Guest Post: 500 Lights

Get excited Greystone friends! We are starting a series of guest posts on our blog, written by some of our camp friends and family. First up, a great one from Maddie D., a Main camper from Nashville. Enjoy!

Name: Maddie D.
Years at camp: 9
Best 2013 memory: The dance contest during the torrential downpour which was Carnival
First Tentalow ever: Lower Bungalow One
Favorite class: Ultimate Frisbee
Funny camp story: My first opening day I was so nervous about going to camp and was so carsick that right when I stepped out of the car I threw up all over the track.

One of my favorite devotions from the summer was Tim Udouj’s second Sunday sermon. I will never forget sitting among my cabin ten friends, all of us writing with all of our might to get down every word of the wonderful message that Tim was giving us. By the end our hands were cramping and covered in ink. We all looked at each other in awe and said, “That is the best sermon I have ever heard.”

The sermon was about rejoicing in the midst of a broken world. He opened with 1 Peter 4:12-13 which says, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed.” He explained to us that when bad things happen it does not mean that God does not love us; it means that He is working in a way that we do not yet understand. There is something better He is doing with our struggles. He uses the brokenness of the world for good; trials make us more like Jesus because Jesus has taken all of the punishment that we deserve. Just as good was brought through Jesus’ suffering good will be brought through our own.

Just like me, many of you probably struggle to make the transition back into the real world when you leave the “Greystone Bubble” each summer. This is because the real world and Greystone are two completely different settings. It is hard to leave camp where we are constantly being encouraged in our Faith, and then to be quickly thrown back into our fast paced lives at home. Sometimes I wonder why the world can’t be like camp. Sandi Taylor helped me to see why this cannot be…she said that God did not intend for the world to be like Greystone. The world is supposed to be broken and we are supposed to use the lessons that we learn at camp to shine a light and be an example at home.

We are given the amazing gift of getting to go to camp each summer — a blessing that many people do not have. We can do our best to help our friends at home experience what we do at camp through our actions and words. When we leave camp, God is sending 500 lights throughout the world to shine for Him throughout the year. Tim’s sermon on suffering has taught me always to have a positive attitude even when things are hard or going wrong. When I am facing these trials I know that God is still in control, which is the best news because that means that my suffering is being used for good. I can rejoice in my hard times at home because I know that they have a purpose that the Lord has planned out perfectly. When you face suffering with a positive attitude people will see something different in you. This is an opportunity to show that you can rejoice in your suffering because you know that God is using it for good!