At the start of July, while most staff departed for their summer holidays, I hit the busiest part of my summer: sports camps. Having never been involved in sports camps at Bethany before, I relied on the expertise of Jaylin, a seasoned pro and conveniently also a summer worker helping out specifically with the camps. The weeks leading up to the camps were spent planning, scheduling, re-scheduling, re-scheduling, staffing, re-staffing etc. So when the first day of camp arrived, I was nervous and excited, nervous because I didn’t know what to expect and excited because all the work done in preparation was finally going to go into effect.
The main way that I was in front of the campers was during Courtside (similar to our Selah time). I had prepared a four part series coming out of Romans 8 and although slightly apprehensive as to how the campers would take it, I was mostly looking forward to being able to share. At Bethany sports camps we attempt to bridge the gap between faith and athletics, trying to explain the connection that naturally exists, not create one. I went into the first Courtside with optimism that what I had prepared would make huge waves. Perhaps this was too idealistic or simply proud, but when I spoke it seemed like the campers simply didn’t care, that they weren’t interested in what I had to say. Insert extreme disappointment and discouragement. Here was my major opportunity both to connect with the campers and share about what Jesus has already done for all of us, and indeed what God is doing in and through our transformed lives, and it seemed like it was missing the mark.
So I gave it up. Not “gave up” but I gave it up. I gave up my expectations of how I expected God to work (this was far more out of necessity than some super-spirituality complex). I wanted to see the fruit immediately. Oddly enough, one of the great encouragements of Romans 8 is that God is indeed at work; we sometimes don’t see it, we sometimes wonder if it actually is happening, but He is. Christ’s sacrifice is evidence that God is at work, that He loves His world, and desires to restore it. He desires to restore us. I think that maybe this experience was restoration for me. It restored me to a proper place in my relationship with God and my expectations of how He would use what I offered.
Of course God did use it, to what extent I’m unsure of, but He was generous enough to give me a glimpse. A camper approached me during basketball camp (the second week of camps), after the first Courtside of the week (an interesting restoration of the first day of the first week). He explained that he had never before heard of Jesus’ sacrifice, of God’s love in the way he had heard it that night. I give more credit to God than to whatever I may have done differently that second time through but knowing that I could be a part of what He was doing, of what He wanted others to hear was an encouragement that was even sweeter after having my experiences of the first week.
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angles nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depths, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39)
Nick Boschman
Athletics Director
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