With all the excitement I feel about the upcoming summer, I’m also finding myself oddly surprised at the
seriousness with which I find myself entering the summer, and with that, a
feeling of regret that I didn’t enter last summer with that same seriousness.
Oh, it’s not like I went to camp last summer excited for a summer of goofing
off. And it’s also not like I went into the summer completely prideful,
thinking I could do God’s work by myself. But I did enter last summer with ‘a
false sense of superiority’. I went back expecting a duplicate summer to my
first year counseling. I went back prepared to meet my first set of campers,
and fully expecting my second summer’s campers to be the same, yet in so many
ways, they were very, very different. And most embarrassing, I went into last
summer still clinging to my own selfish pride-‘I’ wanted to counsel and ‘I’ wanted
to do it in the way ‘I’ felt comfortable.’ I’ wanted to see God work, and ‘I’
knew in my head that couldn’t happen without God showing up and doing a
miracle, but ‘I’ somehow thought since I’d already counseled a summer, ‘I’ knew
what ‘I’ was doing and maybe needed God a little less.
I certainly didn’t enter
last summer completely dependent on God. And God broke me and showed me my
pride the first week of workshop. And the first week with techs. And the first
week with campers. And the first week on West Side. And every other ‘first’ the
whole summer long. And every time, I got a big painful reminder that it was
still all about me. I still cared way too much about myself.
Maybe this is why I feel more cautious about handing out
advice to new counselors this year. In some ways, I feel like I failed on so
many levels last summer. But when I take the truths I learned last summer and
begin to speak truth to myself and remember that although I failed to be all I
should’ve been last summer, Jesus never failed to be all He should’ve been on
earth, and He died for all that failure and sin. Then the blinder that guilt
is, is removed and I am able to see all God taught me through last summer, and
that, miraculously, he was also able to work through me in my girls’ lives, and
I wasn’t too much of a stumbling block after all!
So here’s what I’m praying God will do this summer:
First, I’m praying He will teach me true humility, and that
I would be empowered with his strength to serve this summer with a joyful, servant’s
heart. I’m praying that past experiences won’t give me a false confidence or an
annoyance towards the changes that will come this summer. This summer WILL be
very different from last summer. And I don’t like change! But by God’s grace I know I will ‘survive’ and
grow through this.
Second, I’m also praying that God would yank me out of my
comfort zone, since outside that comfort zone seems to be the best place he
works in my life. And I’m praying that he WILL work, and that He would open my
heart to be willing to be changed by that work.
Third, I’m praying He will give me His strength, energy,
joy, and health, and that I would be daily reminded of my need to be dependent
on Him for each of those things. Sometimes when I have an ‘easy’ week, it’s easy
to think “I’ve got this, God. You can relax now.” But that’s one of the biggest
lies Satan tries to deceive us with! I need God to show up every minute of
every day, or my summer WILL be a failure!
Fourth, I’m praying for my techs. I will be counseling the
high school girl workers called technicians or techs all summer. Here are the
thing I am praying for them:
First, I’m praying that they, too, would come to camp
willing to serve. I’m praying God would give them joyful attitudes and willing
hearts to do whatever needs doing!
Second, I’m praying for their attitudes towards the change
in dorms. We’ll be staying in the one building on camp property without
bathrooms. This is different from what any of the techs arriving at camp are
expecting, since previously, we lived in a dorm with nicer bunks and two
bathrooms. There are plenty of other downsides to the new cabin, but also
plenty of perks. I’m praying the other tech counselor and I will be able to
sell them (and ourselves!) on the perks, and that we will not have to deal with
too much complaining or other possible issues that may arise.
Third, and most importantly, I’m praying for their hearts. I’m
praying God will show up every week and convict each heart of sin and their
need for a Savior. I’m praying He will use their time at camp to conform them
more into His own image. I’m praying for God to destroy the walls they’ve built
around their hearts, and pull off the blinders Satan has placed on their eyes,
so that they may truly understand the Bible, and that their time at camp would
make them fall in love with Jesus and His Word. I’m praying that Satan would be
bound from whispering lies to any of their hearts, but that the truth of God’s
Word would be so strong that week, they could not help but listen and be
changed. I’m praying for God to blow us all away with how He works-over and
above anything we could think or imagine!
Lastly, for myself, I pray that God would equip me with His
wisdom. I’m praying that every time I open the Bible to teach, I will be
reminded that unless God shows up, the words I say will be my own words, worthless
and powerless to change hearts. I pray God would supernaturally provide me with
words to speak and that they would truly be His words-that He truly would speak
to their hearts.
Please, please, please join me in prayer this summer.
Without prayer, this summer is destined to fail. I’m desperate for God to show
up and work, because I know that of myself, I won’t have strength, energy, joy,
wisdom, or power to change hearts, and I desperately need each of those things!
For those of you who attend my church, I will be handing out
prayer guides next Sunday, and I would LOVE it if you’d take one and put it in
a place where you will regularly see it and be reminded to pray for me!
Ok, so the last thing you all should know is that mail time
at camp is an awful lot like Christmas morning as a kid: You wait excitedly for
it, and if you don’t get anything, it’s kinda sad and disappointing. Plus, it
can get lonely being so far away. I’ll miss you all! So please, please send me
mail! You can do this one of two ways: You can write to me through snail mail! I’ll
give you the address so you won’t have an excuse.
Camp Barakel
Hannah Banura
P.O. Box 159
Fairview, MI 48621
Hannah Banura
P.O. Box 159
Fairview, MI 48621
You can also shoot me an email through the camp’s email
service available right on their webpage campbarakel.org. It’s pretty simple.
Or if you happen to be an over-achiever or love me an awful lot,
you could even send me a PACKAGE! That address is a little different than my
mailing address:
Camp Barakel
Hannah Banura
1798 Shear Lake Road
Fairview, MI 48621
Hannah Banura
1798 Shear Lake Road
Fairview, MI 48621
If you don’t send me a package and are up all night worrying
that no one else sent me one all summer, don’t worry! 1.) I’ve never actually
gotten a package at camp, so I don’t really expect to get one. 2.) I’ve already
sent one to myself up there!
So yeah, I think that pretty much covers it! Thanks for reading!
