"Let's Get Campy!"

I just spent the weekend on a retreat with our college group. We went out to Lake Whitney on Friday and camped - with no television, no cell phone, no blog. It was really nice to just get away from the craziness we use to drown out God and life altogether. About half the group was outdoorsy; the other half (myself included) was not. But we had a great time; just did some fishing and started a new song. There was also so much talk of Brown Recluse spiders among the girls in our party, I began to become paranoid by the end of the trip. Jon led our Bible studies. And God spoke to my heart through the life of Elijah.

First, Elijah was brave: an adjective that rarely describes me. Elijah went in front of one of the worst King and Queen the Hebrews had ever known. He told them that there would be a drought, and then God told Elijah to run for his life. YHWH provided for Elijah and then consumed the offering when Elijah proved the existence of YHWH over the existence of Baal. (Read 1 Kings 17-18 for the full details; the story's really quite remarkable.)

Elijah had moments of doubt, he had questions - he was just like me. Many times I fall into the trap of thinking of the saints in the scriptures as these super-human folks who, because God worked through them, had it all figured out. It's refreshing to realize they could be just as messed up as the rest of us. And that God did not work through them because they were perfect, he worked through them because HE is perfect. It was nice to regroup and just focus of the character of God and the character of our own humanity for the weekend. I don't have it anywhere near 'all figured out,' but God showed me that's OK. All it takes is trust.