Pre Camp Devo #1--Summer 2012

Matthew 4:18-20

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew.  They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.  “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.

2 Peter 1:1-9

Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.  His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.  Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.  For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;  and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;  and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.  For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

“THE APOSTLE”

“You are going to do what?” the mother likely said.  “And just exactly how does this ‘plan’ of yours have anything to do with the rest of your life, not to mention the rest of the next decade, which is just about how long you are going to be in college and on my payroll at the rate you are going?” chimed in the dad.   Believe me, it happens.  These are not unusual responses from wonderful parents when informed by their offspring that they have chosen to spend all, or at least a portion of their summer working at, of all places, a summer camp.  And to be honest, to those who have no frame of reference regarding the camp experience, it is not too difficult to understand how they may have been a little shocked when you told them about your summer plans. 

But, as shocked as some (certainly not all) of your parents may have been regarding your plans for this summer, I would venture to say it pales in comparison to the shock experienced by an obscure biblical character, one so obscure that she is never even directly mentioned in the scriptures.  I am of course referring to Mrs. Peter.  Yeah that’s right.Mrs. Peter, the wife of Peter the apostle.  Other than the fact that she existed and could cook, we really are not told anything about her.  But let’s consider Mrs. Peter for a moment.Can you just imagine the shock that Mrs. Peter experienced when some of the local townsfolk came home one day and told her that her husband was long gone?  Yep, that’s right. Long gone, without even bothering to say goodbye to her or the children.  No, he had not run off with another woman, and no he did not have a little too much “grape juice” after a hard day of fishing and run off with a bunch of hooligans.And no, he wasn’t taking her and the children for granted.  The fact of the matter was, she was probably told that a man, a mysterious man about whom stories were circulating, had walked by Peter and his brother, Andrew, and simply said “Come, follow me.”  And without blinking an eye they had thrown their nets down, hopped out of the boat, waded to shore,and  were gone.  Gone on the greatest adventure of all time, three years serving the Master in His physical presence, and many, many more serving His kingdom. Wow!!! Talk about a shock to the old planned out life.

Now listen to me young people, I am certainly not going to tell you that the adventure you have signed up for this summer rises to the magnitude of that of Peter and the other apostles, and I doubt that regardless of how little your parents know about the amazing experience of camp, they could ever be as shocked (or as understanding as Mrs. Peter—talk about selfless love).  But I will tell you this:you have signed up for an adventure, one that may be, can be, dare I say should be, the most amazing adventure of your life so far.  It is an adventure, not unlike that of Peter.  It will require faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, godliness, brotherly, and last, but certainly not least, love. 

Not coincidentally, for the next 10 days we will be looking at these characteristics described by the apostle Peter in his 2^nd letter.  And so, as we begin our preparation for this adventure we call “camp,” we look at the exhortations of Peter to all believers.  First, let’sbriefly look at the author himself, the man Peter…THE APOSTLE.  Peter is my kind of guy and I personally think he would have been a great camp guy even though God obviously had different plans for Peter.  Study his life and you will find he wasn’t perfect but his motives were almost always pure.  You will find that whatever he did, he tended to go “all in,” so to speak, just like you will be asked to do this summer.  He started off by trusting that he was doing with his life exactly what God wanted him to be doing, just like you must trust that this summer, you are doing exactly what God wants you to be doing.  It might not have made sense to a lot of people, maybe not even to those closest to him, but it made senseto Peter, because he knew God was calling him…and nothing else mattered.  With his trust established, he proceeded to focus effusively, act boldly, care deeply, love fully and commit totally, just like you will be asked to do this summer…and that was enough for God with regard to Peter and it is enough for God with regard to you. 

Peter went on to do mighty things in his life. He went on to fail miserably at times. But mainly he went on to become a great man of God without any evidence that, skill wise, he was anything other than an ordinary fisherman.  After serving Christ faithfully during Christ’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension, knowing that the time for his own death was near, Peter, this ordinary fisherman, who did extraordinary things, exhorted the believers to stay strong, to live boldly, to serve mightily, to walk humbly, and to pray without ceasing.  For the next couple of weeks we will look at what Peter, based on the bold adventure of his own life, told all believers. And we will apply it to your adventure this summer.  Some of you may be a little unsure concerning what is about to come….REMEMBER PETER. Some of you may have second thoughts about what you are getting yourself into…REMEMBER PETER.  Some of you may not understand the challenges you are going to face, or the growth that can occur, or the satisfaction you can receive…REMEMBER PETER.  Camp can be a life-changing experience for kids.  We want that…badly.But it can also be a life-changing, life-defining experience for you.  We want that just as badly.  Oh, and for the record, I really don’t know how it turned out regarding Peter and Mrs. Peter, but I can just about bet that Peter’s journey was an enriching journey for the whole family, just like it will be for you a key member of our 2012 camp family.  I can’t wait!!!