Experience-rich, but relationally-poor. Whether we like to admit it or not, I believe that we have come to accept that line as a theme in our lives. We’ve come to a place where we compete with one another on who can have the most exciting life experiences. We chase after experiences, often times at the expense of relationships. We’re so eager to move on to the next thing that we leave people in the dust. What would it look like if we flipped the script? What if we intentionally pursued being relationally-rich? I believe if we put more effort into making relationships rich, then all of our experiences become rich. Chase after relationships. Jesus didn’t chase after experiences, He chased after people.
However, before we chase after people, we need to understand that Jesus is chasing after us. He is pursuing our hearts. When we accept Jesus into our hearts as Lord and Savior, our love need is met. Because our love need is met through Jesus, we can now move on to loving others with the real kind of love that Jesus first loved us with. We don’t fear rejection because we know our standing in Jesus is secure. We are SET FREE to love others without hesitation or conditionality. This summer our theme is “Set Free” and our theme verse comes from the book of John, chapter 8, verse 36. “So if the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed.” Our desire is that you will pause, take a deep breath, and understand the freedom Christ has given us to love others. Chase after someone today with the love of Jesus.
Relationally-rich AND experience-rich.
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” -1 John 4:7-11
We couldn’t be more excited to see how God’s going to show up at camp this summer! We just launched our hashtag for this summer, which corresponds with this summer’s theme of being “Set Free”: #40DaysofFreedom. Be sure to follow this hashtag throughout the summer to see a glimpse of how God reveals himself each day at Camp! John 8:36.
-Michael Orr, Camp Director
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