Listen

I have been a bad listener. I slept through a lot of classes in college, there’s times I zone out church and don’t listen to the sermon, and lately I have been bad about listening to God. I am still reading His word everyday, but it has been more informational than relational. I know I can hear God through his word, but only if I am listening. I would do my daily devotions and then quickly start my day; calling youth pastors, organizing gear. I was not listening to God. I didn’t even give him a chance to talk to me.

I want to hear God, which means I have to LISTEN.

The youth group at my church is reading through Luke and this week’s reading is Luke 4-6. In those three chapters I found 4 examples where Jesus found solitude to talk to and LISTEN to his Father.

Luke 4:1 “…was led by the Spirit in the desert.” (This is where he was tempted by the devil for 40 days. He says some pretty solid stuff to combat the temptations)

Luke 4:42a “At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place.”

Luke 5:16 The crowds were looking for him, “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”

Luke 6:12 “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.”

These few verses speak for themselves. I need to find solitude so I can listen to God. God wants to speak to us all if we would only LISTEN.

Please pray that students would LISTEN to God as they find solitude in the mountains on a Compass Wilderness trip this fall. And pray that they will long for that conversation with God so much that they will find solitude in their busy, everyday lives after the trip.

- Shane

Nice Mask

Raccoons are nature’s little burglars; they wear little masks and are mischievous by nature. I used to think they were cute little creatures of the night, amazed by their cleverness. These views have changed to a more negative approach where I’m annoyed by their cleverness and bothered by their late night shenanigans.

Most campgrounds around the country are known for their raccoon problems, where there are humans, there’s food, and they know it. For this reason we have always done our best to keep the raccoons out of our food. Our nightly ritual before going to bed was to put all of the food in a vehicle or in a tower of Rubbermaid bins and coolers. One night they came out early and we were not prepared. We were sitting around the fire and my dog started growling. I thought she was bothered by the dog a few sites over, so I quieted her down and we went back to our conversation. When I went to pack up all of the food we were missing a pack of hotdog buns, I found them in the bushes near the campsite. They had grabbed them while we were sitting just 15 feet away!

Another night, I woke up to thunder and lightning and I got up to put the rainflies on the tents. I went to my truck to get my raincoat and realized I had accidently left my windows down. Then I saw a big raccoon sitting on my center console. He had a smorgasbord of food to choose from in my back seat, and he chose to eat my dog’s food. He was sitting there pulling it out by the handful. I yelled at him and he jumped out the window. I’m guessing he happily went to sleep with a full belly.

They also enjoy rummaging through backpacks that are left out. They will spread the contents all around the campsite, I’m sure they are just sharing with their friends. One time, one of our staff’s backpacks was loaded down with ropes and gear so much that they just unzipped the bag and took just the trailmix. It was a very slick job, just like Ocean’s Eleven.

Normally they are only a problem at night, but one time during the day they chewed a hole in the Rubbermaid food bin and that was the last straw. I declared war against the critters and headed to Walmart. I bought straps to wrap around the coolers and I bought a super tough bin to put the food in. That night I set the bin and coolers out and dared the raccoons to come. I would wake up periodically and hear scratching and growling. I think they were getting angry that they had been defeated. I slept well that night knowing I had outsmarted such a clever creature.

Let’s hear it for human intelligence!

- Shane Seaton

Nature Calls

As a child in the 80’s I spent my time watching Dukes of Hazard and playing the original SEGA. Also, the more I think about it, I spent a lot of time on my bike, exploring the neighborhood with friends; drainage ditches, playgrounds, bike races, etc. You may have similar memories of your childhood.

I recently started reading Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv. This book talks about how children today are not in nature having unstructured playtime so they are losing creativity and not as good at developing community. He calls it nature-deficit disorder, which is in no way a medical term, nor does he want it to become that. It is a very interesting book and of course I had the poster child for it on a recent trip. Chris was a high-strung 7th grader that wouldn't sit still most of the time. The exception to this was while he was waiting to climb he sat at the bottom of the climbs by the water and tossed little rocks in and kept himself occupied for a long time. Then we were hiking and he was excited to see what was down the river. He saw a rock and his imagination caught up with him and he said, "Hey that looks like a big crocodile head." This got me thinking about this book, so I asked him if he played outside a lot. He said, "No, I just play inside on my PS3." Bingo!! The book is right. This child, who at first glance anyone would say has ADD, just needs to get outside and play more. Burn off some energy. Have an outlet for creativity. See God's creation.

It was pretty cool timing of reading this book and meeting this really great student. He has a lot of potential; I just don't think PS3 is going to bring it out.

What are some of your childhood memories in nature? Forts, naps, bike ramps, archeology… What about as an adult?

How have those times shaped you into the person you are? What affect have they had on your walk with Christ?

