seek.

Relentless.

Powerful.
Terrifying.
Holy.
Alive.

These are words that come to mind as I think about the God I observed, experienced, and saw in the 5 days I just experienced. I returned last night from more time with high school students on the shores of Lake Erie near Sandusky, OH. I went as a counselor and I had great opportunities to invest in students, but I gained so much from this time. So, what did we do, you ask?

worship.
We flat out glorified the Almighty God. I don't know that I've ever been a part of more raw, vulnerable, crazy, undignified, sincere praise to our God through singing, prayer, and scripture. These kids allowed Christ to transform their hearts in worship as they surrendered all.

fellowship.
Our worship was also seen in the genuine fellowship with each other. I heard someone say that one of the best ways to get to know God is through getting to know his people. He created us in his image after all. We ate together, laughed together, prayed together (lots of prayer - kind of like the early church seemed to do it), sang together, talked together, etc.

fun.
I had more fun than a person should be allowed. Cedar Point has never seen a group of 170 people have so much uninhibited FUN. we chanted, played loud games, froze (see later post), sang, yelled, danced. Wow. Too much.

broke.
We let the God we often try to hide from BREAK US. We were broken. We were humbled. We admitted the things that we are scared to bring into the light to each other and to God. And when we came out of hiding we didn't even blow up (see this video for context).

sought.
We examined what it meant to seek God. Our inspiration was Jeremiah 29:13:

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

• What does it really mean to seek God? With all your heart?
• What would a true seeker of God look like?
• What would a church seeking after God with all of its heart look like?

I got to watch well over a hundred high school students ask these questions...and commit to seeking. They counted the costs and committed to seeking. This was not your normal camp where high schoolers come together and have an emotional and maybe spiritual high and go home slightly changed.

These kids were changed...and so was I.

So, I'm curious. What do you think a true seeker of Christ, one seeking with all of their heart, would look like? What would be some defining characteristics or words you would use to describe them? I'd love your thoughts.

Taylor CRAM 2008

I'm working the front desk of Swallow Robin Hall at Taylor University. We are on day three of CRAM (a 3 1/2 week summer honors program for juniors and seniors in high school). It has been a highly exciting/exhausting time.

Oh, to be a high schooler again. These kids are great. I have seriously grown to love them already (all 36 of them). The energy, questions, pursuits, fears, dreams, hurts, and intellect are all very real in this group and I have enjoyed connecting with them.

We played some icebreaker games on Saturday and I absolutely love those times. I've learned that almost anyone will loosen up if you bring some ridiculous energy to a completely goofy game, even if they hate it. My favorite is boppity, bop, bop, bop (Ask me if you don't know!). When stepping into a new situation in which we don't know many people, it is human nature to be a bit uncomfortable and feel out of place. I often take it as my responsibility to get people interacting. Sometimes this is good and sometimes it can be very obnoxious, I'm sure. I've seen some pretty great "evil stares" from some of these high schoolers already.

I have high hopes for the conversations and times we will have together over the next 3 weeks. These are sharp kids. I talk Thursday about knowing about God versus really knowing God in such a way that it radically changes the way you live. I see these kids being at a place where this might be just right!

If you can, pray for these kids, for a moldable heart and mind. Pray for our staff, for wisdom and honesty and energy to love these kids well.

I'm enjoying the amazing responsibility to love these kids and I hope I can selflessly serve them for 3 more weeks.