I’ve been absent for a little while. My apologies for that. But I was working a week of church camp last week at Guadalupe Christian Camp for Jr. and Sr. High students. While I had access to internet there, I felt my time was more valuable investing in the week there instead of trying to write for “Thoughts From a Crosseyed Jesus Freak”. I mean, I had to write a sermon while I was there anyway, so I didn’t take anymore time for this.
It was a great week. We had 38 teenagers and quite a few adults from West Texas and Southeast New Mexico that attended the week, and I do believe that lives were changed. We had a speaker from Illinois that blew it out of the water, as well as a Christian band from El Paso that was just as interested in investing in the lives of the teens there as they were about playing music for the evening sessions.
We got to get away from our normal hectic schedules and spend time with fellow Christ followers, up on a mountain, away from distractions. Although it was a scorching hot week, we were able to enjoy God’s creation together in a few different ways as well. One of those was spending time at Sitting Bull Falls, hiking and swimming one afternoon (the temperature gauge in the van I drove read 108 degrees when we parked at the falls). On Friday morning, we went on the annual hike to the ridge that has quickly become one of my favorite places that I have seen in person on this earth.
As tired as I have been since returning, the physical exhaustion has been well worth it. I came back mentally, emotionally, and spiritually refreshed. That’s something that I’ve needed for a long time. I got to spend time with other ministers, discussing our churches and what things we need prayer and support in. Just bouncing ideas off of others is so beneficial. I got to have some good laughs with the other adults there as well.
One thing happened on two separate nights, however, that may top any camp experience I have ever had. Well, not really because I received my call into ministry at a week of camp, but this was awesome anyway…just not on the exact same level. On Thursday night, we were having a camp fire/smores night, and a couple of the band members were there playing acoustic guitars. The night was coming to an end, and I jokingly asked the lead band member if he knew “Jesus Freak” and explained my website. They didn’t know the song by memory, but looked up the chords and started playing. That is when a bunch of the other adults and I started singing our lungs out to an impromptu jam session of “Jesus Freak”. It was incredible.
Then, the next night at worship was supposed to be more of a concert style worship with the band. Wally told me early that night that he was going to call me from the sound booth to come up to the stage to help him with something, but that it was for the kids. I asked what, but he wouldn’t tell me. When he finally called me up, he handed me a mic and said they were going to play “Jesus Freak”. I got the other guy at camp with a Jesus Freak tattoo to join me on stage, handed him the mic, because I don’t sing into mics, and we got to sing on stage to a live version of “Jesus Freak”. As you could imagine, this Crosseyed Jesus Freak was flying high after that.
It just reminds me of where our focus should be though. Where does your passion lay? This world tries to distract us, but if I’m going to claim to be a Crosseyed Jesus Freak, I need to be focused on Jesus 100% of the time…or at least as much of that time as I can be. We have to be strong in our faith. That’s why this event that I want to tell you about is so important. Guadalupe Christian Camp is getting ready to host its First Annual “Defending the Faith Conference” at the end of July. Check back here tomorrow for an article about that, but if you are in southeast New Mexico or west Texas, consider joining us for this conference.
Thoughts from a Crosseyed Jesus Freak 