We started Family Camp today with a Sunday morning service.  Malachi noticed the imbalance right away when he said if we were home right now, we’d be driving over to pfm.  Instead it was breakfast, the breaking of our fast made notable by french toast and sausage.  The coffee flows endlessly, and, I’m told, 24 hours a day.  Edenic.

After getting my “speaker clothes” on, which, as Mac says, “has a place for the microphone,” we headed over to the playground to see what all the preservice fuss was about.  Soon Mac was playing GaGa ball with the rest of the gang and I was left to my meandering.  By 10AM (Central Time) we were on our way to the first service together.  WellSpring — a Spring Arbor University band, now in its 17th year — led our worship together. Then it was my turn.  Camp Director Paul’s introduction was humbling and all too kind.  I won’t go into details about the message here and now, but I will say that it involved a story about forgotten luggage, my Detroit accent, cheese curds, and a faint retelling of our engagement story.  At one point a volunteer from the congregation jumped stood on a chair.  But I’ve already said too much.

I will say that the first day of speaking is, for me, like learning how to drive a stick in England.  The rules and expectations are all there, but the nuances of the culture have to be detected in real time.  Sure, we’ve got a theme and a hankerin’ for a destination, but I like to check out the landscape and see how and where God is moving.

My sense is that He’s got big things in store for us this week.

Granted, I think God always has something for us.  But when He does something en masse, it’s a very unique time indeed.  This is what ebenezers are for — a monument of historic significance in the life of a believer and/or community.

I’ve been praying Romans 15:13 for SkyLodge: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

What a prayer.

Do it in me, Lord.