God’s People are a Wonder
Last week, I was blessed to be part of Horizons at Freed-Hardeman University. If you know me well at all, you know that FHU is one of my happiest places on earth (along with anywhere my family is and the beach). Horizons is built to be similar to a summer camp, but allows teens to pick elective classes as well as attend theme classes, devotionals, evening worship, singings, and help with service projects, all while getting a small taste of what it’s like to live in a dorm room and eat at a dining hall.
This year’s theme for Horizons was “Wonder.” We spent the week challenged to wonder and marvel at things such as God’s creation, forgiveness, justice, law, leadership, emotion, and so much more. As an adult, the sessions challenged and encouraged me; I can only imagine what it did for those younger than me!
I took notes all week from lessons and knew I would come home with just the right thing to write about for this week. Yet as I sit here trying to communicate to you just how wonderful last week was, I am once again marveling. As much as I took from the lessons (and I will share some of that in the future), can I just tell you that one of the wonders I saw last week were God’s people.
There were those older than me, younger than me, and the same age as me all working to help the young people of the church learn more about God and have fun fellowshipping in His family. It was a week of very hot temperatures and very little sleep. It was a week of customizing lessons and making technology work in unfamiliar classrooms. It was a week of serving meals and pulling chairs, It was a week of spreadsheets to make sure all the positions were filled and everything got done.
In the midst of doing all of that, these special people were also evangelizing to the dining hall workers who aren’t members of the Lord’s church, laughing with old friends, praying and crying with new friends who shared challenges, counseling campers who were dealing with major life struggles, and showing up for shifts they didn’t even sign up for on the spreadsheet. You know what else they were doing? They were smiling – in hairnets, with sweat rolling down their backs and knees reminding them they are no longer actually in college – they were smiling. Why?
I would suggest that they are part of “…a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that [they] may proclaim the praises of Him who called [them] out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9) and that they follow the admonition to “…whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ” (Col. 3:23-24).
Thank you Freed-Hardeman. Thank you Horizons. But most importantly, thank you to the God Whose love gives us reason to serve, smile, and wonder.
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AUTHOR: Amber Tatum
