“I’m going to camp and I’m bringing a ...” by M.E. Loving

There is a game that has been around since who knows when that kids play when they go to or are at camp. It’s the “I’m going to camp and I’m bringing a...” game. The way the word works is that you fill in the blank with specific word that follows a rule, for example: has to have double consonant or the words have to start with letters in ABC order as each person takes their turn. The catch is the person who starts the game decides on the type of word allowed to complete the sentence but no one else knows. The players find their brain in overdrive attempting to guess the right items to ‘bring to camp’ and to figure out the unspoken rule of the game as to what makes the item fit the sentence!
The fun & frustrating part about this game I think is twofold: the guessing and the finally knowing while trying to get others to figure it out, as well as being the one who starts the game allowing the players to work through a solution.
Recently, I had the privilege to go as a chaperone to M4 Children’s Camp through our church’s childrens ministries. We played this game several times during our time there. This was the 3rd year that my son Carson and I attended and it rocked! Shameless plug--if you are looking for a super high quality Christian summer camp that doesn’t break your bank account, that is short, but that delivers Biblical truth in a multifaceted high energy format check out www.m4camps.com.
And by the way, I am not very skilled at the guessing part of the game. Instead, I fully enjoy being the game starter. The reason is that you get to see how people think and act while helping them along the way.

There is another game that Christians find themselves playing quite often sometimes willingly, other times forcefully due to life’s circumstances. It’s the “I’m going to figure out ‘God’s will’ for my life” game. We think the way it works is that God has one career for us and surely He must show us so we can get on with life. Or other times, we think God is waiting to give us the solution to a problem and is just simply letting us guess away. In the meantime, we get more frustrated while He sits on the answer. Even though many Christians would never voice that they really think God is some type of cosmic Game Host messing with our lives, our attitudes and lifestyles often reflect that this belief is deep within us.
In the New Testament scriptures, Christ himself clearly explains that to be His follower you are to die to self. Our complete identity is to stem from being alive in Him. Also, all throughout scripture we see God calling men and women to follow Him with no other gain in mind than knowing God personally and making Him known to others relationally and globally. The details of how that will happen are not of utmost importance even though our human nature and especially our American climb-the-ladder-of-success culture says so. God is not sitting back messing with us waiting for us to figure out His ‘will’ for our lives as can be done in the previously mentioned game. But He does lovingly reveal to us the path He has for us only in increments so our affections can remain on Him for our good and His glory. Regardless of your vocationally abilities( different God-given skills and passions) often misused as the word “calling”, it is God’s plan or “will” or even “calling” that every Christ follower know Him and make Him known. According to the Biblical principles in Psalm 119:105 and Ephesians 2:10, God in His lovingkindness is in so many ways the one who has started the game and invited you into the game allowing you to work through a solution. He goes in advance for us preparing the road ahead of us. Simultaneously, He lights the way just in front of us and around us because that is all we need to know.

Pastor & Author Mark Batterson explains this struggle in his book In a Pit with a Lion on A Snowy Day by stating that:
“God wants you to get where God wants you to go more than you want to get where God wants you to go...now here’s the catch: sometimes His itinerary entails coming face to face with a lion in a pit on a snowy day. But when you find yourself in those challenging circumstances, you need to know that God is ordering your footsteps. You can have a sense of destiny because you know that God has considered every contingency in your life, and He always has your best interest at heart. and that sense of destiny, rooted in the sovereignty of God, helps you pray the unthinkable and attempt the impossible”.

And by the way, I am convinced that God fully enjoys it when his children struggle to figure out and follow Him. In this process we get to know him more intimately while He helps us along the way. He is a loving expert and proved it through Christ.

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See also these Scripture passages for further understanding & application:
Genesis 13:8-18 ; 2 Samuel 23:20-23 ; Proverbs 16:9 ; Matthew 10:37-39 ; Luke 9:23-25 ; Acts 17:24-28 ; Galatians 2:20 ; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

See also these recommended books for for further understanding & application on God’s “Calling” for your life:
A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller ; Courage & Calling: embracing your God-given potential by Gordon T. Smith ; Radical:taking back your Faith from the American Dream by David Platt ; Crossroads: navigating your calling & career by Colin Creel

Timeless Truths from TOY STORY 3 - by M.E. Loving

*spolier alert--Toy Story 3 major plot discussed.

