glimpsing the radiant ripple...

This weekend I went to camp with my favorite teens. It was hard and exhausting (par usual) but mostly, it was a gift. Mostly in the midst of all that hard, I saw how far I have come and how far we have come together. Mostly for the first time in so many years I had space and freedom to actually have conversations with some exceptional teens who have faced extraordinary and overcome MUCH and they are beautiful. They cried and they shared and they let me walk alongside and they want to continue to grow and I am amazed by them. I am PROUD of them. I am grateful for their stories and their strength and the way they inspire me to press on. I see Jesus all around them - and I know He is at work.

On Sunday morning as we celebrated our camp graduates, I realized that we could have seen them 5 times in the last 5 years…but instead we have seen them 45 times because of this crazy thing God planted within me called CHOSEN. In the next year we will add another ten times to that for a grand total of 55 shared events. I had no idea five years ago when Connie and Rachel and Amy started talking to me about this tiny dream that it would become a drumbeat in my heart - a passion - the thing I would mark time by and build my life around. CHOSEN is central to nearly every major decision I make. I cannot imagine my life without it anymore - and frankly, I don’t want to - it is joy and fulfillment and one of the most incredible motivations to seek Christ with all my heart. I want to be present for them and to shine His light in their lives and without His constant strength, I am not enough. Only by His power can CHOSEN provide true hope and be meaningful and significant in the lives of these teens. 

That said, as I engaged with teens at camp, as I watched them cheer one another on at the ropes course or make s’mores together (so so many s’mores) or laugh throughout soccer games or share stories while wearing ridiculous face masks or sing during worship, it was so very evident that God has marked them and they may not know Him yet - but they are willing to hear about Him and they are being shaped and changed and growing in character and those steps forward are everything. They are all I have prayed for and they are what He is asking of us and I am so overwhelmed with gratitude and overcome by the grandeur of a dream so small that has become something so deep and permeating and truly life-changing not just for me - but for so many. I guess it really was a glimpse of this ripple effect - of so many lives - of so much hope and the power of possibility - and I pray I can take hold of that peek He gave and run full force toward Jesus - to God be the glory great things He has done!