Camp Manhattan.

I don't know what it is about summer that just awakens my soul and deepens my hunger for the glorious God I claim to serve. Maybe a part of it is that my life, for the past eleven or so years has gone in such a way that the summer was in fact my time of spiritual rejuvenation. Camps and youthquakes and then more camps and CIYs and more camps and so on, complete with qualified speakers, talented and passionate worship bands, and hundreds and thousands of other teenagers and young adults crying out to be filled with renewed passion for Christ. Maybe a part of it is that the summer gives me a chance to breathe, to stop, look around, catch my breath, and remember what it is I set out to do in the first place...before getting so bogged down and distracted by the forty-nine things I committed to doing during the semester, all of which end up becoming priority over my time spent with God.

Summer is a time for freshness, a time for growth. Summer will allow me time to find that which I seemed to have misplaced. It is not dead or gone, nooo no its not gone; it just managed to get a little lost in the rush of this roller coaster of a year. This summer holds so many opportunities to seek God in this beautiful place; in the almost too familiar place that has become my home. It will take some work, to see him in a new way in this comfortable little city. It will take dedication and prayer, and the incredible power of the Word to help me rise.

"And I will rise, when he calls my name,
No more sorrow, no more pain.
I will rise, on eagle's wings,
Before my God fall on my knees
And rise. I will rise."

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." 1 Pet 2:9-10