I'm not a cryer...but today I found myself weeping in the car; missing the paradise I have been calling home the past month and frustrated with the thought of having to go back to the "normal". I tell you this not for a pity party, but to give you a glimpse of how much Crooked Creek Ranch grabbed a hold of me this summer. When I embarked on my first flight out of Raleigh en route to Colorado with my best friend, Hannah, I had no idea how much I would fall in love with this place. The people, the first steps out of our cabin, the conversations, the atmosphere RADIATE Jesus the moment you encounter them. Who knew being in a bakery from 5AM-2PM would bring so much life and laughter. Who knew a group of college kids could bond so quickly over one common denominator. Who knew we could make it up a 14,265 foot mountain. Who knew we could kneed close to 1,000 hamburger buns in a couple hours. Who knew a small city in Colorado would steal my heart so quickly. Not me. But, how cool it is to know the Creator of the universe knew. He hand picked me and 49 other people to be at Crooked Creek Ranch, on summer staff, third session, 2014 and to be apart of His mission in bringing high schoolers to the feet of Jesus.
I walked into my summer journey dry-worn out spiritually and emotionally. And I stepped out of summer full to the brim with Jesus, thirsty for conversation with depth, and an eagerness to learn more and more. That's the cool thing about Young Life camp--it's a glimpse of heaven, what real world should look like, a refresher. The hardest part is holding onto the same God that is alive in those mountains and carrying His promises down the mountain with you and back home.
This month consisted of a lot of learning. Learning how to kneed dough, learning how to make cinnamon rolls, learning when yeast is done rising, learning what it looks like to laugh til it hurts, learning how to pray boldly & learning what real, intentional community really looks like. A couple things really stuck with me that I learned:
1. God has wired each and everyone of us differently. We all have different strengths and different weakness. Different places where we thrive and where we fall. Different goals and different passions. Why try to be someone else when God was ecstatic to create me just the way I am. He created me to be Sarah, not to be a Sarah who strives to be like this person or that person. The day I was born he delighted in growing me to be in HIS image and no one else's. What an honor.
2. To wake up each morning and pray that the Lord would allow me to see myself as HE sees me and not as the world sees me. To not believe the lies and words that I start to think about myself but to be still enough to really listen to the words that He calls me.
{beautiful, cherished, gentle, playful, confident}
How convinced am I that He calls me Beloved?
What a month. What a place. What a group of people. My hope is to carry these experiences and these truths that I have learned down from the Colorful State and into Raleigh, into Athens Drive High School, and into the lives of those He's put right in front of me.
I'll definitely be back, Colorado.
{Isaiah 55:12-13} the msg.
“So you’ll go out in joy,
you’ll be led into a whole and complete life.
The mountains and hills will lead the parade,
bursting with song.
All the trees of the forest will join the procession,
exuberant with applause.
No more thistles, but giant sequoias,
no more thornbushes, but stately pines—
Monuments to me, to God,
living and lasting evidence of God.”
