Remembering God's Faithfulness

Well, it is a crisp November morning here in Northwest Arkansas.  This weekend was full of emotion at the Taylor house.  Saturday finished with a ray of Razorback hope as my beloved Hogs managed to achieve their first conference win in nearly two years and gained possession of the cherished “Golden Boot”.  Yesterday, we were presented with our first snow.  The boys (specifically Grayson) sat in awe at lunch as the snow was beginning to cover the cars and ground outside the restaurant.  There wasn’t a ton on the ground in the end, but I did see many folks posting Facebook pictures and questions like, “Should I go out or stay inside all cozy in my fuzzy blanket with a good book and warm drink?”  By all accounts it has been a pretty routine year leading into our Thankful Season with many people posting daily thanks as we gain steam towards my favorite time of the year.  But this past weekend and this week will be different for me this year.

Many of you may not know my full name is actually Steven Gregory Taylor.  Most know me by Greg and even fewer would know the reasoning behind my given name.  Today I am going to focus on the first.  My mother is the youngest of four children with three older brothers.  As you can guess, one of them is named Steven “Steve” and although it rarely seems nice to have “favorites” in a family dynamic Steve was her favorite.  I think it was mostly because he stuck up for her in family feuds, or the sense of humor they shared together, but her firstborn was named after him.

This week will be a very tough one for me (selfishly), but mostly my family because we lost a PILLAR of our family this weekend, my Uncle Steve.  A surgery with a 2% chance of fatality took a very wrong turn for the worst.  To say I’m in shock would be an understatement.  To say I am heartbroken would not begin to describe the depth of how I feel.  The thousands of emotions that come along with it are like a hurricane tossing a small boat.  It is at times like this that reflection can be your best friend or worst enemy, calling into question many truths we rarely challenge and testing a confidence that has always seemed so solid. 

Many times in the Old Testament the Israelites would forget all of the miraculous works of our Lord and begin to waver in their own insecurity.  Time and time again we see God come to the rescue and save them from their weakness.  Often times when God delivered his people he would instruct them to stack stones as a memorial to remind them of his faithfulness to the current and future generations.  You see an example of this in Joshua 4 when the Israelites wanted to cross the Jordan (at flood stage) into Jericho so they could overtake it.  Priests were asked to take the ark into the Jordan, thus stopping the flow of the water and allowing everyone to cross on dry ground.  When they had safely crossed, one member from each of the 12 tribes gathered a stone and placed it where they stayed that night as a memorial to God’s faithfulness to them.

This illustration, along with a song, was what God reminded me of this weekend.  The old hymn “My Hope is Built on Nothing Less” echoed through my head.  Specifically these first two verses:

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus Christ, my righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

There are many stones I have stacked along my 40 year journey with my Heavenly Father.  To ignore them and not anchor to them in this seemingly tough storm would be ungrateful and foolish.  There is so much he has done in my life that should give me much confidence and courage.  It can be tough to understand all this life brings to the table, but if you find yourself in a stormy season of life, revisit those “stone memorials” of God’s faithfulness and maybe listen to Him whisper this familiar tune in your ear,   On Christ the solid rock I stand…

In the words of my beloved Uncle Steve, “Bye For Now”. 

~Steven G Taylor

#CWEReunion2014

#CWEReunion2014

That was the hashtag to an extremely fun night of reuniting with friends we haven’t seen in a couple of hours, or days, or weeks, or possibly even months.  Hopefully your time at Camp War Eagle did more than just give you a really great chaco tan and help you to realize that you may or may not want kids of your own anytime soon.  Hopefully you left the gates for the last time with a deeper relationship with Jesus, a new desire to serve Him, and some friends that have those similar desires. It’s natural to begin really thinking about all of the incredible things we have to be thankful for this time of year.  Each November, I notice many people writing things they are thankful for as their statuses.  Hopefully this year, as you reflect, you’ll find that some of the things you’re thankful for are because of the time you spent serving kids at camp.  I know I wouldn’t be the man, husband, or father I am today without working so many summers in an unairconditioned cabin with smelly 10-12 year old boys.  I loved going to the staff reunion every year when I was a counselor because I knew I was always going to see people I loved seeing and get to reconnect with people I hadn’t seen in a few weeks. It always had a similar feeling to coming home for Thanksgiving. There are lots of hugs and stories that start with, “Remember that time…”  

As staff were coming in to the Jones Center dressed in their “finest” attire it was fun to watch peoples’ faces light up when someone walked in.  The room was quickly filled with laughter and conversations and the smell of Bear’s delicious BBQ.  Dinner was had which was followed by the Night Show, of course.  The Ozone staff had a little surprise prepared for everyone, if you would like to see it more polished come to the Great Pretenders event on Tuesday, November 11^th at the Jones Center.  They performed to the song, “Hot Cheetos and Takis.” I might say Harold or Joe stole the show, but it was incredible on all accounts.  We did announce that we are expanding Day Camp to Rogers next summer! We also talked about getting in your Returner Application!  If you haven’t done so already, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! 

After the Night Show everyone was split into dodgeball teams and the winning team walked away with some sick Tourney Champ shirts.  Baylea Cantrell dominated a fierce Just Dance competition to the song, #thatPower, of course.  Delicious cobbler and ice cream was served with coffee before we began my favorite thing from every special event ever, BINGO BINGO BINGO!  Winners were given a can of Surge and other random but awesome things.  Austin Schell walked away with his very own Vlaad hat to keep his brain from freezing this winter.   The night ended with a few laps around the ice rink.  If we were giving awards for Ice Skating, Jordan Lagree would win for his maximum effort to improve his skills on the ice in one night.   We also found out that Natalie Caron is basically Gracie Gold (US Olympic Figure Skater).

