CWE Pre Camp Devo #2--THE SWIMMER

Proverbs 3:5a

“Trust…”

“THE SWIMMER”

She is cute…very, very cute.  She has long legs, a long waist, an impish smile, and big beautiful eyes.  She is also very, very, stubborn.  If she wants do something, rest assured she is pretty much going to do it.  If she doesn’t want to do something, well you can rest assured that, in all likelihood, there is not a chance you are going to get her to do it.  She is 3 years old. 

“She” is my granddaughter, Anna Scott Torn, number 8 of 9 grandchildren to whom Susan and I are fortunate to lay claim to.  It is during this time of year that Susan and I get to see quite a lot of our grandkids, all of whom live within 10 minutes of our winter home in Houston, Texas.  It would be nice for me to say that the reason we get to see a lot of our grandkids during this time of year is because they just can’t wait to see “Belba” and “Pops,” the two greatest grandparents in the history of the universe (o.k., maybe I am a little biasedJ), but in actuality, when you get right down to it, what they really like is… our swimming pool.  It’s a great backyard pool for kids, not too deep, a waterfall with rocks for kids to jump off of, a hot tub, and even a beach entry that starts at a depth of zero and gradually increases to a couple of feet before stepping off into a little deeper water.  On any given afternoon you just might find up to all 9 of them having a ball in our pool.  Well up until recently maybe not all 9…more like 8 of the 9.  Anna Scott, it seems, just wasn’t real fond of the water.  Oh she would splash around in the beach entry, usually with both her “floaties” and a life-jacket on.  Sometimes she would even venture in the hot tub so long as Belba or Pops or one of her parents was holding her tight.  But, swim in the “big pool?”  Don’t even think about it.  Not a chance. 

And so it was, on a recent Sunday afternoon, after succumbing to the fatigue that comes from an old man tossing grandkids as high as I could toss them in the water over, and over, I came face to face with Anna Scott, sitting calmly on the side of the pool, life jacket on, with absolutely no thought whatsoever of actually getting in the water.  “Time for a change,” I thought to myself, but what I actually said was “Cottie” (that’s what we call her), “let Pops hold you.”  At first, she wasn’t really sure what to make of that but, after a moment of contemplation, perhaps wondering if she should really “trust” me, she somewhat reluctantly put her arms out and let me pick her up off the side of the pool.  She was fine with that…so long as I didn’t let her actually touch the water, but then slowly, ever so slowly, we began to move away from the side of the pool and get lower, and lower, into the water until after just a couple of minutes, we were smack dab in the middle of the pool and Cottie was immersed as far as her life jacket would let her go.  Now what I would like to tell you is that Cottie had absolutely no problem with this little maneuver, that she knew she was in the arms of her grandfather who loved her dearly and that because of that, any direction he chose to take her would be just fine.  Yeah, sure I’d like to tell you that, but in actuality every time we moved an inch further away from the side of the pool and every time we moved an inch deeper into the water she protested.  Now by protested I don’t mean she reasoned with me and I don’t mean she simply asked me to return to the side of the pool.  What I mean is that she squawked…loud and consistently…for several minutes.  I mean the tears flowed.  She was, after all, moving into the unknown, she was moving into an experience with which she was unfamiliar and she was, to be frank, scared.  She cried, she kicked, she screamed and it was breaking my heart, but we didn’t stop.  We stayed right there in the middle of the pool until, after about 10 minutes, she finally realized she wasn’t going to sink, she wasn’t going to be left alone and she was, in fact, going to be just fine.  Then a strange thing happened.  She started to smile.  Then she started to laugh.  Then she started to splash.  She was experiencing something she had never before experienced, something she had watched 7 of her 8 cousins (Charles Henry is only 10 months) experience time and time again while she sat on the side and watched…she was swimming and she was loving it.

 The most difficult part of the Christian journey is very much akin to the experience of Anna Scott that Sunday afternoon….TRUSTING.  To trust means to rely on, to depend on, and to give up control.  When you get right down to it, none of us particularly like doing that.  It is against our selfish nature, but in order to experience the fullness of God through His grace, that is exactly what we are asked to do in the very first word of this amazing scripture from Proverbs.  Now, a lot of us give lip service to this concept of trust…we say we trust, we act like we trust, we even condemn others for not trusting.  But deep down inside our souls can we actually say we really trust God?  Do we trust Him enough to give up control over our own destiny?  Do we trust Him enough not to stagger and quit when things are not going exactly like we want them to go?  Do we trust Him enough to endure and experience difficulty knowing that in His loving arms, He will not let us sink?  This summer your trust is going to be put to the test.  First, you are going to be asked to trust us and our leadership.  You are going to be asked to trust our knowledge, our experience, our methods, our motives, our passion, and our commitment to working with children.  Some of the ways we do things may seem strange to you.  Quite frankly, some of it you may not even agree with.  Nonetheless, we are going to ask you to trust us.  We are going to ask you to rely on, to depend on…us.  Much more importantly, some of you will experience difficult days…even difficult weeks…even difficult sessions.  Your patience will be challenged, your physical endurance will be challenged, and your emotional well-being will be drained.  In those circumstances, just like in all of the trying times of life, God is going to ask you to trust.  The key is…will you do it, or will you just give it lip service?  Are you fine so long as you are just sitting on the side of the pool or are you willing (even if it is kicking and screaming) to be carried into the unknown by a loving and trustworthy heavenly father?  This summer you will learn a lot about yourself.  More importantly you will learn a lot about the dependability of God…that is, if you are willing to simply TRUST.

