OMP Observations Too 2012

So much to share and remember about my first Ozark Mission Project!

Developing a deep love for my Family Group. Developing a deeper love for my youth at Lakewood. Becoming one of the guys in my (smelly) cabin--at points there were comments like "let's do this prank and not tell any of the staff of adults..." while I was right there! The new found love I have for three amazing ladies who served as OMP drivers and as leaders at Lakewood. Meeting yet another one of my predecessors and at Lakewood and other awesome OMP volunteer and college staff. Working, playing, and praying hard. Impacting the lives of our neighbors, the lives of our young campers, and being impacted by God through our neighbors and campers.

Also, as this is meant to be a practical blog as much as it is reflective on my youth ministry experiences, I would love to share some "how-to" do mission camps ideas here, but so much good stuff can already be found at www.ozarkmissionproject.org.

One thing I do want to suggest you include in any retreat or camp is a time of sharing each day. I've done this before as "prayer and share" time. Each evening at OMP, the chairs were circled up and candles were lit to create an atmosphere of worship. Those who wanted to could stand and share, often in the form of "I saw God today in..."

So now onto something strange I observed on the day our theme was "Calling Out to God in Joy." At first this is going to sound irreligious, even un-spiritual, but just go with me for a bit.

Joy is often found on the other side of trials and adversity. The great worship standard, "Trading My Sorrows" touches on this and includes this dichotomy via a section of 2 Corinthians 4 where we are "hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed (8-9)."

I don't know about you, but it's often easy to feel the truth of the first parts listed here. We know what it's like to be hard pressed and yet feel crushed. We are often perplexed and yet sometimes in complete despair. We are persecuted and yet do feel abandonment. We are struck down and yet feel destruction. Let's admit it, sometimes there is no joy. Sometimes God just isn't there.

This is the un-spiritual talk I was referring to. I've heard Erwin McManus talk about these dire circumstances in our humanity. People may suggest, "You mean to say that you just didn't feel like God was there," or maybe, "You just weren't looking hard enough for God or joy." To some degree, this response when someone is experiencing deep pain or loss is about as helpful as, "If you'd have just had more faith, maybe your cancer would have been cured." This drives me crazy!

It feels like God wasn't there? No, God just wasn't there! This is at least honest, and God can take it. Interesting how the previous day's theme was calling out to God in our anger and despair. Even on the cross, Jesus echoes the words of the psalmist: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken (or forgotten) me (Matthew 27:46)?"

"Perhaps you just weren't looking hard enough for joy." How does that help Ms. Kitty who lost her father and is now taking care of her mother with dementia with little help from her siblings? Sometimes, we just need to go there with people in their pain. We need to just be there with them rather than neaten things up in some sort of strange spiritual/political correctness.

Because the fact of the matter is that Ms. Kitty did exude joy. She had a beautiful smile, a beautiful attitude, and a piano that served as an album of photos of her beautiful family. She also came out and worked with us because working outside brings her joy. (As a bit of a black thumb, I can't say that for me.) There she was sharing with us in our work even as we shared with her for a few brief moments in her suffering.

This, I imagine, is how Jesus could be fully present in our suffering and in the suffering of His sacrifice on the cross and still see beyond the present into the future joy that would be His and ours. "For the joy set before Him He endured the cross" which makes Him "the pioneer and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2)."

I urge you, to be honest in your anger, pain, and sadness even as you "fix your eyes on Jesus" because "we always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body (2 Corinthians 4:10)." As follower of Christ, we are such beautiful contradictions!