Big, Bold, God Moving

 So it begins...

First week of camp, first week of trying to do the adult job and run a program I know little to nothing about. This is the kind of job you spend months preparing for, the kind of job an adult should have. Not me. Not the 22 year old wannabe. And yet, I get the crazy opportunity to figure it out and make mistakes and learn so much from my time here.

Meanwhile, it becomes an incredible experience for my faith.

At the beginning, it becomes pretty clear I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't know what to expect, when to schedule projects, for how long, what rules to remind the group of, when to talk to the leaders, what to talk to the leaders about, and basically I just washed my hands of the first week and let it unroll to see how it should (or shouldn't!) be playing out. But I got blessed with two incredibly flexible teams and three staff members who rocked my socks off with how they stepped it up and got the work done. With the first week down I have more of an idea of what to expect and how to make it happen.

The bigger surprise was how the work for next week began unrolling. I have over sixty volunteers to place next week and had only begun working on finding projects two (now three) weeks ago. I began the week with only three guaranteed projects, knowing that I could maybe overload my groups to these locations on Tuesday and Thursday....but my Monday and Wednesday were looking pretty bleak. I had over thirty people with no project and nothing to do on both days, and all my efforts felt like they led towards dead ends. It felt like I called everyone. No answers, or maybes, or sure I have a project for August, or I'll call you back, but nothing concrete.

Fine Arts Camp at it again with the tie-dye!

It's Wednesday morning of this last week and I'm preparing for the worst. Sorry boss, gonna have to drum up some work here. We could paint? Dig holes? Build a challenge course element? Finish the patio? For two days, for thirty people. It's gonna suck. People are gonna hate me. Hate Twinlow (which can't happen!!). I'm going to be the worst volunteer coordinator in the history of ever.

Now, here's when God starts moving.

Because the places I called start calling me back. Oh I would love to have your group. I can take fifteen on Wednesday. I can take twenty-one on Monday AND Wednesday. We have a project that needs a number of people on it, you interested? And slowly but surely all sixty of my volunteers for next week have jobs. Suddenly, I'm looking at my calendar and thinking, "Can I send less people here? Do I have enough people for this project? Do I have enough cars?" Big. Bold. God moving.

"The highlight of my week was while we were chopping wood. I looked up and just saw all these smiling faces, and I knew we were doing good work."  -Campfire reflections

I know I don't know what I'm doing with this job. I admit it, and I want to stay in that place of humility. I know for a fact it is not because of my efforts that things are working out so perfectly. It can't be.

In this situation I think of the book Life of Pi. The reader is left picking between the two stories: the one with the animals, or the one that features solely humans. Which story do you pick? Which is the better one? And I think of faith and God in this situation. Which makes a better story? The one where I'm doing all the work or the one where I'm acknowledging God's presence in my life? God wants to be involved. I believe that. And God was definitely moving in my week.

Still not perfect. Still not there. But pressing on to the goal, the yes in Jesus. I want others to press in too. So no matter how this summer goes, I want to be faithful to what God is calling me to.