 The sun was setting on that spring Sunday afternoon.  All of the other grandkids had climbed out of the pool and were busy eating, playing, or resting.   But there, in the center of the pool, were “Cottie” and Pops.  Cottie no longer needed Pops to hold her.  He would back up and she would swim toward him until she reached one end of the pool, then they would turn around and do the same thing to the other end of the pool.  Every time Pops would start to climb out of the pool, Cottie would look at me with those big dark eyes and in a very quiet voice say, “Pops, will you swim with me,” and back we would go, again and again and again. She was experiencing something she had never before experienced and she was absolutely loving it.  Why?  All because she truly decided to trust. Think about it!

Pre Camp Devo Intro-Day 1

2^nd Timothy 3:16-17

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the LORD with all your heart

   and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways acknowledge him,

   and he will make your paths straight.

“STEVE”

I first heard about him in the spring of 1988 when my “partner in crime,” Gene Monk, called me from “the road” to question me about a young man who he had just interviewed at a small West Texas college for a summer staff position at Camp Ozark.  Everything about the young man was a plus, Gene informed me.  He had a great personality, solid faith, loved kids, very athletic…the whole package; however, he did have one small issue, a slight speech impediment.  In other words, he stuttered.  After hearing Gene describe all of the other positives about this young man, we mutually agreed that there was certainly no reason to be concerned about hiring him to serve on our staff for the summer of 1988. 

And so it was that in late May of 1988, I met Stephen Wayne Puckett for the very first time.  What a blessing to my life!!!  Steve turned out to be one of the best counselors that we had that summer or any summer for that matter.  He was what we now jokingly refer to as “a man’s man”: athletic, handsome, personable, humble, competitive, and a kid magnet.  At the time, he even had what, believe it or not, was quite the in vogue hairstyle: “a mullet” (for those of you too young to remember what a “mullet” is, it was a hairstyle that was cut fairly short on top and on the sides, but had a longer “flip” in the very back…quite stylish in 1988).  Steve came back to camp for many summers after that first summer, serving as a counselor, Top Staff member, Permanent Staff member (twice) and now, 23 years later as wizened veteran of the camp experience.  To this day, every summer Steve is still able to steal away from his duties as a varsity football coach and teacher in Brenham, Texas, to bring his 4 children to Camp Ozark for first session.  And every summer, without fail, he makes a valuable contribution. 

I can tell you dozens of ways Steve has impacted kids, staff members, and the camp experience as a whole in his 23 years of service, but I will never forget the time that he impacted me personally the most.  It was during that first summer of 1988 and we had requested that Steve share his personal testimony at our traditional Sunday service at the cross.  As I listened to Steve, slightly stuttering, tell the story of how, as an 8^th grader, he had gone out with his father one morning to feed the cows and, after doing his part, at the instruction of his father, he had begun returning to the house to get ready for school when he heard a gunshot.  A few moments later, when Steve arrived back on the scene, he found his father dead from an accidentally self-inflicted gunshot wound.  As Steve described his immediate reaction to the death of his father, who he loved dearly, and the impact it had on him for years to come, I was immediately drawn to the powerful presence, comfort, instruction, and growth that God had imparted to Steve over the years through this horrific tragedy.  As Steve recounted his personal journey through immense sadness, anger, rejection, and finally acceptance of the love of his heavenly father, he recounted how he had relied on one simple passage of scripture, 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.”  Now this wasn’t the first time I had heard this scripture.   As a matter of fact, as soon as he mentioned the passage, its words came into my mind.  No, having grown up as a regular attender of both Sunday school, church, and BTU (Baptist Training Union), I had committed that particular passage of scripture to memory years before Steve mentioned it at the cross that Sunday afternoon; however, when placed in the context of a 14 year-old, 8^th grade young boy, tragically losing his father and dealing for years with the aftermath and effect of that tragedy, the scripture suddenly and instantly came to life and took on an entirely different perspective for me personally.  It became alive. 

If you work at camp this summer you will hear this scripture.  If I ever perform your wedding ceremony (I have done dozens of them for camp couples) you will hear this scripture.  If you read your Spiritual Emphasis Manual as you are preparing for a cabin devotional, you will read this scripture.  And, for the next 10 days or so, every one of these pre-camp devos will be based on this one simple passage of scripture.  2^nd Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that “all scripture is God breathed and is useful...”  This summer, as we prepare for camp, Proverbs 3:5-6 will take us on a 10 day journey, a journey that will hopefully prepare you for what lies ahead.  Each of you, the summer staff of Camp Ozark and Camp War Eagle, must be prepared to take advantage of the great opportunity and great responsibility that awaits you this summer.  Some of that preparation will be in the form of our all-important orientation and pre-orientation where you will receive intense, necessary, and relevant training that will prepare you to succeed, but pre-orientation and orientation will come soon enough, in their own time.  For the next 10 days, I want you to join me in concentrating on what one little piece of God’s word can do to prepare us for the incredible opportunities that lie ahead.  Every day we will take one little piece of this passage that will allow you to begin to understand what it really takes to succeed at the most amazing job a college young person can have.  If you use these pre-camp devotionals to properly prepare your mind, your heart, and your spirit for the awesome experiences of the summer, you will, no doubt, be an amazing staff member.  I can assure you that no matter what you encounter at camp this summer, deep within the word of the God of all creation you will find the blueprint for success.  I know that each of you is capable, willing, and primed to be the most incredible summer staff member possible.  I look forward to meeting you and experiencing the summer of 2011 with each of you in due time…and, oh, by the way, just in case you’re wondering, Steve  doesn’t stutter anymore.  He is also an amazing father, husband, friend, and servant.  One of my annual highlights will be experiencing camp again with Steve this summer… minus “the mullet,” of course.