A Chance to Breathe

Ah, Saturday. The one day each week where Michael and I both get some time to rest during this busy summer season. These past two weeks have been quite the whirlwind for us both, packed with training sessions and hang-out times with the new TP summer staffers. Along with that, Michael was also honored to be involved in the wedding party of Ki-Yong and Carolyn Kim, friends from Biola days, last Saturday. Even in the midst of all the madness of summer preparations, this wedding was an incredible blessing to the both of us. Michael was able to have meaningful worship and fellowship time with friends in the wedding party, and I was surprised to see some familiar faces from our days in Hart, as well as good girlfriends from Torrey Honors, back at Biola. Each of the guests of the wedding were also given the privilege of witnessing the Korean Pae-Baek ceremony during the reception, which is packed with symbols of fertility, provision and support in the marriage relationship. Probably the most anticipated part of the Pae-Baek ceremony came at the very end where Ki-Yong, in full traditional garb, gave a piggy-back ride to the equally decked-out Carolyn, symbolizing the support that he now gives to her as husband.

I have been greatly blessed to partake in just this kind of support this week, coming both from Michael and from the Lord. Michael continues to offer encouragement when I am stressed, and God is constantly doing my job for me! I often feel as though I am scrambling to tie up all my loose ends before the first batch of campers arrives at Ponderosa, sometimes very unsure how I will get it done. Each time I come to a panic moment, I tell God he just has to do it for me...and he does! In such situations, I have been reminded of how backward our thinking can be about our role vs. God's. Many people tend to look at it as "Okay Lord, I'll do 95% and you just take care of that remaining 5%...because that's all I can do", but I've begun to realize that all I can really accomplish is something like .01% and God is always doing that 99.99% that I am incapable of. But what is amazing to me is not that he can do all of that for me, but that he actually values my contribution. He can do it all without me, but he asks me for that .01% because he knows that we will be blessed and grow by being a part of what he's doing.
In light of this, we are greatly looking forward to what God will do at Thousand Pines this summer and feel so blessed that he chooses to involve us in his work here. May the name of the Lord be praised in our lives.

First Week Done

Katie and I, Michael, have finished our first week of summer camp. Katie has finished her lifeguard training class and passed with remarkable improvement from the beginning of the week. Her instructor even took the time out to share with the rest of group that she had one of the best attitudes during the most challenging parts of the training. I am truly proud of her. Way to go, Katie!

I have said this already this week, but I have been blessed with a remarkable group of people that I have the honor of leading this summer here. This week we did some team building exercises that I have learned while I was an RA at Biola serving under Ryan Low, and was reminded on how my experience as an RA have been formative to my time here at camp. I knew that I was going to be using what I learned and experienced somewhere, but I never would have guessed that it would be in a camp setting. We serve a God who definitely has the better and much more fulfilling plan. Amazing!

Summer is here!

The summer has officially started for Katie and me. This past weekend Katie and I hooked up with Mike and Marissa from the Thousand Pines Outdoor Science school and went down to Bonsall, CA. Katie and Mike received training in an archery certification class for their jobs at Ponderosa this summer, while I headed to San Clemente to partake of the small waves crashing on the beaches.

This week I, Michael, have been training my Lead Counseling Staff in the arts of Lead Counseling. I have been thoroughly enjoying my opportunity teaching, equipping, praying with, leading, laughing, and thinking with the staff. Today we spent a good amount of time meditating on John 15 as I led them through a series of reflective questions like, "What have you been abiding in the past 3 months?". God has truly brought a quality group of people this summer to lead the staff and each other, and I am expecting nothing less than great things to come. May God help them.

Katie has been familiarizing herself with the sun and the water as she is finishing up her week training to be a lifeguard! With the history of not being able to swim, to seeing what she can do this week is amazing. By this Friday, she will be tested with the hopes of passing the certification class. Go Katie, Go! Hopefully sometime this summer she can teach me how to swim!

This weekend will be Thousand Pines Anniversary (http://is.gd/NKO5) marking 70 years of faithful service to God. There will be over a hundred guests that have come to camp throughout the years. I am personally looking forward to the worship session where I have been told that the band will be playing camp songs from every decade/generation. This will be exciting!