In Ecclesiastes 1:2, it says "'Meaningless! Meaningless!' says the Teacher. 'Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless!'"
Pretty uplifting huh?
Ya that's what I thought too. But now I think it's one of the most beautiful concepts that we could understand. If we can take this to heart and start living it, our lives will have true meaning. Let me explain.
This book was written by King Solomon, the wisest man to ever live. This book that he wrote was about how meaningless everything we know really is when we look at it from how big and great God is. The literal translation of "meaningless" is "empty, smoke, senseless". Essentially, its saying that everything that is not God is empty. And I have found that to be true.
In the last weeks, I have been so distracted. I've been distracted by movies, school, and not being in Oregon. And I've tried to fill the holes I've been feeling in my life with friends, movies, etc, but they just don't do it. And I've come to realize "what am I doing?" I've been trying to fill myself up and make myself feel better with worldly things (worldly being not God). God is the only thing that satisfies in this life. It's why every culture has deity worship of some form. It's why we try to fill our lives with material items, sex, and drugs. It's our quest to find importance. It's our quest to find meaning.
And it's only found in God.
When we think about this verse, it's easy to say "OK, ya. Everything is meaningless! God is better! Cool!" But it's when we get specific that the concept feels uncomfortable. So let's get specific. Let's start simple. Food is meaningless. That could make us feel a little uncomfortable, but we'd get over it quickly. OK, how about this: Our friends are meaningless. Ya, that stings a little more doesn't it? How about I just go on and you decide, ya?
OK, here goes:
Food is meaningless.
Friends are meaningless.
Movies are meaningless.
My health is meaningless.
Clothes are meaningless.
Looking good is meaningless.
Music is meaningless.
TV is meaningless.
Smallville is meaningless.
The Office is meaningless.
Comfort is meaningless.
Family is meaningless.
Star Wars is meaningless.
Cars are meaningless.
The beach is meaningless.
Ecola is meaningless.
Your future wife is meaningless.
Your past girlfriends are meaningless.
Your current girlfriend is meaningless.
Girls are meaningless.
Money is meaningless.
Having fun is meaningless.
Work is meaningless.
Advancing in life is meaningless.
Owning your own home is meaningless.
Having a career is meaningless.
Understanding film is meaningless.
High school is meaningless (which is true anyways).
College is meaningless.
It's all meaningless compared to Christ our Lord.
What are the idols getting in the way of your relationship with God?
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
SMT, Part 4= Lake Retreat- The Beginning of a Month in Washington
As a disclaimer, I'm going to say now that the weekend preceding this camp was the hardest of them all for me for multipul reasons and I'm going to be frank about what I was feeling.
We drove up I-5 towards Washington, but first we had one stop to make: My grandma's memorial service. I'm sitting here, trying to dictate how i felt that night... It had been two long weeks since I had seen my family, so to see them alone was emotional. But lets be honest, the context of why I was seeing them didn't help.
Now, I know where my grandma is. She's in heaven with the Lord. She is running, leaping, dancing, and worshiping the God who loved her so much that He came down as a man to save her from her sin. And she recognized that. By the time that I realized that I really wanted to know her testimony, it was too late. I remember sitting in the hospital room with my grandma, right before we found out about the cancer. I asked her if she remembered when she had accepted Christ, but the Alzheimer's had progressed to the point that she did not remember. In fact, after that question, I asked her if she remembered how she and my Grandpa had met. She said she didn't. I regret not asking her about those specific memories while she could still remember them, before the disease had erased them. But this much was clear: she knew who her Lord and Savior was, even right up to the end.
I remember the last time I saw her. It was two days before I was to leave for Cannon Beach. I had gone over to my Grandparent's house. The house was filling up fast by this point. Both my Grandma's sister Vivian and my Uncle Don were there, as well as my family. I really don't remember anything from that day, except leaving. I had a meeting at my old high school, so I had to get back to Forest Grove by a certain time, and that time came. So I sat down by my Grandma. She was barely there, it being an off day. I told her that I had to leave and that I was going to see her later. I didn't specify because I wasn't sure if it was to be after the summer or after I myself die. I kissed her and got up, moving towards the door, with my Mom and Grandpa crying as they watched. The last thing I ever said to my Grandma was "I love you, Grandma."
