This summer I have been blessed with the opportunity to work as an assistant cook at Barnabas Family Ministries in the Howe Sound in beautiful British Columbia.
We are now well into week 3 here. Last week was a small camp, only 47 guests, but 47 wonderful guests! Enjoyed spending some time with a few great teens from my group last year. This week we have an even smaller camp – 36 guests! Next week, when we have another full camp (81 guests. 121 total with staff + volunteers) it will be a bit of a shock to the system. But, we will be ready, willing and excited! :)
Each morning our staff devotions are done by the speaker who has come to share with the adults for the week. Last week our speaker was Mark Buchanan. He is a pastor and author here in B.C. He spent the week with us staff focusing on servanthood and highlighting John 13, the passage that tells about Jesus washing his disciples' feet. The first day he did devotions, Monday, he told us a quote, "You will know when you are a servant by how you react when you are treated like one." This is definitely a big idea to chew on. I tried to think about how this may look in my own life. I'm challenged.
On Friday, the last day of our camp, Mark left us with ideas of total transformation. He relayed to us Jesus' first and greatest miracle which is found in John 2:1-11, where Jesus turns the water into wine. Mark discussed how many things over time deteriorate without an outside intervention, such as still water becoming a stagnant swamp. Wine could be seen in contrast to water – as it ages, it gets better. With these things in mind we see that Jesus turning the water into wine was an INCREDIBLE miracle, He intervened and completely transformed the water into something that would get better over time. The servants witnessed this transformation and took the wine to the master of the banquet. The master of the banquet was very impressed with the wine saying that, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now" (John 2:10). The master of the banquet was oblivious as to where the wine came from, but it was the servants who saw how it came to be. The servants, because of their position, knew the power and transformation of Jesus. I do not do Mark's teaching justice, but I hope that you may learn from what he taught me. I pray that we all, with servant's hearts, might be able to witness the transforming power of Jesus Christ within our own lives. May there be a holy and total transformation by walking with Him each day.
It was a great week of learning from Mark each morning. This was Mark and his family's first time speaking at Barnabas and he actually wrote a blog entry about his week at Barnabas the other day. I highly encourage you to read his post as he is a phenomenal writer and it will give you a different perspective, than my own, on Barnabas.
Just finishing up some yummy Pumpkin-Cranberry
Scones with Orange Glaze.
A great group of teens I got to reconnect with this year.
The stunning view looking NE from Bridgeman's Bluff.
On a musical side note…just discovered this great artist from PORTLAND. (Of course I have to go to a different country to discover an artist from my hometown!). http://joshgarrels.com/ Cheers!