All in all it was a really fun night. It was great to see everyone who was able to make it; we wish everyone could’ve been there. We love you all.  Fill out those apps!  We want to see you in May 2015 for Pre-O and Orientation!  Search for the hashtag on Insta to see some hilarious moments from the night.

Ringo

Hey Staff check out another great blog post from a former Counselor at camp. If your still questioning to come back to camp this would be a great read for you. Remember to save your spot even if you don't know if you can come back you need to get your Application in. So if you haven't filled that out and sitting there not 100% knowing what you are doing this summer you need to get online and fill out that application. When April comes and that "one thing" you thought you might do falls through you already have your application in and you just might be able to come back to camp. We love returners and camp isn' the same without you so give this a good read and remember how much God can use us here when we move out of the way. If you know you can't come back to camp then like Rachel said tell your friends and find someone to serve in your place. We are looking forward to the STAFF REUNION Friday and hope all of you can make it. 

“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am He.”

-Isaiah 43:10

I never went to camp as a kid and quite frankly, the idea terrified me. I couldn’t leave my own bed for a night to sleep over at my friend’s house until the seventh grade. Yet even so, as I walked into my interview in October of 2012, I had a terrifying feeling that God, in His great grace and laughter, had a much bigger plan for my life than I did. Summer of 2013 at Camp War Eagle radically wrecked my heart and set me on a completely different trajectory than I could have ever imagined. There was no doubt I would return for another summer.

            Shakespeare writes, “All the world’s a stage.” I grew up acting and have made friends with the spotlight. Coming back as a returner in 2014, I expected to be out in front, leading other counselors to success. The expectation was on me, right? I had been here before and summer 2014 would be a piece of cake. 19^th century minister Andrew Murray describes humility as, “nothing but that simple consent of the creature to let God be all.” The world might be a stage, but the Star of the show is not me, nor any of us for that matter. This summer was characterized with God patiently and faithfully showing me what could happen when I stepped aside and let Him be all.

It begins at a crossroads: will I let Rachel or God be all? Letting Rachel be all only led to discouragement, stress, and frustration with my own performance and those around me.  

Letting God be all meant not charging into the cabin to take the lead with my co-counselors, but remembering gentleness and humility (after all, my first session last year started with me asking my co, “What’s the morning show?”). I learned that true leadership is not seen in the front lines of battle, but on the sidelines, encouraging, strengthening, and spurring on those around me. (Or as Erin Wiltse put it in one of my evaluations, “When the Lord tells you to shut your mouth, shut your mouth!”) I was humbled and blown away by the incredible leadership and service displayed by every co I had this summer and I learned so much from every one of them. Never underestimate a woman in love with the Lord.

Letting God be all meant admitting that sometimes (actually a lot of times) that I was wrong. Like the time I screamed bloody murder, hurdled over a 17-year-old camper, and abandoned my entire cabin when an armadillo waddled out of the woods during camp-out.

Letting God be all meant stepping away from the notion that being chieftess meant I was really cool and intimidating (hahahaha) and serving the coaches and players. It meant taking time to get to know every coach, whose love, energy, and effort make tribal competition all it’s supposed to be. It meant encouraging, encouraging, and more encouraging of everyone I came in contact with, even when I was feeling empty. It meant enduring and wiping the sweat away (even when my daily thoughts rotated between, “I don’t know what I’m doing.”, “I can’t feel my legs.”, and “WHY do they put tribal comp games all they way down at the lake fields?!”) because there’s always work to be done.  

Letting God be all meant going to the arrowhead mines every single free Mish Mash with a 11-year-old girl. Don’t worry, guys, we found one on the very last day.

Letting God be all meant really trying to rejoice, even when I was taken out of the game. Sixth session, I spent almost three days bed-ridden in the health center (where one day, I watched Frozen three times in a row. “For the kids,” ya know?). At that time, glorifying God was realizing that He was choosing not to use me in the cabin and then me choosing not to be bitter about it. Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him?

Letting God be all meant staying up a little bit later to have a conversation with a girl who at the beginning of the week said she didn’t believe in God, but at the end of the week, asked me tearfully one night, “Can you tell me His story?”

How crazy is it that we’re all really nothing special; we’re all dead in our sin and wicked at heart (there’s your affirmation for the day), but the God of the universe put us all at Camp War Eagle to show off His splendor this past summer? We all have very different camp stories, but they’re all a part of His story. We’re all merely spotlights, pointing to and showing forth the glory of our Creator. If you’re able, come back to camp! Tell your friends your story and encourage them to interview and apply! The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.

These are just words on a page, and being a counselor is just a job, and life itself is just merely existence without the breath of the living God flowing through it. We can plan to have fun at camp. We can plan to make friends. We can even plan to have some sort of impact on at least a few of the thousands of campers that come through the gates every summer.  But what if we stopped for a second and realized how utterly incredible it is that Jesus includes us in His redemption story? Come, let’s keep shining His marvelous light into darkness.   

           

“However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.” –Acts 20:24

Come back to camp. Leave your planner at home. Live in your brokenness. Invite others to join the journey. Rejoice in the goodness of the Lord. For He alone is worthy.

- Rachel Ford