"In Joshua 4 Almighty God tells the Isrealites to collect stones and set them as a Memorial to remind them of God's power and provision. He then tells theIsrealites to use those stones as a memorial; that every time they see them to tell their children and their children's children the stories over and over again, continually reminding them of God's faithfulness."
To read the full idea and an introduction to Memorial Box Mondays go here and read Linny's "How about Memorial Box Mondays? aka We will remember..." post.
Not familiar with Camp Eagle? The website says "...it is a unique and fast-paced week of summer camp for groups, jam-packed full of outdoor adventure activities." And they are not kidding! The best part was the journey that the students took to recognize and tell their stories and to have the chance to align them with God's plan. With the students, the leaders were also along for the ride. We didn't know what the plan was, we didn't have a schedule, we were out of the loop the whole week and it was sweet!
The theme for the week was STORY and at the beginning of the camp we were all asked to find a rock that represented us and our story so far. We were told to hold on to that rock and to take it everywhere we went. Throughout the week we got to tell our stories, decide who the hero was, ponder why we tell our story, and learn how we can tell a better story. At the end of the week we were asked to consider putting our story (rock) down and giving it to God.
When the time came to lay our rocks down I didn't want to give mine up. Not figuratively, because daily I want to lay my life down for God's plan to prevail, but my rock was really cool and I liked how it told my story. But as we ventured out to pray with our groups one last time before giving up our rocks, we sat down in a circle and right there in front of me was another rock. (When we chose our rocks their were literally thousands of rocks around us. There were rocks all over Camp Eagle. Rocks and dirt. But as we found a spot to sit in the grass there were very few rocks around.) This rock was different, too. It was shaped like an arrow! And in the middle of our circle where it was pointing sat a brightly shining lantern. This little rock reminded me why I was letting go of my story- to point to the Light. To live a life that glorifies the God who made me so that others don't have to walk in darkness. Don't tell Camp Eagle, but I picked up the rock! I knew it was for me. I put it in our Memorial Box the day we got back home to remind us daily to lay down the things of this life and to live lives that point to the Light.
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven."
Matthew 5:16
Check out our adventure at Camp Eagle!
Great week, great story, great verse and shhhhhh . . . I promise not to tell them you left with a rock. :)
ReplyDeleteLove you both, and thanks for going!
Mom