know. I've worked in the camping ministry enough (since 1983) to know that I should be prepared for this feeling by now. It happens every summer. Your busy one minute. There are kids everywhere! Activities going on! Noise! Excitement! And then...the next minute...there's silence. The silence is eerie. It's almost depressing. It's really no different than the silence that comes everyday when the kids go home. But this silence is the final silence. I guess it's the finality that is what causes the eeriness - the sad feelings. It's over for another year. Nothing to plan for tomorrow...no activities. Nothing to study for...no Bible Lesson. This is it...it's over.

You would think that this year would be different. In the past, at the camp that we used to work at, we had camps going on everyday for six or seven weeks. It was so wild that you couldn't even remember what happened when it was over. This year was different. We had one full week of day camp at the beginning, then only did day camps on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the rest of the summer. In the past, we left our cozy world, moved to the camp for a couple of months, then came back to our cozy world. This year, we stayed in our world. These are the people we work with all year around. These are the kids that we minister to week in and week out. This year we stayed at home and worked with the people that God called us to minister to full-time. And we made it! God blessed each day!

In the past, at the big camp, we had 120 campers per week. We had day camps and resident camps. We had over 40 staff members. This summer we barely made it to 40 total people all together. We didn't have a counselor training week. We didn't hire experienced staff. We didn't advertise to folks all across the USA. This year we stayed at home. We worked with the kids and adults that we work with the other 10 months out of the year. We used some of Sarah's ladies that she is discipling to help us cook food, herd kids, set up games. And we did it! God gave us strength and help!

In the past we had a budget! Thousands of dollars for the kitchen. Thousands of dollars for program. Seemingly unlimited space and supplies.This year we had a yard sale to raise money. We used what we had. We bought what we could. We had games in our yard. We used the two rooms of the mission for Bible class and eating. And we survived! God provided!

I used to think that I would miss the big camp. The endless potential, endless supplies, endless space, endless help. I do miss it in some ways. In some ways it will always be a part of me. 

So, why am I down? I guess I'm down for the same reason I was always down. Because we've come to the end of a fruitful, productive summer. We saw kids and adults grow in the Lord. We had the usual struggles. The usual ups and downs. But God used us for His purpose. God gave us a job and we tried to be faithful. God opened doors and we saw lives changed. New kids are coming to the mission, new adults have been reached. We have more kids to invite when we start our fall ministries. We have more adults to minister to and disciple.

So, why am I down?  I don't really know. I don't really know if I even am down. After writing this I don't think I am. Come to think about it, I'm not really down at all. In fact, I'm looking forward to the future. I'm looking forward to the next exciting thing that God has planned!

Thank you, Lord, for using me. Thank you for using my family. Thank you for the opportunities, big and small, that you have given us. Thank you for the people you have given us to minister to. Thank you for the place that you have given us to minister in. Thank you for using us in this exciting adventure. Please help us to always be faithful to you, just as you have always been faithful to us. Amen

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