This is what it's all about!

AMEN! The Lord did it again!!!! Camp just finished and oh my goodness, I am so blessed by this Teen Camp and for several reasons: the spirit was amazing, the kids were responsive, as well as the leaders, and the atmosphere in general was wonderful. There was a lot of laughter and joy was prevalent everywhere. It just seemed that people got it this time around. On one of the last nights before camp ended Neil Macris gave a really great message, at the end of it he gave an altar call asking people to come up into two groups; on his right he asked people to come up that wanted to profess Christ as their Savior and on his left people that were already born again but wanted to dedicate their lives to the Lord. If you are familiar with altar calls then you know that the preacher is standing there for at least 5 min giving everybody the time to come up that need to psyche themselves to go. I kid you not; within 10 seconds all but 3 of the campers were sitting in one of the two groups! 4 people gave their lives to the Lord that night and the rest dedicated themselves to Him! AMAZING! 10 seconds people, 10 seconds! I’ve never seen anything like this before. My only prayer is that these were real commitments and not just an emotional hype. I truly hope that we will see much fruit from these kids in the future. A lot of these kids know me from the Teen Worship Events which means that it’s going to make it easy for me to do some kind of follow up with them :o) I’m really excited!

Another reason why I was really blessed by this camp was the leaders that were there. I made a point of it this year not to hang around the foreigners that are there to help but the Greek leaders. For example at lunch or dinner, instead of sitting down with the English speakers, thus taking the easy language route, I sat down with the Greeks. I need to advocate that this is the first year I feel like my Greek is up to it. Still now I don’t understand everything that goes on around me but I understand most of it. Praise the Lord I’m finally getting to where I need to be :o) Its taken its time! Greek is not an easy language let me tell you… :op As a result I feel like I really got to know the leaders. I’m walking way with friends. People that I’ve seen around for years but never had a chance to really talk to. Others that were acquaintances from Bible school but during this week grew closer. I feel so blessed :o) Just today I went out for lunch with some of them that turned out to include coffee afterward. I love the Greek culture! They have a savoir vivre that not many other cultures have. The relational aspect of the culture is wonderful. They are always up to just hanging out. Parea is a very important word within the Greek language and means fellowship or company. I am so thankful that the Lord brought me to this country! I have come to life here surrounded by people that love life just as much as I do, it is a wonderful thing to be a part of :o)

Thank you Lord!

Life

Life, we live it at a hundred miles an hour and as a result we probably miss about half of it. Those rare moments in life where you just have to go “Thank You Lord!” are few and far in between. I believe that if we were more intentional we’d be able to have those moments more often. Like right now, I’m sitting on a chair overlooking Skorponeria Bay, the only light is from the moon (except for the computer screen, obviously :op ) and I’m listening to the crickets in the background and the water washing up on shore. Occasionally there is a fish that jumps in and out of the water. It is absolutely beautiful. These are the types of moments we need to live for (ps there is a frog out on its evening walk right besides me!) How beautiful is God’s creation? How absolutely perfect and He made it not only for His glory but also for our enjoyment. I want to encourage you next time you’re on your way home from work or school or whatever, and you find yourself by a forest or the sea or even a large park, take a walk through it. Go, experience what God has made for us. Take ten minutes and concentrate on the sights, smells and noises around you. It’s God’s picture you’ll be looking at, it is His aroma you’ll be smelling and it is His music you’ll be listening to. We all need to stop being too busy to experience life as God intended it to be and start living, really live. God gave us the five senses and we don’t use them anymore. We take medication to numb our feelings, our eyes are bent on the TV screen all evening, we force pre-made stuff onto our taste buds - we are numbing our bodies to God’s world!

I love being out at Porto Astro because every time I come out here it feels like I reconnect with God on a more personal level as I see Him and His glory and beauty everywhere in the raw nature that surrounds us and at night in the stars. I love the stars! To me space puts God into perspective. If these stars that we look up to are the same size and bigger than our sun and they’re placed thousands of light-years away from us, how big is space? It is HUGE yet God is BIGGER! He holds space in the span of His hand and looks down, lovingly upon us. To me there is such a comfort in that.

Anyway I’m getting carried away and I need to go to bed so I’m going to stop now.

Thank you Lord for these moments! May we pay more attention to them and may we pay more attention to You!

Here I am guys, sitting in the cafe area of the campsite we're residing in for Operation Joshua, reflecting on what's going on. This is the second OJ we do and it feels different, more relaxed somehow. We've had an incredible team this year and it seems like it's flowing by smoothly. The Lord has ministered to my hear, giving me peace in a time that should have been hectic and full of stress. Somehow I feel fine and trusting. I'm trusting in the Lord's sovereignty and plan. He has gone before us and has already won the victories we are now experiencing. The Lord is good and this has been an amazing time.