As summer winds down, chances are many of you have spent a week of your summer either working at or attending a church summer camp. I just got back from working our church's high school BeachWeek camp just last Friday and I have already witnessed the power these camps have. Christians receive encouragement, those struggling can find strength, and non-believers come to know Christ. These camps, whether they are for ten year olds or seniors in high school, are getaways that provide the ability to remove worldly distractions and focus on Christ. If you've attended one recently, you're probably still riding that camp high. You're feeling closer to Christ than you probably ever have. Energized, enthused, and empowered. Ready to take on the challenges the world throws your way. But Christian, I want to warn you...
The hard part starts now.
As you plug back into your circles and begin to watch TV, attend practice, go to school and live life, that high will fade away. You will very quickly find yourself in rough positions, tested in ways you have never been tested before. Satan knows he has to pull out his big guns now that you've returned from camp seeing God in new ways. It's only logical that you'll be attacked in new ways too. The dry periods will come. You will stumble and fall. There may be times where you don't feel God is there like he was in the summer. You may be separated from your Christian friends. Christian, I can assure you. It will get hard.
The work starts now.
Now that you're back in life with your friends and your family, this is where you'll really have to work. You won't be able to go to service three times a day and be constantly poured into by your counselors, leaders, and the camp speaker. You'll have to grind by yourself. You'll have to find ten, twenty, forty minutes a day where you can grow. At camp you grew because it was all you could do, now that you have a million other things to do, you grow because it's what you're called to do.
I want to offer you five things that if you do will help you stay close to Christ as you plug back into the real world:
1. Consistent Prayer.
It seems simple, but how can you know someone you don't talk to? Paul urged us to "Pray without ceasing" King David would often flee into the wilderness to pray, even Jesus showed us in his own life the importance of prayer. Finding time everyday to talk to God, even if you have nothing to say, will keep you refreshed and encouraged.
2. Study the Word.
I'm not talking about reading the verse of the day or spending five minutes on a chapter and moving on. While reading the Bible like that isn't a bad thing by any means, I would urge you to really dive in and take the Bible apart. Take time to let a passage work on your life. The more you do that, the more your life will reflect what's in that book.
3. Find good Christian friends.
I'm not saying to only be friends with Christians, or that having a best friend that's not a Christian is bad. What I am saying is make sure you have those friends you can go to when you need encouragement, when you need a good example, when you just need someone to be there. Coming from personal experience, if you don't have those relationships in place, the rough times you'll inevitably go through will be immensely rougher than they should be.
4. Find accountability.
This goes hand in hand with my last point. There are some sins that are much more insidious than others. They latch on to your being, and once you're caught up in them they can become impossible to rid yourself of alone. That's the beauty in the church, God gave us the ability to lean on each other to fight the things we cannot fight on our own. Find someone you can count on to carry your burdens with you.
5. Serve. Serve. And Serve some more.
Probably the least practiced part of the Christian life, everyone knows Christ was a servant but many neglect to be servants in their own lives. I'm not saying every Christian should spend the rest of their lives working soup kitchens, but in your own life serve others, however the opportunity may present itself. Help the kid that drops his books on the way to class, help the kid that sits in the back and doesn't understand what is going on in class. Sit with the kid who always sits alone. Give someone a ride, a smile, or an encouraging word. Live your life serving others, because Christ died serving yours.
Speaking from experience, camp is awesome. It's where I first witnessed Christ's power. I've seen countless friends saved through it. I know how hard it is bringing that fire back into daily life. But if you keep up with your spiritual disciplines, surround yourself with the right people, and focus your life on serving others and bringing others to Christ, you can bring the same love of Christ to someone that your camp brought to you.
