It is always hard to adequately express in words our experience at Camp Barnabas. It is exhausting, tiring, long and draining. But it is rewarding, filling, memorable and life-changing! It is a week that has quickly become one of my favorite of the year. I look forward to it. Our teens look forward to it...more than Palmetto, Celebration and Winterfest. You would be hard pressed to think you could love others so deeply after just a few days together, but it happens. You come to love those you serve with because you go deep with them, way beyond the surface. And it definitely doesn't take long to fall in love with the campers. The fact that they live with difficulties like 'autism' and 'downs' quickly disappears and all you see are beautiful creations of our God and King. We go to love on them and show them the love of God. But really...they show us what it means to love unconditionally...they reveal to us what it looks like to have a heart like God's.
I wish everyone could experience it...because it's just too hard to do it justice if you haven't. By far it is one of the best things we do together each and every year. I'm always so proud of our teens. They lead the way with open arms, willing spirits, encouraging smiles, and servant hearts. I truly believe it forms and shapes our young people in ways I will probably never fully be able to comprehend. And no matter what else happens I know, at least for a week, they get it. They see what it's like to choose to live for others and not for self. They feel what it's like to love without condition. They taste what it's like for heaven and earth to collide. They know what it's like for God to bless them to be a blessing.
Pure love. Deep joy. Abundant Life.
If you don't know...check it out! www.campbarnabas.org
If you want to know more...ask! I know there's at least 17 other people that would love to tell you about it!
-Mike
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