Special Bond

It's been a long, busy week with camp. Camp went well. We had a lot of good times, and God did some great things throughout the week. Shortly after arriving, and unpacking, I walked down to the shoreline of the Pend Oreille River, and the first thing I saw was an eagle soaring overhead. I sat down there and watched it for a good twenty minutes, enjoying the peace and quiet, before the kids arrived on the buses. Each morning, I walked down to the shoreline to look for that eagle again, except this time with my camera, but it didn't appear. The last morning I was there, I was setting up for a very large wacky Olympics/relay game, and looked up to check the sky as it looked like rain, and there appeared an eagle, and then another one. Two eagles soared over the field I was standing in and flew from one end to the other, from the river to the tree line. I thoroughly enjoyed their majesty and the gift God gave me of seeing them, but again, didn't have a camera.

God seems to get your attention more when you are away from the everyday distractions of life. We had very, very limited cell reception, so the phones weren't ringing. There is wi-fi, but only our youth pastor and the tech team had a computer. The only music was provided by teens playing their guitars around camp and The Adam Cappa band, and there was not any tv. There was plenty of noise as happens when you have 150 kids in an area. But, in the afternoons they were busy playing on the four story slide, in the water on the water trampoline, jumping on the BLOB and shooting each other high in the air and landing in the water, climbing both the rock wall on land, and the climbing wall in the water, swimming, playing paintball, skate boarding, playing soccer, swinging, and climbing on the ropes course. But, in the quiet times, those times when I was by myself or with others but it was more quiet, there were some great God moments. There were great God moments in the noisy times as well. I got to meet some great kids, build better relationships with kids I already knew, and make deeper friendships with other leaders, both adult and teen.

I did miss my hubby. We have served together in ministry since before we were married and it was strange to not have him at something I was at, doing ministry side by side. God has definitely bonded us closer together because of the ministry we've done for all these years. It's a bond that cannot be described or explained, I guess. I think it's a deeper love, a mutual reliance on God and each other to make it through each day, each trial, each victory. It's definitely a blessing and that was made very clear to me this past week. I think I've taken it for granted for so long, that it took us being apart to truly understand the unique bond we share. I am thankful to God for all these years of ministry, and for walking side by side through that ministry with my best friend, my husband.