It is almost 1:30a, Saturday, June 6th. I had hoped to go to bed and forget the nagging reminder to blog this, but I have been unable to shake this moment. I am beyond any accumulation of words to describe what God has done at our Coram Deo camp so far. I am simply soaking up the memories of what God did tonight. Thank you Jesus that all of the work, discussion design, late nights editing video, moments wrestling with God over direction, and frustration with trying to coordinate such a grand event have paid off. I am exhausted to be sure… In the last 33 hours, I have slept 2 of them.
But in this spiritually soaked stupor of contentment, I am reminded of one of my all-time favorite quotes of history. Vince Lombardi, an incredible visionary coach once said to his team, “I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour – his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear – is that moment when he has worked is heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victorious.”
Thank you Jesus, that we are being victorious. I have nothing but gratefulness, joy, and delight overwhelming my soul at this moment. Living off of nothing but Mountain Dews (and the food my INCREDIBLE armor-bearer Lori Fox has brought me), I have seen God move in such sweet, sovereign healing ways tonight.
Allow me to jump briefly back to the planning stages of this camp… I honestly didn’t know if we would ever be able to break even on our numbers to pay our contract with the camp. We began this registration journey over 8 weeks ago and were setting a goal of 80-90 people. In my heart I really wanted to see over 100, but I thought I might want to rein this in due to the reality and challenges of our current economy. As each week crawled closer to our big week, the students sign ups continued to roll in again and again, eventually even exceeding my “high goals.” We had to reset our T shirt count 3 times, had to reorder tokens, and have still gone over the top with our turnout. I don’t want to give this number as a sign of achievement, because at the end of the day, it is NOT about the numbers, but about the life change, but… by the grace of God we have almost 160 people with us at camp. God is good.
As always, our Rap Groups were top notch. Our services have flowed well. Worship has been great. And God has showed up in wonderful ways. But tonight was just unreal. I desperately wanted to connect my kids with the idea of sacrificing our lives SO OTHERS CAN LIVE. Stepping out on somewhat of a risk, I opted NOT to speak tonight, but to instead play a video. I spent several hours editing down the movie “The Guardian.” I used the scenes and dialogue of the movie to build my spiritual case. As the finale of the night nearer, God said, “Not that way.” With only moments before I was to step up and bring us into a time of focused prayer at the altar, God changed everything.
At that moment, you could just feel the presence of God in our little chapel. It was so think and sweet. You could sense such a powerful move of God upon us as many of the students were not only in tears, but their sobs could be heard through the room. As I took the stage and turned, I saw countless figures hunched over, move by the healing work of God, actively in pursuit of them. We took a few moments to make sure God was leading, and then changed our service direction to match.
I can still hear the David Crowder song playing as we closed with… “Never Let Go.” I just talked briefly through an understanding that no matter WHAT happens to you, no matter what you have done, no matter where you are at with God, no matter if you life has turned out the way you expected or not, no matter if you have let go of God, GOD WILL NEVER LET YOU GO OF YOU.
The response was nothing short of amazing. Students praying for students. Tears. Healing words. Holy Spirit comfort. A room full of orange Glowsticks for Jesus. Conversations about important things. Lives changed. Restoration. Release. Freedom. New Life. Lifted Burdens. New Commitments. Released guilt and shame. One sovereign move of God.
Over an hour after the “altar call” time had begun, as things we beginning to wind down, someone said to me, “Hey, good job tonight. It was awesome.” That is when I realized… I didn’t feel responsible or feel that I could TAKE responsibility for ANYTHING that took place at the altars because I hadn’t anticipated it. My plans were in a different direction entirely. God had orchestrated this response completely… I had simply listened. SO… I guess YES, I will take full responsibility for listening. 🙂 To God, I give the rest of the props.
I’m just lying on the field of battle… 🙂
"Just One" :: a rebellion against the status quo 
