CWE Pre Camp Devos-#10 The Amazing Race

Proverbs 3:5-6

“TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL OF YOUR HEART,

AND LEAN NOT ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING;

IN ALL YOUR WAYS ACKNOWLEDGE HIM,

AND HE WILL MAKE YOUR PATHS STRAIGHT.”

(or “HE SHALL DIRECT YOUR PATHS” – NKJV)

“THE AMAZING RACE”

It was all his fault.  “He” being Eric Rice, a former camp counselor who was then a member of our permanent staff.  Earlier that year, prior to the summer, he got me hooked on watching one of the very first renditions of the popular CBS television show, “The Amazing Race.” Though I can’t remember who the contestants were (the passing of time and events has clouded the specifics of the matter), I do remember thinking that it was pretty cool to be able to team up with someone and race across the world, using all of your wit, strength, patience, and effort in an attempt to be the last team remaining and thus win “The Amazing Race.”  And so it was that months later, as the summer began to wind down, Eric (Captain E) and I began to devise a scheme to be selected as contestants on the next edition of the Amazing Race.  In order to be selected you had to submit a 3 minute video of yourselves that would give the producers a glimpse of the personality, energy, and marketability that your team would bring to the show.  Piece of cake, we thought!!!  What could be more unique than an older (I am really not that old) boss and a young, up-and-coming camp professional?  So we set out to make the most unique Amazing Race audition video that had ever been produced.  And if I do say so myself, it was pretty dad gummed good.  I mean we put everything we could into that 3 minute video.  I blobbed Eric (fairly high I might add).  Eric dropped in on the half-pipe at the skate park (he wound up spraining his ankle pretty badly, but that is another story).  I ate a worm down by the fishing pond, we both kissed a monster catfish, and we had our videographer zoom in on us in the middle of a massive dance party at a Special Event.  To this day, I still think it may have been the most unique audition video ever submitted to the producers of “The Amazing Race.”    

Each of you will, soon enough, begin your own “Amazing Race.”  The Amazing Race that is the summer of 2011, either at Incomparable Camp Ozark or Amazing Camp War Eagle.  You will get an opportunity to blob, to drop in from the half-pipe, to fish, and to dance at a plethora of Special Events.  But mostly you will get an opportunity to impact children and to be impacted by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Like “The Amazing Race,” your personal race will require all of your wit, strength, patience, and effort to be successful.  But unlike “The Amazing Race,” it will require something more: the presence, power, and peace of God acting in your life on a daily basis.  For the last 9 days we have been discussing 2 simple lines of scripture penned thousands of years ago by King Solomon when he was a young adult.  If you truly want to experience an “Amazing Race,” not only at camp this summer, but in your daily life as you move through its various stages, then you must have the guts to make the choice to live for God instead of for man.  You must have the courage to dream the impossible dream, the will to walk the road less traveled, and the understanding that it is only through placing your life in the hands of your almighty Creator that you can truly experience all that life is meant to be.  “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” 

Are you up to the challenge of this summer?  More importantly, are you up to the challenge of this life…your life?  This summer you can find out by choosing God over self, by trusting Jesus over others, by subjecting yourself to the unknown journey that results in the only known peace that man can achieve, peace with God.  I am very excited for each of you that have been led by God to this unique opportunity.  Though, I am even more excited for what you will learn this summer by trusting Him completely.  

As for “The Amazing Race,” well Captain E and I finished our video, edited it to perfection, and sent it in Fed-ex, overnight, signature required.  We never heard a single word from the producers of the show.  Not one word.  We were flabbergasted.  Of course, the fact of the matter is this: neither of us had even remotely begun to figure out how we were going to leave our families and jobs for up to 3 full months in order to tape the show.  Oh well, life goes on…and, by the way, so does camp.  See you there!!!!!