Connections

Last week I went to Big Sandy Camp for 6 AMAZING days! I hadn’t been there since I left in August after working there for 3 months this summer as a counselor…which was also AMAZING!

Kristine Fry and I drove up a day early and visited Jenny K in her new house! She made a delicious meal and everyone loved it! I played Scrabble with the guys and then Apples to Apples with about 10 people! Fact: Brian Toth is officially a power-tripper! Love you Brian!

The next day was the New Year’s Bash for past/current/future staff and friends! We hung out, played volleyball (watch out for those Tate Watts’ serves…ouch!!) and caused general ruckus around the snow-laden camp. Later that day we lounged in Loon Lodge while eating homemade goodies and conversing about times gone by. Reminiscing about summer camp was great! I got to catch up with numerous friends of mine and even make better connections with other camp people! Then the ball dropped and we toasted the new year with Raspberry Sherbet punch: MY FAVORITE DRINK OF ALL TIME!!!!!!!!!

To begin the new year, 20 or more of us decided to play “Live Action Mafia” in Birch Lodge! Wow…never has a more fun game been invented nor has it been played with better people in a better location! Go Mary Ingalls Wilder!!!

January 1 wasn’t boring. January 2 meant Senior High campers would be arriving and so we had a day to do practically nothing. We weren’t technically supposed to be at camp so 6 of us loaded up and headed to Subway. That was our afternoon meal but our evening meal provided some great entertainment and relaxation at the Stinson household. While eating AMAZING chicken noodle soup the gang and I discussed the relevance of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s life in our own lives! At the end of the meal, everyone was wondering what was wrong with me because I was wondering WWLD (What Would Laura Do?)

Then SnoDaze!! It’s the Senior High winter retreat and we were more than ready for the camp to be full of high schoolers! Sure enough, right on schedule they arrived in snowpants and stocking hats ready for a weekend of tubing, broomball and worship! There were some familiar faces from the summer and so there was more reminiscing to enjoy! The tubing hill had it’s own drama as did the broomball court. Josh Nielson and I ran the broomball tournament and witnessed a showdown between the NowThen church and…well…the NowThen church! Haha!

And all too soon it was over. Kristine and I left after breakfast on Sunday morning. I choked back tears as I hugged goodbye to friends who are very near and dear to me. I truly hated to leave. The people up there are amazing and their hearts are driven to making BSC a place where God is praised every day! The atmosphere is thick with His glory and you can definitely feel it! It was a privilege to work there for 3 months this summer.

But now I’m back in the real world: working and looking for a full-time job all without a tubing hill or frozen lake or Family Business. But it’s not the things that I did at camp that I miss; it’s the people. And now that I’m back in Iowa, I miss the connection. BSC is home to me because it’s full of people that I love and that love me and a level of comfort that I’ve never known anywhere else. Granted, my true home in Kansas always makes my heart homesick. My home church is where I came to know the Lord. Dordt College is where the Lord found me again and provided me with some lifelong friends. But camp is where it all came together: not only was in a family setting but I saw God at work and He found me and provided me with lifelong friends!

But now it’s 400 miles away again.

I wish I knew for certain that I’d see everyone again. I wish I knew for certain that I’d see Big Sandy Camp again. I wish I knew for certain what my future holds. But all of these things are in God’s hands.

But I still miss the connections.

I could have a great family, amazing friends and a job that I love but it all comes to nothing without a connection with God. Which points me to 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

The love for my family, my home church, Big Sandy Camp, Dordt and all the great friends I’ve made along the way…they are all “seen” and therefore are temporary! When a connection is broken with one of these temporary things, like graduating from Dordt or leaving Big Sandy Camp after an amazing 6 days, it hurts. And for some reason I tend to dwell on that pain rather than accepting that “our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” How can I ignore a verse like that?

Therefore I will not lose heart. My devotion will still remain to those places and people I’ve mentioned but I will devote my time to them out of a love for the eternal God. My devotion to God will grow as I seek to make a deeper connection with Him. Thankfully the success of this connection is not fully based on me or my actions. God has His plans and He will work in my heart if I let Him. A connection with the True Vine will renew me inwardly every day and it will never fade and therefore I will not lose heart!