We arrived in Beaverton a half hour before the service and met my parents at my Grandpa's house. We drove to the church, and began greeting people. It all didn't really hit me until i walked through the doors into the sanctuary. Suddenly, like a flood, it all washed over me. She's gone. Actually, it's interesting because I didn't actually cry sad for her. I cried sad because my Grandpa and Mom and Dad were. It's hard to see the three pillars of my life crying. But when I got up in front of everyone to talk about my Grandma, I bawled. A lot. I've never cried in front of a crowd, not ever. But I did. Half because my Grandpa and Mom and Dad were crying there in front of me, but also half because I had such joy about where she is! She's with Jesus! Frankly, I AM SO JEALOUS. I'd much rather be with the Lord than here on this earth, this crazy messed up earth... But I'm here because God has more in store for me. That's why He allowed me to go to the memorial service. When I stood up in front of everyone, I gave the Gospel message. That was so special for me because I got to publicly proclaim the love of God for all of us, something I've been intimidated to do my whole life. But not anymore. Why should I be intimidated by the thought of telling as many people as possible about Jesus? Why should I be afraid? There is no reason whatsoever. None.
And let me just say, it meant so much to have Katie, Lisa, Rhianna, and Matt there to support me. I love you guys!
And so that was done. After saying our goodbyes, we continued our journey north to Puyallup WA to Kaylyn Brown's house, where we stayed for two days. I slept all the way there because I was so emotionally DONE. We chilled at her house and did shopping around town.
Here's where we get personal again. While at Ecola, I dated Nikki Parsons. She lives in Puyallup and I had, in fact, gone to her house one weekend, so I knew where everything was. Now, at this point in the summer, she was still not talking to me and because I hadn't had that closure yet, I wasn't fully over her. That was the weekend I felt the nagging feeling that I was going run into her. I would walk through the stores constantly expecting her to pop out from nowhere. But that didn't happen.
Not until church the next day. We ended up going to Bethany Baptist, which I knew well because I had attended it will the Parsons. But I wasn't even sure if they still went there. We went to the first service and it was good. As we got up to leave the service, there she was. Scared me half to death, but I waved to them anyways. As we got into Martha, my hands were shaking. The girls noticed and asked if I was going to be ok. I said yes.
OK. Now we can get to the camp. The next camp was called Lake Retreat. It was a great camp, spread out along the edge of a lake. I had a cabin of 5 middle school boys: Chance, Adam, Jordan, Ricky, and Rodney. I also had a CIT: Nathan. Only two of the 5 boys were Christians going into the week.
I knew that this week would be a tough one. We were 3 weeks into the summer, and we were starting to get tired. But we kept going on. We really liked the staff, even though they were all relatively young. The worship and chapel times were amazing! The activities were a lot of fun too! The camp was pretty big, so all of the teams that we were divided into were good sized.
That week was a blur. I remember it being really long, but really great. But the thing that stands out apart from everything else was the night my boys accepted Christ. Now, Ricky says that He had accepted Christ early in the week and had told me, but I honestly don't remember that at all, which I still feel horrible about. But the night that I'll never forget was the night that Jordan and Chance accepted Christ in front of there good friend Adam, who had brought them to camp in the first place. That night, internally, I was fighting how far to push the boys. From previous experiences, pushing the subject of Christ has backfired and blown up in my face. But I remember that night that God kept telling me to push more, little by little. So I listened. It turned out the boys were afraid of what their parents would think, which is legit. But I had to keep telling them that God loves them EVEN MORE than their own parents, and what they did that night could end up influencing them for the kingdom! Finally, they said that they wanted to accept Christ in front of Adam, who had left the cabin. So I ran all over the camp looking for him. Once I found him, I brought him back, and they prayed the prayer in front of him, me, and God. It was amazing!!!
That was a tough week. That was the week God grabbed me and looked me square in the eye and said, "JOHN. TRUST ME. GOT IT??" And finally, I did. That week, I finally discovered what it meant to lean completely and utterly on God. God's will will be done, regardless of whatever we think that is beyond control. No. God is in complete control. COMPLETE CONTROL.
