camp fire chats

This past week I have been spending my nights in a weather-sport tent in the chilly Colorado weather. I loved every moment of our trip out there. Something really incredible happens when you stand in the middle of God's creation. Not just to stand, but to stand embracing what is around, turning off your cell phone or your iPod [or music playing device of your choice], putting down your camera, tuning out conversation, not thinking about what is happening tomorrow, but standing and focusing on how beautifully God has expressed His creativity all over this planet. It's humbling and refreshing. Another really neat part of the trip is camping out with a bunch of high school seniors, excuse me: high school graduates. Camp fires seem to naturally draw people together and this week one of my favorite moments happened Monday night around the camp fire. Our whole group started out seated in a circle and four of the seniors led a devotion. Then we toasted marshmallows until they were golden and delicious. As the night grew later, the circle seemed to be getting smaller and eventually there were only ten of us left circled close around the warm fire. Some of the students had already gone to bed and others were just tucked into their sleeping bags to get out of the cold. As we laughed and made surface conversation, one of the students looked up from the fire and said, "Let's talk about something controversial." So the conversation began...I believe the topic that sparked it all was predestination/freewill. I don't want to give you a script of what was said or all the different opinions that came together that night. But I do want to share the end result, which was, as each person began to share their thoughts and questions, one topic inevitably led into another thought or question. About an hour into our camp fire chat, I realized that we were meeting with the genuine hearts of our students. They felt free to speak honestly and openly about where they were. It was such a reminder to me of how important community is. And in that same thought, how important it is to be vulnerable with one another. It was so neat to have the privilege to ask them hard questions, to encourage them with truth, and to watch them open up and to hear how God is stirring something so much bigger in them. After about two and a half hours of discussion we ended with the thought that God has to be our deepest passion. And as His chosen people we must be convinced that a relationship with him, through Jesus, is the best thing that could ever happen.