Take time to answer these questions for yourself. I would love to see some comments of people sharing what they’ve thought of. Tell us about anything, from bike ramps gone bad to life-changing moments.

But most importantly…GET OUT MORE!! AND GET YOUR KIDS OUT MORE!!

-Shane Seaton

Connecting

One of the things we at Compass Wilderness strive for during our summers is being intentional about engaging students in conversation about their relationships with God. We have plenty of talks during group discussion in small groups, but we also try to talk one-on-one with the students about their spiritual lives. Sometimes this is challenging, sometimes we feel awkward, sometimes we’re met with little response, and sometimes we just don’t find good opportunities. But sometimes we find students we really connect with. This past week I was really blessed by a conversation with one of the campers. He was hiking behind me on our long descent down the backside of Engineer and began asking me questions about what would happen to his camp high when he returned home. He talked about what he was learning from the week and about how he wanted to regain the excitement for Christ that he had earlier in his walk. It was so encouraging to connect with a camper and be able to share some of my stories with him and to hear some of his. When he left to return to Texas, he told me that he was no longer sad to leave or afraid of returning home and losing what he had gained at camp, but rather that he was excited to return to his friends and family and share his excitement and what he learned.
The Lord really blessed me through simple conversation and reminded me why it is we do what we do every summer.

Hannah Eubanks

God's Goodness

I cannot begin to describe God's goodness. Each morning I pray that I can just experience more of his goodness because it is so much better than anything I can do for myself. I have realized that God's goodness is all about his love. Love roots us in everything we do because God has first loved us. Without his love, I can't even aim to obtain anything good because there is nothing good about me without Jesus. Why does he love me so much? Why does he love the campers and staff and all of his children so much? I have no idea. We don't deserve it, but he gives it anyway. Thank you Jesus.

Something that God has been rooting inside of me all summer long was brought to the light the past week. The past week I was overwhelmed for the first time by God's love for someone else. We had two students accept Christ last week and as I sat and listened to how God had spoken to these two and the rest of the students throughout the week, I was overcome with the love of God and not of myself. I have experienced my own love for people and have experienced God's love for myself, but never have I so strongly felt the love that God gives for someone else. Like I said, he has been rooting this inside of me all summer long. Week after week God has spoken through various things. Whether it is frustration, admiration, happiness, or peace, God continually showed me that his love for us is bigger than any emotion I can ever experience. Emotion and excitement often times fade, but the love that our Lord and Savior pours onto us is never-ending. All this to say, my momentary glimpse of understanding God's love for a person has given me a deeper glimpse into what life is about, love from our Father. I pray for a deeper understanding so that I can live more like Jesus each day.

Sam

"May the words of my mouth and the deeds of my day speak of only you Jesus"

The Lord is Good

The Lord is good. This week I got to see part of God's amazing and mysterious plan revealed. Two and a half years ago I lost my mother to breast cancer. At the time, I knew God had a plan but of course I didn't understand it at the time and I'm not sure I ever will completely. But, this week He showed me His faithfulness.

About half way through the week, it was brought to my attention by a fellow staffer that one of the campers (who had accepted Christ the day
before) had dealt with a very similar experience and had expressed questions and concerns. The next day, I felt God urge me to let her know that if she needed a fellow griever that I was her girl. We began to talk. We shared stories and she asked questions. Some of which I gave an answer, some of which we pondered together. We comforted each other. We encouraged each other. We cried. We laughed. We hugged.

God gave us that time together. Time to share together. Time to hurt together. Time to remember the remarkable women He put in our lives.
That is what living in community is all about. Doing life together. God is doing amazing things in the lives of these students and I feel so blessed that He uses even the most painful experiences to further His plan.

Blessed by the people I encounter,

Carrie David

Growing

Although I am the newest member of the Compass Wilderness Staff (last week was my first), I know that I am already a part of the family. My contributions are valued, although it took me the whole week to figure out my true contribution . During small group the last night I stopped mid sentence after I realized I had repeatedly told a camper "you should do this and that." It immediately hit me that what I was saying did coincide with the Compass Wilderness curriculum and philosophy this summer, but how I was saying it did not.

I paused for a moment and apologized to the small group. You see, young people go to church and they hear from people acting like they have it all together, yet I am as sinful, if not more sinful, than each person in the room that night. I continued to participate in the discussion, but instead of using the word "you" I substituted "we."

What it all comes down to is that my contribution to the small group, and the Compass Wilderness Staff, is to grow along with campers, leaders, and staff. We are all sinful in nature, we all fall short of the glory of God. Any attempt by me to bring campers to my level would only be counterproductive, but we can grow in our relationship with Christ whose given the ultimate sacrifice to free us from sin. We.

Growing,

Jon David