The Grand Theater

Do you ever feel like you are wearing a mask? Do you ever find yourself pretending to be someone you're not? Pretending to have it all together, but in reality, your "all togethers" are falling apart? You would never want people to see the real you, the person behind the mask. You would be embarrassed if you were ever found out.

So we put on our masks, go about our business, and when friends ask how we are, we smile and declare, "Great! How are you?"

God sees through the mask right down to the real us. He sees all the flaws and mistakes and failures and yet loves us completely and unconditionally. Isn't it comforting to know how much He loves us?  Psalm 139 tells us that God searches us and knows us. He knows every thought, every worry, every joy, every hurt. There is nowhere we can run from His Spirit, nowhere to escape His love, no mask to hide our person from Him. With God, we can stop pretending, take off our mask and allow Him to love us. Once we know this truth, it will set us free.

Our theme this summer at THE OAKS is “The Grand Theater.” We are praying that God uses this theme to reveal to our campers any masks they are wearing and to set them free with God’s truth from His Word.  We are in the middle of our third week of camp, and so far it seems our campers have been  challenged and encouraged! Many campers tried new adventures--from rappelling to holding on for dear life while tubing on Lake Pyramid--and conquered fears, learning to trust God, and had a blast while doing it! In Bible class and at Fire Circle they learned about God’s role as "Director" in the “stage” of life, the importance of the Word being their "Script", the joy of sharing the Good News with the "Crowd", and "Actors" putting on the new-self.

For Jared and I personally, our lives always become busier during summer camp! Jared is supervising the media department for the summer, teaching nature classes and working hard to improve some of the trails around camp.  Below is a photo of him during one of his nature classes, and a horned lizard (an endangered species)  that they found while hiking along the trail. (Interesting fact about this lizard: To protect itself from predators, the horned lizard can squirt an aimed stream of blood from the corners of its eyes for a distance of up to five feet.  The kids always LOVE this fact.)

A couple of weeks ago I taught a “coffee class” to a group of Leaders in Training (LIT’s).  The LIT program is a World Impact program in which teens from the inner city commit to three years of discipleship, leadership training,  and job training--equipping them to become leaders in their schools and in their communities. They spend each summer for three years up here at THE OAKS, where they receive their most intense training and work hands-on with the campers.  This was our third year to do the coffee class with the teens.  We focused on how to be professional in any customer service job, covered all the basics of coffee and espresso, and then we went through our menu at Camp Grounds Coffee and I showed them how to make each drink.  We had a blast, and I’m hoping that these skills are ones that the girls will take with them in whatever jobs they get in the future.

Another highlight of our summer has been our LIT adopted family. All the LITs are divided up among several different families on camp, those being their “adopted families” for the three years that they are in the program.  Last year was our first year as an adopted family.  Now our two girls (pictured below), Victoria (from Fresno) and Tatiana (from San Diego), are in their second year of the LIT program.  It has been so fun getting to know them better and seeing how they have grown in their faith and leadership abilities since last year.

Our boys are doing really well and loving life at camp.  Micah (21 months old) is at the age where he is soaking up everything around him!  He loves watching all the big trucks and tractors drive around camp, and he loves all the attention he gets from the summer staff!  Joey is now almost seven months old and is getting to be more charming and fun each day!

Thank you for your continued prayer and support of the ministry here. We are blessed by it!