The Adventure

     Tomorrow is the first day of Salkehatchie Huntersville 2012.  The tools are organized, the 2 garages are cleaned and the air mattress is packed.  While I'm sad that we can't include Betty's house in the homes we work on this week, I know that God has plan and His time is the perfect time.  Since it was Salkehatchie that. brought Betty into our lives, I think it is a appropriate to share a little about what is so special about camp.

     Salkehatchie is my favorite week of the year, hands down.  It is the week when I laugh more, cry more and sweat more than any other time of the year.  The youth and adults that I know from camp are my family, closer than siblings.  (I seem to have more than my share of crazy cousins!)  It is also the week when I feel like God is right there beside me, holding me, crying with me and cheering me on.  He is there in the worship, in the work and mostly in the relationships. 
     A few years ago,while working on a home, I learned an important lesson about God's work.  It was one of those projects when everything seemed to go wrong.  We expect to run into road blocks on a Salkehatchie site.  Termites, broken sewage lines, leaks and stepping through a roof are part of a normal week's work.  That particular week was not normal.  Our homeowner, Joan, was a particularly Godly woman.  When she saw my distress, she took me aside, hugged me and said, "You know that you are doing God's work, otherwise the Devil wouldn't be so offended."  Wow!  I think of that lesson often when things get difficult.  God uses our struggles to draw us closer.
     I have been told that I can be intimidating, especially during Salkehatchie week.  Although we talk about "getting finished" with the homes, in reality, it is not about finishing.  The homes we work on are never really finished.  The fellowship is in the struggle and I expect a lot from the kids I work with, from the other adults as well as from myself.  Put simply, it is the week when we are called on to put the world aside and give 100% to God.  To come to Salkehatchie and not give everything is cheating yourself out of being fully present with God.
     When we help on a home, the way I see it, we are working alongside The Father, The Son and the Holy Ghost.  When we worship together, show love to one another and praise His name; God, the Father is there with us.  When we show our homeowners unconditional love; the Holy Ghost is there.  When we work on the homes and show the physical manifestation of love; Jesus is there with us. 
     So tomorrow we begin the adventure.  Walking with God is many things, above all it is always an adventure.