Yesterday was a day of rest and preparation for the upcoming events.  Thankfully, we have much more clarity for the work ahead of us and plan on tackling a lot of it today.  The highlights from yesterday were a very nice visit with our friend Dori, and a long walk to the Christmas Markets in Polish Cieszyn.

This morning I have been working on revising the first of my two evening talks for camp.  As you know, the theme for camp, is “Hope.”  From an English perspective, we think of hope as either a confident expectation of something that will happen, or something that we hope will happen.  The second of these is based on our own wishes, and desires.  The first, is based on trust that something unseen will deliver what we hope for.  In our case, God.

As native English speakers, we might ask “what’s the big deal?”,  we might say “I hope we are not having spinach with dinner” in the very same conversation as “I have hope of eternal life.”  But the wrong understanding can lead to problems.  For instance “I have confident hope in God that we are not having spinach for dinner” seems like nonsense.  The opposite, “I really wish that I have eternal life” sounds find, but misses the biblical mark.

Throughout camp, I will be trying to be clear that my confidence in the promises of God are more than just wishful thinking.  They are rooted in the nature and character of God.  Honestly, its a good exercise wherever we go.

Prayer requests:

• Final preparations for camp
• Health for the team