by Ryan Haddox
Summer is upon us and we’re off to a great start at Illuminate Ministries and Glow Kids. At Illuminate, we’re all recuperated from the big trip to Carowinds and now have our sites on camp at Cowen and one more outing before it gets cold…STAY TUNED FOR THAT! Glow Kids is growing in numbers and we’re EXCITED about that! With the summer in full swing and vacations being taken, I wanted to stop for a moment and encourage everyone to rest from the business that summer can bring!
This summer, for me personally, is the busiest one yet! I’ve got two camps, vacation bible school, and I’M GETTING MARRIED!!! All of that is going to make an old man out of me by the end, but in all of the business that I’m surrounded with I have to make sure to center myself with God’s word and peace and sustainability. With sports, tournaments, vacations, reunions, and whatever else you and yours do, it’s easy to get wrapped up in the fun of it and put God on the back burner. It’s easy to “play tardy” at church because you simply don’t have time or need to pack. All of that is so simple for us to do, but also so dangerous. You see…we all must be connected to God in order to know what direction to go in life. Just like my GPS got us down and back from Carowinds safety, so also does the Word of God carry me and sustain my every move. We must also speak with God. In order for friendships and relationships to flourish there must be communication and listening, so also is our relationship with our Heavenly Father. We must have excellent communication and listening skills in order to grow our relationship with God.
These are two aspects of growing closer to God that our students will hear and learn about at Camp, as well as Sunday Nights. My prayer for our students, and all students that attend Camp, is that they would be filled up with Christ while there and not pull the plug on Him when they get home. Just like a sink filled with water, that water only stays in if you don’t pull the plug. My prayer is that they continue to fill themselves up with goodness (through the use of the two aspects above) and let it overflow into their outward lives and their schools.