JOY For Natalie This Summer

An unplanned trip to San Diego, a few days at the beach, and a month of work at a Young Life camp are the answer to our prayers. Natalie has been seeking direction and so many loving friends have been praying for an answer for her. Today she had a sense that she needed to call our beloved Oakbridge to check on her application for summer staff. Well, her heart sense was right! She is going to devote herself for a work filled month of volunteering to pour her love and the love of Christ into middle schoolers and high schoolers in the beautiful hills outside San Diego.

Natalie is no stranger at Oakbridge. She went there 1st as a camper in 7th grade on the train with her favorite leader, Jessie. That 1st trip, we went down to Walmart to get her stocked up. Tanner had taken my van to the lake to go cliff jumping with a bunch of buddies, so I had his old rickety truck. When we came back with baskets of essential camp stuff the truck was not in the parking lot. Yep, it had been stolen. Well, Ron was on travel and Tanner was at the lake, Cam was working so we had a devil of a time getting someone to pick us up. Oh brother, and us standing there in the sun with 2 baskets full and no place to go. Crazy, frustrating, but it makes for a pretty good story now!

In high school, Natalie volunteered to be on work crew for a month. She served 6 meals a day and cleaned tables, worshipped, prayed for campers, and developed lifelong friendships with other like minded teens from all over the USA. I was blessed to take midschool kids from our hometown to camp the 1st week she was there. This was convenient because, of course, it is a mom's job to drop little embarrassing bits of information about their children. So I was duty bound to share her nickname, Tillie and let them all know about her adorable little quirks. They may have been so busy serving others that they wouldn't notice that her nostrils are cashew shaped. And what a shame if they remained unaware of her finest features. 8)

This will be another memorable, Christ filled month for my amazing daughter at a place we both love. Oakbridge is so special because the people serving there are there for only 1 reason, to bring the furthest out kids into the loving arms of Christ. Young Life's motto is never bore kids with Christ, show them that God has an overwhelming love for them and wants to fill their lives with wonderful, amazing experiences. We work at earning the right to be heard by teens. Getting to know them and sharing our lives with them. Leaders, campers, and all those volunteering at these camps have the most amazing weeks of their lives.

I thank God, His choice for my girl is to return her to this place to heal and reach out to others. Others, when life is hard or life is good it is always best for each of us to do for others. What a JOY filled month this will be. JESUS OTHERS then YOURSELF.

In Him,

Joyful
6-7-2010