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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

Great Week

We had an awesome time with the Clear Creek Community Church. Our small group times showed a lot of growth from day one to the last day. We hiked the Engineer trail and climbed and rappelled at X-rock. We had fun on the ultimate field and the campers loved white water rafting. All in all it was one of the most successful weeks, as God worked through us and continued to show us that Compass is His ministry.

- Will Schaub

Used By God

This summer at Compass has been great so far, and this past week was no different. I am reminded daily that it doesn't matter at all if I am ready for the campers to come, or if I know enough to be able to teach them, because God is ALWAYS ready and waiting. All that I have to do is be there as a vessel ready to be used by God so that he can impact the hearts around me, and I have seen it happen time and time again this summer when I am least expecting it. This week I had the joy of knowing that I now have a new sister in Christ, as one of the girls in my small group prayed to receive Him into her life after the first night. I was also blessed with many opportunities to listen to several students’ life stories throughout the week and see the way that God was actively moving and working in their hearts. What an Amazing and Powerful God we serve!

-Alyssa Erratt

Surprises

This week of camp, like all the others, has ended in a way that has both surprised and encouraged me. I am always wondering how things will turn out when I meet a new group of campers, but God always reminds me to not underestimate His unique way of working with each student. This week in particular stood out to me because I got to see firsthand how God uses physical challenges to make sense of our spiritual challenges. It’s exciting to see someone accept Christ as their Savior and then hear how walking silently through the woods or trusting a climbing rope helped them to realize a spiritual truth. I love getting to be a part of both the physical and spiritual growth that happens with the students because it is different and special each time.

Emily Holt

God Moves

I love Compass summers. I’m always reminded of the greatness of God in so many ways.

The staff went into this week after having two weeks of no campers. This group had never done a Compass trip before so neither we nor they knew what to expect exactly. I was feeling anxious and unprepared in a lot of ways. The way that we do things was definitely stretching to most of the campers, which led to a little bit of an awkward first day. There were also interpersonal challenges within the youth group and staff. On the first night, I start by leading worship and then telling my life story. I hadn’t told my story in a couple weeks, as I mentioned, and I was suddenly nervous and blanking on what I would say right before worship. Overwhelmed, I had to step away from everything and pray.

“Lord, I can’t do this without You. I have nothing good to give on my own. Please use me this week. Let it be You working through me, because I can’t do it without You. Move through the entire staff this week. In Jesus’ name and for His glory, amen.”

Well, we are now coming off the end of this past week and it was incredible. The entire staff is encouraged after a great week with awesome campers. We had two campers accept Christ as their savior and many other heard from Him and/or learned more about Him through worship and discussion. The staff was able to build great relationships with the campers, and (more importantly) we saw campers build great relationships with each other that weren’t there at the beginning of the week. Will and I started off with a small group that wanted nothing to do with us because they expected us to want nothing to do with them. At the end of the week, we became great friends, spending lots of extra group time just hanging out.

These things could not have happened without God’s movement through us, and these things happened for His glory. We were simply blessed to be a part of it. We were blessed to see God do great things. And even as I say “he did these things through us,” I hardly feel like anything is happening through me at all. I feel more like an observer of God growing and moving in our campers. I come to the last night or the last morning before campers leave and am amazed at all that God has done.

This happens weekly for us here at Compass. Additionally, God’s movement and using of this ministry also produces incredible growth and blessing in the lives of all the staff. We grow together by working towards a common purpose and seeing God do great things here. This is my fourth summer to work, and each summer has brought its own revolutionary movement to my faith as well as a new closeness to/understanding of God. His love is real! His Grace is sufficient for all our junk and our pain and our struggles! His strength is perfect in my weakness! I know these things because of God’s using of my Compass experiences.

Needless to say, I’m blessed beyond words to be here.

- Justin “Lunny” Luningham

Quit Trying So Hard

Our theme this summer is "Quit Trying So Hard." Romans 4:13-16 emphasizes that our efforts to "be good" so that God will like us and continue to love us only leads to frustration and endless striving to continue to please Him. This has been my life. Either consciously or unconsciously I have lived with a constant "looking over my shoulder" to see if my choices have pleased or disappointed God which led to my feeling close or distant from Him. From my perspective I could never do enough or be good enough to keep Him happy with me.

I am know walking in a new freedom. Jesus did it all on the cross. Because Christ took the sin of the world, the sin of all time upon himself, God turned His back to His son. Jesus did this so we would never have to feel God turning from us. We never have to experience what He felt when He cried out "My God, why have you forsaken me?" Faith in Christ determines our relationship with Him, not our deeds and choices.

Quit trying to be good, quit trying to replace God, quit trying to do it alone and quit trying to be someone else is our message to hundreds of students and adults this summer. A powerful message combined with challenging and rewarding activities in addition to true transparency of our staff have made the first two weeks of camp life changing.

I look forward to what God has in store for the rest of the summer in the lives of campers, staff and myself.

Lance Giles

Words

In Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

I recently worked with a group from Grace Fellowship Outreach from Eustace, TX. We had a blast, what a great bunch of people. On the first day we hiked to the top of Elk Mountain in the Wichita Mountains. It was great to watch them interact. They had fun together, they shared water with each other, and they even pointed out poison ivy on the trail for each other. I could truly tell they cared for one another. And intertwined in all of that kindness were sarcastic jokes. No one said them with mean intent, but sarcasm has a way of hurting people without anyone knowing it. That night we discussed Matt. 22 and what it means to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” I told them what I had noticed and challenged them to refrain from sarcasm for the weekend. It was great to see them work together by keeping each other accountable on this and even catching themselves from making sarcastic comments. They were very encouraging during our climbing and rappelling the next few days. That is a great group of students and I pray that they take this lesson to heart and truly change the way they speak to one another.

