genesis 1:14-18

"Then God said: "Let there be lights in the dome of the sky, to separate day from night. Let them mark the fixed times, the days and the years, and serve as luminaries in the dome of the sky, to shed light upon the earth." And so it happened: God made the two great lights, the greater one to govern the day, and the lesser one to govern the night; and he made the stars. God set them in the dome of the sky, to shed light upon the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness." Genesis 1:14-18

luminary - noun. 

1. a person who inspires or influences others

2. an artificial light

It's the last week of camp!! Where did the time go?

I have been here for 12 weeks now - and I am convinced that the months of June and July didn't happen. 

This summer has been one of the hardest and one of the most fruitful times of my life. I have grown in countless ways by the grace of God and have seen His glory magnified in the souls of so many people that I have encountered. 

Each week we see 300 people come through camp - teens, youth ministers, core team members, nurses, a host, priests, religious sisters, and musicians. And each encounter has shown me more and more about the Heart of Christ. 

Friday night is the highlight of every week of camp. Friday night is my craziest night logistically, and I run and run and run around making sure that everything is set up. My schedule looks a little something like this:

7:00 pm - session starts. Talk begins in the main room. Have prayer team member meat a priest on the deck to bring the Blessed Sacrament from the chapel tabernacle to the portable tabernacle in the hidden back of the main room.

7:00 pm - The rest of prayer team and I set up luminaries around the lake. 200 mason jars with tea candles in them set out to line the lake in a path for Eucharistic procession.

7:45ish pm - The teens are sent out of main room to journal around camp grounds. We go inside the main room to set up Eucharistic adoration. We take out altar and set up room, making sure cope and humeral veil are ready. Light charcoal for adoration.

8:10ish pm - Bell rings. Teens are sent back into the main room for Eucharistic adoration. Send in priest and thurifer during the first song of praise and worship. 

8:10ish pm - The prayer team and I go to light luminaries around the lake. We set up altar at the end of the procession with cloth and corporal and candles.

8:40 pm - Prayer team and I go in to the main room to pray in adoration.

8:55 pm - light candles for prayer team to lead the procession.

9:00 pm - Eucharistic procession around the lake - 4 candle bearers, 1 thurifer and someone to walk with him, priest + Jesus. TEENS LITERALLY FOLLOW JESUS AROUND THE LAKE. AHHHH

9:20ish pm - Benediction on the field outside the chapel. Make sure benediction prayers and light are set up for priest to see. clean up after.

It's a crazy night and I run around and make sure everything is set up... and right as the teens begin the procession I am able to breathe and the peace is always so tangible. 

One of the greatest gifts of the day is walking into the empty main room once the teens leave to blow out the candles and take down the altar. The smell of incense still lingers in the room and the soul-moving praise and worship has turned to silence. The stillness rings of the Holy Spirit. 

And I walk outside and the teens are still singing the Doxology at the top of their lungs as they follow Jesus around the lake. Small candles light their way and they realize that they too are called to be luminaries to their families and communities as they go back home the next day. 

They are called to be luminaries. 

The little candles that take so long to put out and a lot of work and logistics to make happen are what light the path to Jesus.

The path of following Jesus is the path of the cross. It is the path of light. The path that prefers the light to the darkness and realizes that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Every Friday I watch the teens giving their lives to Christ and encountering Him in a new way and seeing His love for them makes me catch my breath and I see a glimpse of Heaven. They are literally pursuing the path of light.

The luminaries that God placed in the sky at the dawn of time preceded the luminaries that God makes of each one of the teens that pass through a week of camp. The lights He meant to separate the darkness from the light were good - and then He made human beings in His image and likeness - and we are VERY GOOD. And WE are meant to prefer the light to the darkness and be beacons of light, separating the darkness from the light and showing the path to Christ in our lives. 

The God that made the stars made us in His likeness to be luminaries to the world. To be lights of His great mercy and love and to be a sign of His promises. He was not content with the beauty of the stars - He wanted the living breathing beauty of man to be even better lights than those He had already made. 

Tomorrow is my last day setting out luminaries for the procession. The way of the cross, the way of the luminaries, the way of the light - this is why I'm here. This is what kept me going. Christ used this night to transfigure my heart to see a glimpse of His great love for me and remind me of the greater mission. 

Lord, let my heart burn only for You.

Live with Joy.

photos by Madi Meyers-Cook Photography and Life Teen International.

hosea 2:16

The King of Love, my Shepherd is. 

Well, I've been at camp for 2 weeks and 2 days (WHAT) and it has been pretty grand, y'all. He knows my heart and doesn't disappoint. I'm doing things I love with people I love at a place I love and it doesn't get much better than that. 

So let's have some share time - here's what has been going on in my heart lately.

Wild and free.

