The Sun Stands Still

This is the fifth and final week of Camp BlueSky for the summer of 2012. We have the pleasure of hosting 160 campers this week. I believe that God desires to move in big ways in the hearts of these campers. This summer we have seen God the work of his mighty hand. Heaven has gotten bigger as we have already seen over 50 kids come to know Jesus as their Savior and Lord!

 

This past week at camp, I was given the opportunity to pray with 3 girls who decided to trust Jesus for the first time!! These young girls each come from families who practice the Hindu or Islamic faith. One camper is 11 years old and comes from an Islamic family. She shared with me that she believes in Jesus, and after her experience at Camp BlueSky she wants to have a relationship with him. However, there is an extremely high risk involved for her faith. If her dad finds out about her new faith, she will be punished and is in danger of being physically hurt. I was blown away by her bold faith and that she still desired to become a Christian with so much at stake. This story strikes straight to the heart for me because she is about the same age as my little sister, Darby. My roommate, Lexi and I asked this camper if it would be safe for her to have a Bible in her house. (We wanted to give her a Bible since she did not have one of her own.) Get this… the young girl wanted to have God’s Word so badly that she went out of her way and came up with a risky plan to do so. (Remember, she is only 11!) Her face radiated with excitement as she explained that her family is building a new house and she had already asked the architect to build her a secret compartment underneath her bed so that her parents would not know about it. She planned to ask the architect to destroy the receipt and proof of the extra work so there would be no evidence for her parents to see. This secret compartment is where she will hide her new Bible, and where she will store the treasure of God’s Word in her room. This is just one example of the many miraculous stories that have happened this summer because of encounters with God’s love and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. God is moving in powerful ways and many names are being added into the Book of Life! Praise Jesus!

Will you please join me in prayer that each one of these 160 campers would experience the love of Christ this week, and have a real encounter with the Savior? Will join me in praying a ferocious and bold prayer that each one of these kids would leave Camp BlueSky having entered into a lasting relationship with Jesus Christ? In faith, I don’t think that is too big of a prayer. Bold? Yes. Unattainable? No. I’m encouraged by the story in Joshua 10. Joshua and his army are marching into battle. The Lord says to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand. Not one of them will be able to withstand you” (Joshua 10:8). So, Joshua leads his army as they march all night, and the Lord fought for them. It says that God sent down hailstones from heaven. Crazy! But the battle is not over yet. Joshua sees that the sun is about to set. So, what does Joshua do? Joshua shows audacious faith in the Creator. He undoubtedly believed God’s promise that he would grant them victory. Joshua fearlessly believed God’s words which causes him to ask God to make the sun stand still... Joshua asked God to stop the sun from setting. Seriously, who does that?! Amazingly, the Bible says, “The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day” (Joshua 10:13). In the same way, I expectantly hope and believe with audacious faith that he will answer our prayers like he did Joshua’s on that day. I want to have the same kind of hope and faith in our Creator, so much to the point that if we pray big prayers that seem unattainable to us, like for the sun to stand still, that it will happen. Because with Jesus nothing is impossible.

“Now to him who is able to do IMMEASURABLY more than all we could ask or imagine, according to his power that at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.” 

Ephesians 3:20-21