.: no accident :.

If you had tried to explain to me the whole Mount Hermon "experience", I honestly don't think I would have believed you. Here we are almost halfway through our summer together, and I am just now beginning to feel like I have adjusted to life in this place - a home away from home. And here I was so foolish as to believe that I could have even begun to know what it would be like to live, serve, and grow in this place... with these people... people who I once never knew that I now am willing to do the craziest things with on a moment's notice. Three months ago, I didn't know about a Pacific Avenue or a Garden of Eden. Three months ago, I didn't spend the minutes during when I brush my teeth as a chance to dream up new antics to attempt on the Big Dipper. Three months ago, I knew nothing of what it really meant to do what I had been called here to do as a Staff Counselor (though I must admit that I tried to anticipate much of what might possibly be expected). But most of all, up until these past couple weeks, I had nothing and no one to warn me that I would feel some of what is hitting me in the face right now. I would never have guessed that my heart would be wrestling with some of the feelings, fears, desires, and even old wounds that life at Mount Hermon has seemingly brought to the surface. And if I could be so bold, I would venture to guess that many of the other Summer Staffers are struggling with some of the same issues. One of the greatest things that Mount Hermon has done is that it has revealed to us bits and pieces of our identity as men and women (many of them pertaining to our relationship with Christ)... but needless to say, this is also one of the hardest things that Mount Hermon is causing so many of us to reckon with. Maybe we now see parts of ourselves that we never knew, or maybe parts that we are all too familiar with. Maybe we find ourselves reacting strongly in surprising ways, or maybe we are falling into old patterns of behavior that we thought we had overcome. Maybe we are finding greater strength in some personal areas, only to find ourselves severely weak in others. But no matter how our own story is seemingly being written, I honestly feel like we need to be reminded at this point and time in the summer of one thing; our being here is no mistake. We did not happen upon this place. We did not happen to slip in. There are far too many steps we had to take, and moments of faith that were required to get here, to truly believe that our being at Mount Hermon is an accident, or is by any means not part of what God had in mind for us all along. The truth be told, God drew us to this place. We may have thought that we chose to come here, and we did to some degree. But He drew us here. And He drew us here so that we might come further into His very heart and mind. He brought us to this place - a conference center on the outskirts of Santa Cruz, away from home, away from best friends, away from what feels familiar - for the sake of His very relationship with us. He sought us out... and in the midst of best-intentioned plans, here we are. And because of such realities, we can find genuine peace, if only we would calm down enough to discover it. We ought to be at peace, for we can trust in the fact that God will accomplish His purposes for bringing us to this camp (something that is bigger than ourselves and our own agendas and schedules). And if I could offer anything to all of us at this point in the summer, it would be the assurance (at a heart level) that God is at work in each and everyone of our hearts and minds. But even more than that; He will enable all us to do what He has called us to do - as servants, as counselors, as friends, as helpers, as encouragers, as teammates, as supporters, as confidants, and as friends. He has brought us safely thus far - may we have the courage to believe that He will bring us safely home, having done just as powerful of a work in all of the places that we left a month ago.

(Written for this week's Staff Newsletter, "The Branch")