God is our reason to love (Jim)

Hey Home Team -

Corey and Andrew did a nice job of reviewing activities from the day, so I'm going to give a bit of teaching overview, and prayer requests:

1.  I Corinthians 13 today ... the Love chapter.  The Corinthian Church was struggling with understanding spiritual gifts and with putting some people (with certain gifts) above others.  Paul felt they were starting to prioritize their religious behavior over their desire to love like Christ did.  He goes off in verses 1 to 3, exaggerating about tongues, prophecy and knowledge, and monetary giving to make the point that without love, these are all worthless.  Love is necessary, not optional.  Then, in verse 4 to 7, Paul expresses the character of love (lovely, check it out).  We realized (with the help of a simple skit) that our lives must emanate from a relationship with Christ ... if we simply want to fit in with the 'Christian' crowd, we are not relating to the love of the Father ... and not reflecting behavior that results from Thanksgiving and love for the Father.  In fact, if you re-read verses 4 to 7 with God's name in it, you get the idea that he initiated any love we reflect.  We concluded with the permanence of love ... in the fact that faith and hope will no longer be necessary in our eternal dwelling place, but love will be there ... in the nature of God. 

Oh yea, and an excellent night of worship tonight (the worship is outstanding ... and I find that the constant diet of excellent singing, prayer, testimonies [one young French student shared tonight of losing his sister to a lung clot in March ... devastating, but God being gracious in the midst], and messages is excellent for spiritual growth!).

2.  We are virtually in the home stretch, for we only have 4 or 5 days left, and a number of fine, friendly relationships have been formed in many directions.  That's both an advantage and a disadvantage, for it is easy to get complacent in this, and forget that God desires us to continue on in our relationships (as He leads, not mechanically or without love) for His glory.  It may be to encourage someone to come closer to a salvation decision (for example, didn't believe in the worth of the Bible before camp, but now sees the worth), or make a salvation decision (glorious!), or grow as a disciple of Christ (now looking to share their faith with others, and growing in grace and truth individually).  Please pray for all of the American students, in their awareness of God's work in people's lives, and joining Him in this work.

3.  Also pray for our next two days, as we are going to the highest ropes course in France) tomorrow (long bus rides, perfect for extending discussions to greater meaning), and then kayaking in 2 days (again, bus rides).  This timeframe is significant, for our students are stretched (lot of growth here for our students).

4.  A decent amount of fatigue throughout camp currently, due to sleeping under the stars, and high energy activities.  Please pray for sleep in the near term, and awake time for discussion.

Love to you all!
Jim