I am blessed to have a home. A family. And albeit bumpy at times, a history that reflects sweet memories and beautiful moments that I would not trade for anything.
Home. A place of safety. A sanctuary from the world. A place of love and acceptance. A place where it is okay to be a kid, building forts and slaying dragons to save the princess. Where imaginations run wild and every day is a new adventure.
However, for some of the kids that come to camp, they have no idea what "home" is.
For some of these kids, family is a foreign concept. Home is just a place in a story book, but never something they think that they deserve or could ever achieve.
I think that is why I come back to Northwoods year after year. Because I can understand the brokenness that comes from these "homeless" children. I can tell them about the One who saved my broken soul, restored my broken world and healed my broken heart.
His name is Jesus. He is "a Father to the fatherless" (Psalm 68:5). To be able to share that hope with a child is a beautiful gift. What a joy to see a child's face light up when they realize that they have a Daddy in heaven who loves them very much. That they have a Home that far exceeds anything we have on this earth. That they are not alone in this great big, scary, crazy world. That He will never leave them nor forsake them and to see those children get it. I mean REALLY get it.
So as I sit here in Spruce, I am thinking about all that it means to be here and what that means from a Kingdom perspective. This isn't just a summer job. This is a mission field. The harvest is plentiful...will you join the workers to see the children/young adults/friends/neighbors in your area collide with the life saving power of Jesus Christ?
Because if we were really honest about it, everything we do is Kingdom work. And at the end of the day, each and every one of us deep down longs to be Home.
