Freedom is not Free

I decided yesterday that I absolutely love the 4th of July. I've always really liked it, but I think it may be rivaling Thanksgiving for my favorite holiday (I haven't decided for sure yet, only because Thanksgiving also includes playing football).  Here's a quick glimpse into the 4th of July at K-Kountry . . .

8:45 ~ Kamp is awakened by the sounds of firecrackers exploding outside their barns. The greatest thing was having multiple kampers stick their heads out of the barn and ask us if we meant to wake them up. Yes, we did!

9:00 ~ American History WAR-ball. Warball with a twist. American Revolutionary Warball: The British counselors fighting the kamper colonists. Civil Warball: The kamper Union again defeated the counselor Confederacy.

11:15 ~ All American Free Time. Complete with the pool, water slides, water-balloon toss, ice-cream eating contest, blob wars, and Freedom Tickets which could be won a variety of ways and earned kampers a trip down the zipline!

1:00 ~ Picnic on the pool deck. I had my first bratwurst. It was delicious. Complete with apples, barbeque chips and chocolate chip brownies. An all American lunch.

2:30 ~ National Treasure showing during F.O.B. What an American movie, complete with adventure, intrigue, history, and of course some great one liners from Riley ("Albuquerque. See, I can do it too. Snorkel).

5:15 ~ Party at K-Kauai's water-park with an afternoon snack of peanut butter and jelly and watermelon slices.

7:00 ~ All American, all K-Kountry parade. Great American Heros like George W. and Lance Armstrong, and the greatest K-Kountry characters like Half Pipe Harry and the Bumble Bee (And don't forget the Ladies in Waiting, Miss K-Kountry, and Lil Jana and Big Miss).

7:45 ~ Another all American meal: Barbeque ribs, grilled chicken, pasta salad, corn on the cob, and a great salad bar. I again enjoyed a first! My first rib! No big deal, I definitely had some 9-year-old kampers asking me if I was really an American because I'd never had ribs before. I told them it was because I was a poor college student . . . they didn't buy it.

9:00 ~ K-Kountry fireworks. Grab a bompop. Grab a friend. Grab a seat. And sing along with God Bless the USA as we lit up the sky with a great fireworks show.

Whew. What an awesome day. I love that we celebrate the freedom we have in this country. Freedom to do and say what we like, and to believe whatever we choose to believe. As we were heading up to bed last night someone mentioned that "freedom is not free."

This is very true and reminds me of an essential, yet sometimes forgotten, truth.  Jesus paid the ultimate price so that I could be free. Free from sin. Free from guilt. Free from living a life of regret. Free from eternity separated from Him.  While I am so thankful for my freedom as an American, I am even more grateful for my freedom as a child of God! I did nothing to deserve this freedom, nothing to deserve my life. But Jesus chose to love me, chose to give me freedom and eternal life. He loved me more than his own life and paid a great price for my freedom. Praise the Lord! Praying that you are understanding and living in His freedom!!

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free! Stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." Galatians 5:1

Get off me Fear!!

I have been blessed to be able to be a boat driver this summer. Sweet memories are made out on the lake with these crazy 7 to 11 year-olds. It is pretty amazing to see just how brave some of these kids are. The craziest kids I've had have been Barn 3 girls, who were eight years-old. Its always hilarious to see their reactions when they are thrown from a tube into freezing cold water. It is also amazing to see some of these kids conquer their fears out on the lake.

Just yesterday I drove ski trip for Barn 1. Four little seven year-olds and their counselors piled in my boat and we headed out down the lake.  The first two were dare devils. Flying all around the lake and barely blinking when they were thrown into the water.  And then there was little Hannah. From the very beginning she was not going to go tubing. At all. In fact, she even tried to get her counselors to let her stay at kamp for the afternoon.  Being a former seven year-old who definitely was afraid of everything from seaweed to tubing on the lake, I understood exactly where she was coming from.  Her counselor and I tried to explain to her that it was going to be really fun and that she had nothing to be afraid of. She bursted into tears. She did not want to go and she was going to throw a tantrum before she got on that tube.

I sat down next to Hannah on the seat and had her look at me.  "Hannah," I said, "why don't you want to go tubing?" "I just don't want to go. I'm really scared and I really don't want to." After calming her down a little bit I tried to find out what she was afraid of. I couldn't really get a straight answer, but it seemed like she may have had some not so fun tubing experiences in the past.  I reassured her I would drive very slow, and that she would not fall off. Still not making much progress, I started to explain to her that she would be so glad after she tried it. She didn't really believe me. Then her barn-mates began to tell her some verses and that Jesus was going to be with her. They are also seven. It was so neat to see those little girls encouraging their friend to do something she was scared of. We still weren't making a whole lot of progress, so I said, "Hannah, this is what we are going to do." I told her she was going to go on the tube with her counselor, we would go very slow, and she could count to 60, a whole minute, and if she absolutely hated it she could get off after that.  "Do I have to?" "Yes." Through a little bit more convincing, and promising that she would not fall off, she finally got on the tube with her counselor.  I have never driven anything that slow in my entire life. But Hannah was tubing!! And loving it! She was beaming from ear to ear. And believe it or not, she didn't tell me she wanted to get off after 60 seconds. I don't even think she counted. That little seven year-old conquered a huge fear.

After that run she climbed back in the boat amongst praises of how brave she was and how proud we all were of her.  She got back in and said "yeah, it was fun, but I don't think I want to do it again." Darn. Well I don't know what happened during our snack time, but afterwards we went out to tube again. And she was ready to go again! She jumped on the tube with her counselor and another kamper and once again told me to go slow. We started out slow, but little by little I would pick up some speed. The whole time Hannah was still beaming. Yelling and laughing and having a great time. I finally got up to full speed and was cruising around the lake. She loved it. Every bit of it. Hannah did not want to get off that tube. She rode the whole 20 minute ride back to kamp with two girls from her barn.  Once we got back she told her other counselors, "I rode the longest ride ever!" Praise the Lord. That seven-year-old is now able to conquer her fears.

This is definitely one of the neatest things that has happened so far.  Hannah not only put all of her trust in a plastic tube and a Honda powered boat, but she put her trust in her counselor and in me. To know that she trusted us enough to allow us to help her conquer her fears was the coolest experience.  It gave me a lot of encouragement to realize that fear is simply a method of the enemy to keep us from experiencing all that God has for us. What a great reminder. Stop living in fear. No matter where life currently has you, realizing that your creator made you to be bold and courageous! Rest in that fact today!

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9