A kind word goes a long way. And a mean one goes just as far. We need to challenge ourselves with these questions: Have I been short with someone recently? Have I snapped at them? Have I been sarcastic towards someone? Even a friend? I believe the way to start loving your neighbor as yourself is to lift them up with your words. The benefits of this become even more evident during the challenging activities that we do at Compass Wilderness.

Shane Seaton

Sunsets and Reflection

I have to admit that Spring Break makes me tired. I am there for several days with groups, investing in their lives, making sure the logistics are handled, sleeping (too little) on the ground rather than next to my wife in bed, missing my little girl, I’m sure you get that I’d like to be home by the end of the those several days. If I’m honest, when the last group arrived, I was about ready to start the countdown until I could go home.

As the group was settling in, we decided to go for a hike up a nearby peak to watch the sunset and spend some time in private meditation and prayer. I can tell you based on my study that it’s times like that the Lord speaks to his people, and I can tell you it’s been my experience several times, and specifically that day that the Lord refreshed my spirit and gave me strength and a renewed focus. I spent much of my time over the week preparing for whatever was next or focused on some task at hand, much in the same way we all spend our days at work, engrossed in the details. I was reminded of the importance of being still and knowing that He is God. There’s great comfort and peace in that.

Now, admittedly, this is a bit of a strange experience to share, but if that’s your thought then I’ve failed to convey what’s really on my mind. Here it is in concise terms: The mission of Compass was validated when I was reminded of the value of spending some time watching the sunset, taking a walk outside, turning off all of the electronic devices that distract us and spending time in self-reflection and prayer.

We all need some time to unwind, to gather our thoughts, refocus our minds on the purpose and meaning of our lives. Get outside, get alone and spend some time with the Lord and see what He wants to tell you.

Grace and Peace,
Steven

Spring Break to Spring Snow?

I was looking forward to taking some students rappelling on Saturday. Smelling the fresh spring air, feeling the warm sun on my face, all while standing on top of a cliff helping students challenge themselves. Well, with a crazy chance of spring snow here in Oklahoma, this weekend is not panning out the way I had planned. At least we had beautiful weather last week for our Spring Break trips.

We spent 9 days in the Wichita Mountains talking to students about the love of Christ. One of our staff members, Chris Johnson, a recent OBU graduate, had a great discussion with a student. We had just gone climbing and we were back at camp in the late afternoon. Some students were throwing the Frisbee, others were getting cleaned up from the day’s activities, and some were relaxing on the picnic tables enjoying the spring warmth. Chris and a student were down by the lake hanging out and the student told Chris about the challenges he had in his life and with his friends. Chris was able to talk to him about these struggles and help him figure out how God would want him to handle this situation.

That is why we do what we do!! Thank you Father for putting a man of God like Chris there at the right time to talk to that student in his time of need.

Shane Seaton

Spend Some Time Outside

Since the beginning of time God has used His creation to draw people close to Him. Whether searching for answers, preparing for ministry, or looking for rest, people have gone to the wilderness to meet with God. The Isrealites were forced to wander in it, David spent most of his early life in it and frequently returned to it in his later years and Jesus spent a month in it before starting his ministry.

Time spent in nature is time spent with God. You can not encounter creation without encountering the creator. All of creation shouts His praise! A poet once wrote:

"I stand amidst the grandeur of trees that have grown for years,
My eyes can hear a symphony that is silence to my ears.
Creator of everything, but He is much more than that!"

When did you last walk in the woods talking with God? Sit quietly by a stream enjoying Gods' presence? With Spring and Summer upon us, there is no better time to get outside. Moses, Elijah, David, John the Baptist and Jesus had their hearts encouraged and talked openly with God through time spent in His creation. Give it try and see what happens.

FBC Wright City

The January camping trip is always a gamble, but when the weather comes through for us it makes for an awesome weekend. This past weekend was one of those great weekends. Sandwiched between a week of 40 degree temps and a Sunday's high of 36 we had a Friday and Saturday of sunshine and warm 70's.

FBC Wright City joined us January 2-3 for two days of rock climbing, rappelling and camping in Mineral Wells, Texas. They brought a great group of beginner climbers that had a blast climbing and really encouraged each other in their efforts. Once they had successfully dominated the climbs we had set up, we moved to a new area for a little more of a challenge. We then headed to the campground to get tents set up and settle into camp. Dinner consisted of fire roasted hot dogs for the true camping flavor, followed by smores and cookies to help us stay warm through the night.

Saturday started with breakfast and packing up camp before we headed back to the climbing area for a day of rappelling. A quick intro class into how to rappel safely and we started sending the group one at a time backwards down the cliff. Several students went 4-5 times before stopping for lunch. Once the group was done with lunch we started our processing of the rappelling day. The comments of students focused on faith and trust in the rope and equipment and relating that to our lives with Christ.

We said our farewells, they loaded up the bus and hit the road back to east Texas, just in time to beat the cold front Sunday that kept me on the couch.