Saturday, July 14, 2018

Psalm 8 and Preteen Camp

One of the values of a slow reading of Scripture is that it helps to put that Scripture into our memory. It becomes something more than just words on a page. It becomes ideas and images that we carry around with us wherever we go. And sometimes, often unlooked for, God will bring that Scripture to the forefront of our minds.

I'm at Preteen Camp this weekend at Camp Tejas. What a joy and privilege to be able to talk with 3rd through 6th graders about what faith in Jesus Christ looks like. Five times in the course of two full days and two half days preteens from six different churches worship together. We sing. We read Scripture. We pray. And after I preach, all of the church groups divide into smaller groups to talk more specifically about our theme this year.

Needless to say, it is a very focused time of fun, food, activities, and worship.

Little did I expect to encounter Psalm 8 this morning as I awoke and looked out over the portion of a pond that backs up to my cabin. The first words on my mind were the words of Monday and the words of yesterday - Psalm 8:1.
O Lord, our Lord,
How majestic is your name in all the earth,
Who have displayed your splendor above the heavens.
The scene needed some words of praise. The sunshine on the water, the greenery around me, the silence of the early morning, all of them called forth a heartfelt gratitude to God for the day. The words of this week were ready to answer the call!

It is moments like these that I value again the power of Scripture that is taken into our hearts and minds and lives. When we take those words off the page and put them in our heart, we carry them around with us everyplace we go. They go with us to our places of work and our places of play. They are with us on the road and at home. They even go to Preteen Camp! And as they go, they breathe life and understanding and encouragement into me. They truly become living words as I live with them and they shape my understanding of my circumstances.

I pray that you will commit yourself to the slow reading of Scripture so that the words on the pages will bury themselves in your hearts and come alive in you and through you!

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