It's the Overflow of a Forgiven Soul
The first thing I want to do with this blog entry is say thank you to those of you who have commented on my past couple entries. You guys are awesome and I love you. Yesterday was trying for me, but today was incredible. The only really bad thing to report is that one of the kids broke their shoulder going down the sleepy slide (sorry, that's our Camp Director Max coming out... he's from Argentina) slip-n-slide. Unfortunately this is the second injury in as many days for us, but Trevor's a tough kid aside from screaming like a little girl when he's hurt... (If for some crazy reason you're reading this Trevor, I'm just messing with you.)
So today was supposed to be the easy day for us, as it was mud day. We had a big mud pit that was set up for volleyball and tug of war, and we also had a slip-n-slide set up and some water balloons and all this stuff. Unfortunately, it was only easy for me. Tiffany had a rough time as she was the one running the slip-n-slide and trying to keep kids out of the water balloons when Trevor got hurt. I, on the other hand, was overseeing the mud pit. Man, it was so much fun. The kids were having a blast once we got it all started. Once the tug of war was over and we started doing mud volleyball, I just manned the hose and sprayed people off. It was twisted, yet fun.
Anyways, service tonight was amazing. Marty was preaching on how to keep this fire that the kids have caught from camp and everything. It's really funny how things work. Honestly, so much has happened since the service that I don't remember what exactly was said, but near the beginning of service Marty mentioned something that completed related to me and my struggles yesterday. Later on, I was being prayed over by Chris, the assistant youth pastor from my church, and he prayed for strength for me against attacks. It's just amazing, awesome stuff that happens in prayer.
One weird thing that happened was that I was prayed over by someone and "prophesied" over by one of the campers. Tiffany warned me that you do have to make sure you know who is praying over you and make sure that it lines up with what God has told you, because not everyone actually does know what they're talking about. It could be that they're mistaken in their interpretation of what God is telling them or they're just making it up, I guess. Anyways, I was told that within a year, my wife and I would be in a Children's ministry. Hmmm. Definitely not seeing that one coming. Tiffany knows for a fact that she's not called to Children's Ministry, and I've felt for a long time that I've been called to Youth Ministry.
After service, Tiffany and I sat in the board room with Marty, Cherie, and Elizabeth (who does not go to our church) and sat and talked and joked around and had a lot of fun. Man, camp is really ending on a high note. I am going to find myself praying that these kids do keep the fire that they caught here this week, because I know how hard it is to keep (as Blake mentioned in one of his comments), especially when you know the enemy is going to be coming after you with something fierce. And as selfish as this may sound, I'm going to be praying that I keep the fire that I've caught here at camp, because I am totally on fire right now and I want to keep it. But again, I know how hard it's going to be to NOT fall back into the routine I was in at home. I know that it's going to be very hard to try to remember to read my Bible every single day instead of just every now and then and stuff. And also I know how hard it's going to be because there will be more attacks. But I truly believe that being prayed over today for strength against those attacks is going to help with that.
Regardless, service was awesome, the kids had fun today, and it's been great here at camp. Tiffany and I (and most of the other staff members) are ready to go home (that's an understatement). Sleeping in a full size bed when you're used to a king isn't fun. Sleeping with only a couple sheets isn't fun when your wife complains and complains and complains about being cold all the time (she's seriously doing this as I type). I swear she wakes up in the middle of the night and I can be out of the covers and sweating like a pig, and she's fully covered and she'll shiver and whine about how cold it is. I love my wife. Anyways, I'm going to be happy to not have to go to bed with the thought of, "Am I going to be able to walk tomorrow?" My feet hurt really bad. I don't think I broke my toe, by the way, but there's a very peculiar bruise on the top of it. I might have it checked out later. My back's still killing me, of course, and obviously I'm very exhausted.
It's bed time (1:18 am) so I'm going to sleep now. Tomorrow we will be handing out awards to the teams and people that did the best in our activities, and then cleaning up and getting home! Tiffany's excited to see our dogs and cat. I guess I am too, but it has been nice not having to take them out all the time. Again, thank you all for reading and for commenting on my awesome/lame blogs and being so kind and encouraging. Again I love you all and COMMENT this one too!
