Summer camp starts next Monday. For me, this year will be a little bit different from previous years. I’ve spent the last nine months helping create a camp from scratch. This will be the first summer of Camp Trinity’s existence. It has been an incredible journey that will become very real on Monday. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears has gone into making this camp a reality. But even with all that being said, four weeks ago I wasn’t really sure how everything would work out. There was a great vision for what our camp would look like, but nothing had been built. There was a great vision for all the kids that would attend, but our numbers weren’t looking that great. We had put in a lot of work, but seemed like we were at the end of our road and weren’t sure how everything was going to fall into place.
The Friday before I went to Disney, Jim (my boss) and I had a very open and honest conversation and decided that we had let our focus shift from God to camp. Right then and there we prayed and offered everything back up to God. We laid Camp Trinity back in His hands and said that no matter what happened we were trusting in Him. As I look back at that moment, one thing is clear, God heard our prayer and He is taking care of business.
This Monday we had a meeting with a local church. When we explained that we wanted to partner with them to help serve underprivileged neighborhoods and they immediately got on board. They gave us the name of a neighborhood and told us that any kid that registered from there they would pay for. When we told the manager of the leasing office about this deal, she broke down and started crying. She has a eight year old nephew that has brain cancer. His parents aren’t around much and refuse to bring him to church. She was so excited to be able to send him to camp for free and let us share the gospel with him. We now have a meeting tomorrow night with all the parents and get to tell them they can send their kids to camp for free. It is an amazing opportunity that God has blessed us with.
Before that prayer, we had nothing built and were struggling to get approved to spend money to build camp. Since then we have got everything we needed approved to build camp approved. We have built an entire low ropes course, an outdoor chapel, and target sports range. Camp Trinity actually looks like a camp now and not just a vision. This week we started our camp training. I’ve worked many great staffs, but I have never seen one come together and bond like the staff we have for Camp Trinity. Everyone is on board with the mission of Camp Trinity and is so excited about sharing the love of Jesus with the kids that will be there. I know God is going to do some awesome things through them.
It is incredible to see the way God will move when you allow Him to. If you told me three weeks ago that Camp Trinity would be looking this way, I would have probably laughed at you. Proverbs 3:5 tells us to, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” John 14:1 says, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.” God tells us to not be worried, to not try to figure everything out, but rather just trust Him. For months we have tried and tried to get things rolling for Camp Trinity and we didn’t get very far. Then we offered up a simple prayer and told God we were trusting in Him. It seems like God said, “Thanks. Now watch what I can do!” I can’t even begin to describe how blown away I am by the events of the last few weeks. One thing I know for sure, there is no way I could have done it all. There is no way it could have happened without God.
So is it slightly terrifying that our camp could double in size tomorrow night, only three days before camp starts? It sure is. But I know one thing for sure, I’m not going to worry about it because God has everything under control. If there is something you are worried or stressed about, offer it up to God. He can do some many incredible things that you never thought were possible (see Ephesians 4:20). I don’t know what exactly will happen next Monday, but I know it will be the start of something great.
until next time…
Comment question: How have you seen God move in your life when you trusted in Him?