Other notes, Matt blobbed me like 30 feet into the air. That was fun! Also, this was the week that we took some advise that Darrin had given us the week before: meet together everyday during free time and talk about whatever was going on. And it ended up helping a ton! Also, contrary to popular belief, oatmeal wars suck. But that's just my opinion. Oh and never play games that involve telling middle schoolers to go pop the other teams balloons in any way possible. EVER. It just ends up being a war with injuries and hurt feelings.
Soon, once again, it was the end of the week and was time for us to move on to the next camp. (Man, I feel like no matter how much I talk about each camp, it'll never describe them enough...) Anyways, we packed up Martha, said our goodbyes to all of the people we had come to love once again, and drove off towards Spokane WA.
Sorry for being so long winded... I can't sleep tonight, plus this week as a whole was just crazy! But amazing :)
Well, this is John Friend signing off again, for now :)
We drove up I-5 towards Washington, but first we had one stop to make: My grandma's memorial service. I'm sitting here, trying to dictate how i felt that night... It had been two long weeks since I had seen my family, so to see them alone was emotional. But lets be honest, the context of why I was seeing them didn't help.
Now, I know where my grandma is. She's in heaven with the Lord. She is running, leaping, dancing, and worshiping the God who loved her so much that He came down as a man to save her from her sin. And she recognized that. By the time that I realized that I really wanted to know her testimony, it was too late. I remember sitting in the hospital room with my grandma, right before we found out about the cancer. I asked her if she remembered when she had accepted Christ, but the Alzheimer's had progressed to the point that she did not remember. In fact, after that question, I asked her if she remembered how she and my Grandpa had met. She said she didn't. I regret not asking her about those specific memories while she could still remember them, before the disease had erased them. But this much was clear: she knew who her Lord and Savior was, even right up to the end.
I remember the last time I saw her. It was two days before I was to leave for Cannon Beach. I had gone over to my Grandparent's house. The house was filling up fast by this point. Both my Grandma's sister Vivian and my Uncle Don were there, as well as my family. I really don't remember anything from that day, except leaving. I had a meeting at my old high school, so I had to get back to Forest Grove by a certain time, and that time came. So I sat down by my Grandma. She was barely there, it being an off day. I told her that I had to leave and that I was going to see her later. I didn't specify because I wasn't sure if it was to be after the summer or after I myself die. I kissed her and got up, moving towards the door, with my Mom and Grandpa crying as they watched. The last thing I ever said to my Grandma was "I love you, Grandma."
We arrived in Beaverton a half hour before the service and met my parents at my Grandpa's house. We drove to the church, and began greeting people. It all didn't really hit me until i walked through the doors into the sanctuary. Suddenly, like a flood, it all washed over me. She's gone. Actually, it's interesting because I didn't actually cry sad for her. I cried sad because my Grandpa and Mom and Dad were. It's hard to see the three pillars of my life crying. But when I got up in front of everyone to talk about my Grandma, I bawled. A lot. I've never cried in front of a crowd, not ever. But I did. Half because my Grandpa and Mom and Dad were crying there in front of me, but also half because I had such joy about where she is! She's with Jesus! Frankly, I AM SO JEALOUS. I'd much rather be with the Lord than here on this earth, this crazy messed up earth... But I'm here because God has more in store for me. That's why He allowed me to go to the memorial service. When I stood up in front of everyone, I gave the Gospel message. That was so special for me because I got to publicly proclaim the love of God for all of us, something I've been intimidated to do my whole life. But not anymore. Why should I be intimidated by the thought of telling as many people as possible about Jesus? Why should I be afraid? There is no reason whatsoever. None.
And let me just say, it meant so much to have Katie, Lisa, Rhianna, and Matt there to support me. I love you guys!
And so that was done. After saying our goodbyes, we continued our journey north to Puyallup WA to Kaylyn Brown's house, where we stayed for two days. I slept all the way there because I was so emotionally DONE. We chilled at her house and did shopping around town.
Here's where we get personal again. While at Ecola, I dated Nikki Parsons. She lives in Puyallup and I had, in fact, gone to her house one weekend, so I knew where everything was. Now, at this point in the summer, she was still not talking to me and because I hadn't had that closure yet, I wasn't fully over her. That was the weekend I felt the nagging feeling that I was going run into her. I would walk through the stores constantly expecting her to pop out from nowhere. But that didn't happen.