Here's a recent devotional I wrote that needed to be shared...
This devotional is for any person of any age whatever season of life you are in the middle of, have just walked through, or are about to begin..



1) God’s plan for you is that you make the most of each Season of life you are in:

In the Story of Toy Story 3, the boy Andy is shown transitioning in life from time spent as a child quickly fading into his time preparing to leave to go to College. That is a reality for so many of us as we look back on our lives and we say, ‘where has the time gone?’.
Our oldest child, Carson, just turned 9 this past week, which coincidentally was also the occasion for us to take him and his friends to see the latest Toy Story movie. If you are a Parent at any stage and have watched this film, there are several scenes where Andy and his Mom struggle with his preparations to leave home and it is very touching. Andy himself even struggles with leaving his boyhood memories behind because he realizes just how special his life has been. It was simultaneously touching for me to be celebrating my son’s 9th birthday guiding him through his boyhood to another year of life ahead. Yet, I realize that this season for him, and my wife and I, will come and go just as fast as the scenes on the silver screen. So, we as parents have to teach him at every turn of life about the Lord and have to also allow him the freedom to discover personally how to see the Lord in each season of his journey.

After thinking back through this films story, one of the timeless truths that seemed to keep surfacing was this: to make the most of our time. Whatever season of life we are in, whether we perceive it as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ or even indifferent at the time, is always a gift from God for his purposes. All too often in life’s journey we live with the approach that if we can just get through to a particular destination life will be even better. Children take this approach incessantly about waiting for Christmas, or birthday’s, or for summer vacation. Parents do this about several stages with their children, especially adolescence. College students do this about their years of education looking forward to getting that “perfect job”. This mindset unfortunately causes us to miss God’s gifts of Himself along the way, which is the real joy of the journey. The prophet Isaiah once explained this timeless truth by sharing these words: “Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it’" (Isaiah 30:20-21).

Likewise, John Wesley also was quoted as saying this about making the most of every season of our life : “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”

See also these Scripture passages for further understanding & application
Genesis 50:19-20; Esther 4:14; Psalms 90:12; Matthew 6:25-34; Ephesians 5:15-17

2) God blesses you with Grace in order to be a blessing to others:

Also, in the story of Toy Story 3, the famous Toy ‘Woody’ makes a tough decision for him and the other toys. Woody leaves a note for Andy to give them all away to a nearby young girl in the neighborhood named Bonnie. As tough as this is for both Woody and Andy, Andy goes to the young girls home to bring his toys to her. But, here is where the even deeper lesson surfaces. Andy doesn’t just give the toys to the little girl. He decides to introduce her to the toys one at a time telling tall tales of what they are each capable of according to his childhood memories. Then, Andy stays for awhile to play with her and the toys one last time as the movie prepares for it’s ending scenes. So, in essence, Andy realizes the greatest joy in life is only found in giving away to another what has given you joy in life.

As the film came to a dramatic closing very different than the previous 2 films, the second timeless truth that stood out to me in glaring 3-d was this: that we are blessed in order to be a blessing to others. In particular, Christians have the Gospel in order to give the Gospel away to others. Quite often in our lives we don’t realize this timeless truth because we are so busy living thinking only of what we or only those closest to us need. Jesus himself directly addressed this truth by commanding that we make Disciples of Him(Matthew 28: 18-20) and also meet the basic needs of others(Matthew 25:34-40).

Normally, when a season of life ends, it often causes us to be reflective and appreciative for where and what we have just journeyed through. Sometimes such drastic change can cause us to become too introspective rendering us into a semi-depression. The challenge then is to take what we have learned and put it into practice, especially for the benefit of other people that God has placed within our sphere of influence. Furthermore, we must constantly be willing to let go of anything (attitudes, actions, & acquisitions) in our lives that competes for the Lord’s rightful throne. As we learn to do this, the Holy Spirit of God will then perfectly meet you where you are and your life can then echo Nehemiah’s words by proclaiming “Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10b).

A.W. Tozer once wrote in his classic book The Pursuit of God the following prayer: “Father, I want to know thee, but my cowardly heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from thee the terror of the parting. Please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished so long...so that Thou mayest enter and dwell there without a rival”

See also these Scripture passages for further understanding & application
Genesis 12:2-3; Daniel 3:28-29; Psalms 67:1-2; John 13:1-5; Acts 2:42-47/4:32-37; 2 Corinthians 1:3-5; Galatians 5:13-14