It's not about me...

So, this past week, I was with my middle schoolers from the youth group down at Garden City Beach Camp in Garden City, SC. It was a phenomenal week. We had 4 of our kids accept Christ for the first time and others to make decisions to make their relationship with God better. I love beach camp.

I'm not very much myself when I'm at beach camp. But it's a good thing. Let me explain to you what it's like...because many of you probably wouldn't believe me when I say I love it. Our bedrooms are rooms with 10 sets of bunk beds (20 beds total). Many of my male friends probably would not fit in them. The bathrooms have 3 showers, 3 toilets, and 3 sinks. This sounds like a lot, but when you have 20 girls in one room all trying to get ready for worship at the same time, it seems like half as many as you need. Every morning, we get up, and have breakfast and go to worship. For me, a shower is not in my morning agenda (very out of character) because I have just taken one the night before for worship. During the afternoons, we have free time. I hate sand, but I spend pretty much every afternoon at the beach. Free time is from 1-5 and I'm usually at the beach from 1-4. In the other hour, I hang out with the other kids back at the house and getting ready for dinner.

After morning worship, the kids go to their classes and, this past week, Trevor, Lyndsay, and I all taught a class on how to handle conflict. I've taught a class every year for the past 4 years, and this year, one of the classes was, without a doubt, the best class I've ever had. The content was great, but what made it so wonderful was the kids. They were very willing to participate and share stories. They admitted to having had issues with conflict in the past and we worked on things and talked stuff out together. On the first day, we decided that the overarching theme of the week was "it's not about me...". When involved in conflicts, if we can just remember "it's not about me", we will probably end up happier.

I think what I learn most every week is that the key to living a satisfying life is simplicity. When I'm there, I don't have a computer, I don't have a television, I have my phone but barely use it...and I'm happy. So if I try to add the selflessness notion mentioned above, maybe things will be even better. As much as I hate to admit it, it's so much easier to live like this while I'm down there. It's because I'm forced (as bad as it sounds) to read my bible, spend time with God, and pray. I'm trying to keep it a habit. We leave tomorrow for round 2 with the high schoolers. I'm excited to see God again...and hoping to see God when I get back too...