Not until church the next day. We ended up going to Bethany Baptist, which I knew well because I had attended it will the Parsons. But I wasn't even sure if they still went there. We went to the first service and it was good. As we got up to leave the service, there she was. Scared me half to death, but I waved to them anyways. As we got into Martha, my hands were shaking. The girls noticed and asked if I was going to be ok. I said yes.
OK. Now we can get to the camp. The next camp was called Lake Retreat. It was a great camp, spread out along the edge of a lake. I had a cabin of 5 middle school boys: Chance, Adam, Jordan, Ricky, and Rodney. I also had a CIT: Nathan. Only two of the 5 boys were Christians going into the week.
I knew that this week would be a tough one. We were 3 weeks into the summer, and we were starting to get tired. But we kept going on. We really liked the staff, even though they were all relatively young. The worship and chapel times were amazing! The activities were a lot of fun too! The camp was pretty big, so all of the teams that we were divided into were good sized.
That week was a blur. I remember it being really long, but really great. But the thing that stands out apart from everything else was the night my boys accepted Christ. Now, Ricky says that He had accepted Christ early in the week and had told me, but I honestly don't remember that at all, which I still feel horrible about. But the night that I'll never forget was the night that Jordan and Chance accepted Christ in front of there good friend Adam, who had brought them to camp in the first place. That night, internally, I was fighting how far to push the boys. From previous experiences, pushing the subject of Christ has backfired and blown up in my face. But I remember that night that God kept telling me to push more, little by little. So I listened. It turned out the boys were afraid of what their parents would think, which is legit. But I had to keep telling them that God loves them EVEN MORE than their own parents, and what they did that night could end up influencing them for the kingdom! Finally, they said that they wanted to accept Christ in front of Adam, who had left the cabin. So I ran all over the camp looking for him. Once I found him, I brought him back, and they prayed the prayer in front of him, me, and God. It was amazing!!!
That was a tough week. That was the week God grabbed me and looked me square in the eye and said, "JOHN. TRUST ME. GOT IT??" And finally, I did. That week, I finally discovered what it meant to lean completely and utterly on God. God's will will be done, regardless of whatever we think that is beyond control. No. God is in complete control. COMPLETE CONTROL.
Other notes, Matt blobbed me like 30 feet into the air. That was fun! Also, this was the week that we took some advise that Darrin had given us the week before: meet together everyday during free time and talk about whatever was going on. And it ended up helping a ton! Also, contrary to popular belief, oatmeal wars suck. But that's just my opinion. Oh and never play games that involve telling middle schoolers to go pop the other teams balloons in any way possible. EVER. It just ends up being a war with injuries and hurt feelings.
Soon, once again, it was the end of the week and was time for us to move on to the next camp. (Man, I feel like no matter how much I talk about each camp, it'll never describe them enough...) Anyways, we packed up Martha, said our goodbyes to all of the people we had come to love once again, and drove off towards Spokane WA.
Sorry for being so long winded... I can't sleep tonight, plus this week as a whole was just crazy! But amazing :)
Well, this is John Friend signing off again, for now :)
Saturday, October 1, 2011
SMT, Part 3= Camp Praise- Just Jesus
And so, we drove all day back towards Oregon: back through "Jefferson" (northern California's new "name"), over Mt. Shasta, through Weed, and up into Medford. Noteworthy events of this trip included Katie throwing up on me, and calling my family and getting details of my Grandma's passing, such as when the memorial service was to be. Now, those of you from Ecola are about to get really jealous at what I'm about to say: We made our way to our over night pit stop at DARRIN RATCLIFF'S HOUSE!!! We got there pretty late, but it didn't seem to matter to Darrin. We all sat down in his living room and discussed the events of the previous week and watched "Swamp People", from which jokes that would last the entire summer came from (such as "Willyy!"). We realized that we needed to make a run to the store for some things (such as something to help the horrible sunburn I had gotten during the last week). So Darrin said "Let's go to Walmart!" So we did, even though it was around midnight. Now, hanging out with Darrin at midnight in Walmart is just as epic as it sounds :)
The next morning, after spending our night on the Ratcliff's couches, we headed to Gold Hill, prayed with some members of the church that Darrin pastors, and then went to the service. Before Darrin's sermon, he brought our team up in front of the congregation and they all prayed for us. We had to leave at that point because we had to get to Camp Praise at a certain time. So yes, we missed Darrin's sermon, which was very sad. But! It was ok! Because he was the speaker at Camp Praise that week. Yes, that's right, we got to spend an entire week doing ministry with Darrin Ratcliff! I have to say it was a huge blessing on all of our lives :)
Anyways, and so, we got to the camp and settled into our cabins. Now Camp Praise was the exact opposite of Mt. Gilead, and it shocked us. We really didn't know what to make of it. But we all had to realize that it was just a different week. It was all going to be just fine! My cabin's name was Guy Womac (Don't ask. I still have no idea why to this day). It was another high school week and I had Joe, Nick, Mack, Howie, Morgan, Nathan, Ceder, and William in my cabin. One of the things we noticed immediately was the incredible about of hurt in that camp. It was the first week we realized that we all needed to really lean on God.
