Thursday – Aslan is on the move

Today is the last full day of camp, and we completed our journey with Joseph from betrayal by his brothers to his reunion with them. Joseph’s life is a perfect example of perseverance, trusting God in all things, maintaining hope and realizing that what others/circumstances may mean for evil, God uses for good! What a life lesson for all of us! These young people have already experienced more grief and hardship than many do in a lifetime, and yet, as we learned yesterday in our group times, God IS sovereign; He IS good; He IS loving, and He IS accomplishing His purposes…..no matter how it looks or feels. Each day we have the opportunity to have special one-on-one times with these teens, each one with their own special story and needs. Endless opportunities to pray, encourage, console, and truly share one another’s burdens. We are so grateful for these divine encounters. Tonight we had a “first,” being able to show a movie in the chapel. When I asked their leader if the kids saw many movies, she said only bad ones, so it was exciting to be able to show “The Chronicles of Narnia” to them. You never know how they will respond to things, but they were certainly captured by the movie, laughing at the humorous moments, jolted out of their seats in the surprising ones. It kept their attention! We introduced the movie by telling that it was more than an adventure story, to look for the underlying meaning behind the story. These teens are rather reluctant to share openly; it doesn’t seem to be part of their culture, so only a few indicated that they realized that Aslan was Jesus. Friday we will focus on Jesus and what He has done and is doing for us, so we will be able to tie it all together. Even though some of us have seen this movie numerous times, it was a good reminder that Aslan is indeed on the move! We have seen Jesus moving throughout this week; He is moving in the lives of these young people; He is moving in us! Pray for our final day tomorrow as we zoom in on the gospel message. Though it has been shared in numerous ways daily, this will be a strong focus for our last times together. Pray for the message to be heard and understood; pray that we will clearly communicate Jesus. Pray that these young people, all of us, will be changed people when we leave this camp.