I am getting ready to attend RA/GA camp this week.  This camp only lasts 2.5 days as opposed to the 5 days that the previous camp lasted.  That week-long camp was fun but it was a bit challenging.  At the end of camp many of the adult sponsors were saying things like, “We survived!”  Though camp was a blessing, it was tiring.  I am looking forward to this camp that only runs from Thursday to Saturday.  It is nice to get outdoors and be out at the lake even if it is 150 degrees outside.  It teaches you good survival skills.  You learn things like – where all the water coolers are, which air conditioned buildings are unlocked during the day, and how fast you can drink a root bear slushie without getting a brain freeze.  I feel like survivor man with all the skills I am picking up at camp.

Speaking of surviving, I have been watching a new show called “Get Out Alive” with Bear Grylls.  In that show there are couples that have been taken to remote locations and together they all have to survive in the wilderness.  Bear gives them some tasks to do and shows them some things that will help them along the way and then leaves them on their own.  It is a typical survivor show because at the end of every episode somebody is booted off the show.  Somebody is judge unworthy because they are unable to make fire, can’t navigate through the forest well, or won’t eat worms and Bear who has been watching from a distance decides that they don’t measure up and they have to go.

I am so glad that our life does not have to be like some episode of Get out Alive.  I am so glad that we have a Lord who is willing to show us the ropes and who doesn’t then disappear off into the woods and leave us all alone.  Our Lord is present with us in the midst of all our situations; He promises to never leave us nor forsake us.  I am so glad that when we call upon the Lord and receive salvation and enter His kingdom we don’t have to worry about being judged and found unworthy and asked to leave.  We never get voted off the island because we made a mistake and let somebody down.

We are so blessed to serve a Lord who helps us do more than just survive.  We serve a Lord who is willing to help us to live and thrive.  We serve a Lord who says in John 10:10, “I came that you may have life and have it abundantly.”  An abundant life is available to those who trust in the Lord and who walk in faith.

Please pray for us as we go to camp; pray that someone will come to know the abundant life only offered through Jesus Christ.