When we got to Darrin's house, he told us that he would be going through Colossians that week. But the coolest thing happened. During chapel worship time, I remember looking back and seeing Darrin scribbling in his notebook. When it was time for him to speak, he got up and announced that the Spirit was leading him to speak about Jesus this week, and thus the theme of the week became "Just Jesus". And so the Spirit took over that place. Usually at camps, the speaker builds the messages up to a last night "alter call", but this week, just like that, Darrin felt lead to give it on MONDAY NIGHT. By lights out on Monday evening, my entire cabin had accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior!!!
That was the night I had my first experience leading another person to Christ. :) Now, I wasn't sure what to do with myself after that chapel. Kids were going in different directions with different counselors. Suddenly William came up to me and asked if we could have our one-on-one. I went to the guy in charge of schedule, Troy, and asked if I had the time to do it. He said yes, so I went back to William and sat down with him. He told me that he had been coming to camp for a few years, but had never trusted anyone. However, he trusted me. (Mind you, he had known me for only a day!) He said that he wanted to ask Christ into his heart, and that he wanted my help and guidance. So I lead him through the a few passages and prayed with him. It still brings tears to my eyes thinking about it... God is so good!
And so, after that powerful night, the whole camp atmosphere changed. For Matt, Katie, Lisa, Rhianna, and I, we came together as never before. The staff were bonded together. So many of the kids' burdens were lifted. GOD WAS AMONG US. It was amazing! So after that change, the Lord focused our attention to building the kids up, so that they might leave stronger, and, hopefully, solid in their faith. And God did.
As the week went on, we had lots of fun! The pool was a favorite afternoon activity, along with the field and rec room. The games were pretty good, though to be honest, it was hard coming from Gilead's amazing activities program to Praise's, but I didn't mind :) It was the night games that were really awesome that week. Games such as Bible Smugglers and Capture the Flag were awesome and favorites of the kids. And I started to realize that week that though games are fun for campers, I definitely had more fun playing as a counselor than I ever did as a camper at the camps I went to as a kid and in high school :)
Then there was the day I got to sit down with Darrin and talk about life. Being able to talk to that man one-on-one was so amazing... Darrin was the guy who spoke the first time I had visited Ecola the winter of my senior year before I attended. Essentially, he was the man who sold me on Ecola. His "Life of David" class is still one of my favorite classes of the entire year. In fact, David and I are listening our way through it when we can this year! Anyways, being able to get inside the way he thinks was so great. I wish I had talked to him during the two times he taught at Ecola. Just a plug for him: His sermons are free on iTunes, so just look up "Darrin Ratcliff" :)
This was the week I started to realize that exhaustion was going to start becoming just our way of life during the summer. I napped every day that week because I was so tired. Going to bed late and getting up early became just the way life was, and it would continue through the summer.
Before we knew it, the week was over. Once again, those deep connections we had formed were about to be left behind once again. The kids we had grown so close to weren't ready to go back to real life. But life goes on...
So we all packed up Martha and once again headed north up I-5 towards Washington, where our next camp would be.