These are the words the Lord has been calling me to grow in these past few weeks of work week and training week. All we've been doing is preparing for camp. And the Lord has used this time to prepare my heart for how the posture of my heart needs to be this summer. Let's break it down.

Wild. Hmm. My first thought with this is unrestrained. I think toddler running around without enough sleep and wreaking havoc in the living room. BUT I believe that God is trying to get at something a little different. I think He's going for something beyond belief - filled with wonder. Like a wild day at an amusement park - full of joy and awe and excitement that comes from a great experience. Unrestrained joy. 

Free. This one is a bit more interesting. To be free, I must know that I am protected and that I am safe. I must recognize the importance of the boundaries in order to exercise fully the joy that is desired. To be free is to know my identity without hindrance and to pursue love without restraint. Freedom is only found in knowing who I am. I cannot find freedom in pretending to be someone that I am not because then I would be inhibiting myself from true authenticity. Giving fully to God and fully to authenticity is living in full freedom. 

Okay. So wild and free. How do they work together.

1. The Holy Spirit resides in the wild and free. I can only be docile to the Holy Spirit and His promptings if I know my heart and my true identity that I am His. I can only let Him work in my life if I recognize the freedom He is inviting me to and how He desires me to give fully and freely of myself for His kingdom.

2. To be wild and free requires bold courage. I cannot be fearful and free at the same time. If I am experiencing fear, then I am believing the lie that I am not safe in Him. To be courageous and act according to His will no matter the circumstance - inconvenient or convenient -  THAT is what it means to be wild and free.

3. Dogs are pretty dang wild and free. REALLY THOUGH. When I was praying about this one day I saw one of my favorite pups on camp, Bandit, running across the field with his other dog friend Virginia. They were so wild and free!! Why? Because they were open to receiving love without exception. They ran up to anyone on camp knowing they are safe and will be cared for. They run across the field in majestic fashion --- living life wild and free. They know their boundaries. They know they are loved. And they just receive.

Okay, I know the dog analogy can only go so far. BUT. There is so much to learn there.

God is calling me to live wild and free. Do I know that I am His? Do I know I am safe and loved and cared for in His plan for me? Do I know that He will provide and I just need to be docile to His Spirit and open to His promptings? Or do I let fear creep in and allow myself to fall into forgetting who I am and Who loves me with an unending and fierce and gentle and ever-present love?

So, how has camp been these last few weeks? Challenging. Joyful. Hopeful. Beautiful.

But most of all - WILD AND FREE. 

Now bring on the campers next week!!

Praise You, King Jesus. Help me to be wild and free in knowing Your love like the sheep knows her Shepherd.

live with Joy.

--all photos courtesy of Madi Meyers-Cook Photography. She's pretty dang cool. 

1 timothy 1:12

"I am grateful to Him who has strengthened me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because He considered me trustworthy in appointing me to the ministry."

1 Timothy 1:12

Today I finished my junior year of college. I turned in my last paper and, with a celebratory nutella smoothie in hand, rejoiced in the summer sun. 

The stark white walls of my dorm room are picture-less.

My clothes and things are packed into duffel bags and ready to be stored away. 

I am one week from a flight to Atlanta to serve as a missionary for three months.

Moving from one mission field to the next.

I know that I haven't done the best job of updating this blog in that past school year ( I found many drafts I never posted ha)  - BUT FEAR NOT - I will be updating this blog during the summer as a way for y'all to be up to date on the great and holy experiences of summer camp and the glory of what's happening there. 

When I started this blog in a response to remaining fearless after my first experience of summer camp, I had no idea that I would be going back 3 summers in a row. LOL ya no. But God knows me and knows my heart and I am thrilled and humbled to be out tending the vineyard again at summer camp. 

One week from today I will be in GA and praying and dancing and jumping around with great and holy people and hammocking on the weekend and meeting hundreds of new friends and I'll probably lose my voice 4 weeks from now and ironing lots of altar linens and running around in chacos (or barefoot) and itching away at hundreds of mosquito bites. I'm pumped. If a run-on sentence doesn't make you feel excited for me, I don't know what will. 

So, three summers later I am still trying to remain fearless, still trying to remain in Him and remain in His love (John 15:9). I welcome you to join me on my mission this summer by praying for me and by checking out my donation page here.  I am still fundraising and have about $150 to raise to hit my goal.

I am ready to head back to early mornings and late nights, community holy hours, breakfast corndogs, teens running to reconciliation and excited about the Mass, loving on God's awesome teens and meeting wonderful and dedicated youth ministers and core members, great friends and encouragement and community and just some great love. yeeeeee!

I cannot wait to see what He has planned this summer. I have a feeling its gonna be a great one.

He is good, y'all. Praise. 

Live with Joy.