Reflections on the dock...

Tonight I went down to the dock to have some personal reflection time. The past few weeks since camp started have been quite interesting, full of excitement, frustration, confusion, and joy. I am continuing to be stretched to learn new things and lean on God in so many ways.

In Bible Study the other week we read through Philippians. Tonight I ventured back there and was comforted by reading the passage I've posted below. I was comforted for many different reasons, of which is hard to begin to explain here and now.

Please pray for me as we start our first week of our own camps on Sunday...man, how summer is flying already. Hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful weather we're getting already this summer!
 

Philippians 3:7-21

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ – yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

I guess I like that Paul is talking about not being perfect and not attaining this, but that he is pressing on towards that goal. I am by no means perfect, but I am trying my hardest to follow God's leading and lead a Christ-centered life. I know I fall (more often than I probably think I do too), but God redeems us because of the love He has for us. It also brings up the concept that I struggle with most often, that if we are unsure of our view on something, God will make it clear to us in one way or another....

These are just some of my reflections while sitting by the water...