For more photos, go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/Camp-Praise/205558762805928?sk=photos and go to "High School 2011!!!!!" :)
This is John Friend signing off for now! :)
The next morning, after spending our night on the Ratcliff's couches, we headed to Gold Hill, prayed with some members of the church that Darrin pastors, and then went to the service. Before Darrin's sermon, he brought our team up in front of the congregation and they all prayed for us. We had to leave at that point because we had to get to Camp Praise at a certain time. So yes, we missed Darrin's sermon, which was very sad. But! It was ok! Because he was the speaker at Camp Praise that week. Yes, that's right, we got to spend an entire week doing ministry with Darrin Ratcliff! I have to say it was a huge blessing on all of our lives :)
Anyways, and so, we got to the camp and settled into our cabins. Now Camp Praise was the exact opposite of Mt. Gilead, and it shocked us. We really didn't know what to make of it. But we all had to realize that it was just a different week. It was all going to be just fine! My cabin's name was Guy Womac (Don't ask. I still have no idea why to this day). It was another high school week and I had Joe, Nick, Mack, Howie, Morgan, Nathan, Ceder, and William in my cabin. One of the things we noticed immediately was the incredible about of hurt in that camp. It was the first week we realized that we all needed to really lean on God.
When we got to Darrin's house, he told us that he would be going through Colossians that week. But the coolest thing happened. During chapel worship time, I remember looking back and seeing Darrin scribbling in his notebook. When it was time for him to speak, he got up and announced that the Spirit was leading him to speak about Jesus this week, and thus the theme of the week became "Just Jesus". And so the Spirit took over that place. Usually at camps, the speaker builds the messages up to a last night "alter call", but this week, just like that, Darrin felt lead to give it on MONDAY NIGHT. By lights out on Monday evening, my entire cabin had accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior!!!
That was the night I had my first experience leading another person to Christ. :) Now, I wasn't sure what to do with myself after that chapel. Kids were going in different directions with different counselors. Suddenly William came up to me and asked if we could have our one-on-one. I went to the guy in charge of schedule, Troy, and asked if I had the time to do it. He said yes, so I went back to William and sat down with him. He told me that he had been coming to camp for a few years, but had never trusted anyone. However, he trusted me. (Mind you, he had known me for only a day!) He said that he wanted to ask Christ into his heart, and that he wanted my help and guidance. So I lead him through the a few passages and prayed with him. It still brings tears to my eyes thinking about it... God is so good!
And so, after that powerful night, the whole camp atmosphere changed. For Matt, Katie, Lisa, Rhianna, and I, we came together as never before. The staff were bonded together. So many of the kids' burdens were lifted. GOD WAS AMONG US. It was amazing! So after that change, the Lord focused our attention to building the kids up, so that they might leave stronger, and, hopefully, solid in their faith. And God did.
As the week went on, we had lots of fun! The pool was a favorite afternoon activity, along with the field and rec room. The games were pretty good, though to be honest, it was hard coming from Gilead's amazing activities program to Praise's, but I didn't mind :) It was the night games that were really awesome that week. Games such as Bible Smugglers and Capture the Flag were awesome and favorites of the kids. And I started to realize that week that though games are fun for campers, I definitely had more fun playing as a counselor than I ever did as a camper at the camps I went to as a kid and in high school :)
Then there was the day I got to sit down with Darrin and talk about life. Being able to talk to that man one-on-one was so amazing... Darrin was the guy who spoke the first time I had visited Ecola the winter of my senior year before I attended. Essentially, he was the man who sold me on Ecola. His "Life of David" class is still one of my favorite classes of the entire year. In fact, David and I are listening our way through it when we can this year! Anyways, being able to get inside the way he thinks was so great. I wish I had talked to him during the two times he taught at Ecola. Just a plug for him: His sermons are free on iTunes, so just look up "Darrin Ratcliff" :)
This was the week I started to realize that exhaustion was going to start becoming just our way of life during the summer. I napped every day that week because I was so tired. Going to bed late and getting up early became just the way life was, and it would continue through the summer.
Before we knew it, the week was over. Once again, those deep connections we had formed were about to be left behind once again. The kids we had grown so close to weren't ready to go back to real life. But life goes on...
So we all packed up Martha and once again headed north up I-5 towards Washington, where our next camp would be.
For more photos, go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/Camp-Praise/205558762805928?sk=photos and go to "High School 2011!!!!!" :)
This is John Friend signing off for now! :)
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