Every summer since 2005, I have been the director of Baptist Park summer camp in northern Maine.  Prior to that, we had been speakers at the camp for a week or two every summer since 1995.  Needless to say, this camp has been a very special part of our family’s life for a long time.  The Park is a beautiful, 320 acre facility in rural Maine, between the cities of Presque Isle and Caribou.  Our girls have gone from ‘staff kids’ to CITs to counselors, and Sue is the arts & crafts teacher.

This is our third day of staff training for the summer.  We have an excellent staff again this year.  Our CIT and counseling staff range in age from 15 to 25, so there is a lot of creative energy, enthusiasm, idealism and fire for the Lord.  Just the kind of people I like to be around and share ministry with.

We bring in speakers each week for our evening services, but I am the speaker for staff training week.  I’m no ‘preacher’, but I’ve done enough teaching and performing that I can pull it off.  I’m building all the services this week around Jesus response to the question, “What is the greatest commandment?”  He responds, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself.  On this hangs all the law and the prophets.”  In other words, all of God’s moral standards are met when we love completely (as defined in I Cor. 13).

So last night I spoke about loving God with our whole soul.  I emphasized the fact that we are incapable of that kind of love, but god isn’t.  Therefore, it is essential that we open up our most inner core – our soul – and let Him in.  He will do this in spite of our shortcomings, which is pure, unconditional grace. 

After the service, a college aged counselor asked me to pray with him.  He said that even though he grew up in church, he had never understood the Gospel  as clearly as he did last night.  Personally, I felt I kind of rambled and missed the mark, so I was humbled by his feedback.  I do know this, though; When God starts moving among the staff, He’s preparing us for an exciting summer.