*My name is Ryan J. Schwimmer, and I approve this product-of-too-little-sleep-the-past-few-days blog.*
So today was supposed to be the easy day for us, as it was mud day. We had a big mud pit that was set up for volleyball and tug of war, and we also had a slip-n-slide set up and some water balloons and all this stuff. Unfortunately, it was only easy for me. Tiffany had a rough time as she was the one running the slip-n-slide and trying to keep kids out of the water balloons when Trevor got hurt. I, on the other hand, was overseeing the mud pit. Man, it was so much fun. The kids were having a blast once we got it all started. Once the tug of war was over and we started doing mud volleyball, I just manned the hose and sprayed people off. It was twisted, yet fun.
Anyways, service tonight was amazing. Marty was preaching on how to keep this fire that the kids have caught from camp and everything. It's really funny how things work. Honestly, so much has happened since the service that I don't remember what exactly was said, but near the beginning of service Marty mentioned something that completed related to me and my struggles yesterday. Later on, I was being prayed over by Chris, the assistant youth pastor from my church, and he prayed for strength for me against attacks. It's just amazing, awesome stuff that happens in prayer.
One weird thing that happened was that I was prayed over by someone and "prophesied" over by one of the campers. Tiffany warned me that you do have to make sure you know who is praying over you and make sure that it lines up with what God has told you, because not everyone actually does know what they're talking about. It could be that they're mistaken in their interpretation of what God is telling them or they're just making it up, I guess. Anyways, I was told that within a year, my wife and I would be in a Children's ministry. Hmmm. Definitely not seeing that one coming. Tiffany knows for a fact that she's not called to Children's Ministry, and I've felt for a long time that I've been called to Youth Ministry.
After service, Tiffany and I sat in the board room with Marty, Cherie, and Elizabeth (who does not go to our church) and sat and talked and joked around and had a lot of fun. Man, camp is really ending on a high note. I am going to find myself praying that these kids do keep the fire that they caught here this week, because I know how hard it is to keep (as Blake mentioned in one of his comments), especially when you know the enemy is going to be coming after you with something fierce. And as selfish as this may sound, I'm going to be praying that I keep the fire that I've caught here at camp, because I am totally on fire right now and I want to keep it. But again, I know how hard it's going to be to NOT fall back into the routine I was in at home. I know that it's going to be very hard to try to remember to read my Bible every single day instead of just every now and then and stuff. And also I know how hard it's going to be because there will be more attacks. But I truly believe that being prayed over today for strength against those attacks is going to help with that.
Regardless, service was awesome, the kids had fun today, and it's been great here at camp. Tiffany and I (and most of the other staff members) are ready to go home (that's an understatement). Sleeping in a full size bed when you're used to a king isn't fun. Sleeping with only a couple sheets isn't fun when your wife complains and complains and complains about being cold all the time (she's seriously doing this as I type). I swear she wakes up in the middle of the night and I can be out of the covers and sweating like a pig, and she's fully covered and she'll shiver and whine about how cold it is. I love my wife. Anyways, I'm going to be happy to not have to go to bed with the thought of, "Am I going to be able to walk tomorrow?" My feet hurt really bad. I don't think I broke my toe, by the way, but there's a very peculiar bruise on the top of it. I might have it checked out later. My back's still killing me, of course, and obviously I'm very exhausted.
It's bed time (1:18 am) so I'm going to sleep now. Tomorrow we will be handing out awards to the teams and people that did the best in our activities, and then cleaning up and getting home! Tiffany's excited to see our dogs and cat. I guess I am too, but it has been nice not having to take them out all the time. Again, thank you all for reading and for commenting on my awesome/lame blogs and being so kind and encouraging. Again I love you all and COMMENT this one too!
*My name is Ryan J. Schwimmer, and I approve this product-of-too-little-sleep-the-past-few-days blog.*