Big Dreams
I had dreamed of it all year. Spending the summer working on staff at Hume Lake Christian Camp was going to launch my independence and give me the environment I needed to finally “find God” in a consistent, undeniable, and life-changing way.
[image credit: mysummerjpg.com]
I was a professing Christian at the time, having multiple chapters of the Bible memorized and many encounters with God where I had asked him to forgive me and “asked him into my heart.” But I was floundering and needed a change. My eighteen-year-old thoughts were completely sincere – and utterly deceived.
It took a pitiful begging to convince my long-suffering Chemistry Professor at the local Jr. College, to give me the lowest passing grade on his grading curve that year. My Dad insisted, although I had been hired by Hume to work in their Snack Shop for the summer, I could not go unless I passed my Pre-nursing Chemistry course. That created an entire Spring semester of extreme anxiety!
[image credit: mysummerjpg.com]
Certified Disaster
Everybody who knows anybody knows I am a life-long certified disaster when it comes to math -and to my dismay, Chemistry is full of it!. Although I was numerically an adult, Dad still held the wallet that kept a roof over my head and food in my mouth -not to mention a college to attend, but I could more likely thank the state of California for that gift.
And so, with an appeasing ‘D,’ I made it to Hume by the skin of my teeth. I felt free as the breeze that blew through those towering mountain Sequoias. It was an amazingly heady experience to find myself standing on the deck of the Ponderosa Dining Hall, looking out at what all my efforts had accomplished.
[image credit: mysummerjpg.com]
Right then and there, it happened. I could not have been at the Camp more than two hours before I saw him. There out across the lawn, literally strutted the proudest and loudest peacock-like man I had ever seen. I kid you not!
He was wearing sleek, light tan colored leather chaps zipped tight over starch pressed Wranglers, and pointed toe cowboy boots with obnoxiously loud spurs and jangles. Add to that sight a large light gray, felt cowboy hat, and his unmistakably bold and signature- mustache. Never in all my years had I seen such a character! I couldn’t help myself. My exact thought was, “Who the heck does he think he is??!”
And Then Just Like That…
In truth, I only remember one final detail. The particular year the two of us happened on Hume Lake, they had revealed and opened a brand spanking new skating rink. It was super cool! Guess who was skating with whom by the end of that first night? We have been together for the better part, of the last forty years.
I have been known to ironically reminisce about the fact that I went to Hume Lake looking for God but ran into Stache first. Technically correct, I can’t leave this memory with such incomplete emptiness. Dazzling distraction did indeed carry me away for a time. Except God is merciful! He continued to pursue me until I was found. But that’s quite a different story for another day.
[image credit: mysummerjpg.com]
Do you ever experience distraction in your relationship with God, to the point of getting lost? Have you experienced God’s patient pursuit? Isn’t it astoundingly incredible to think of God pursuing YOU, as in Matthew 18:12?! Looking back on my life I continuously find new ways God has used to draw me to Himself that I was previously unaware of. I’d love to hear your God-honoring stories.
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