In the upcoming weeks of the month of July, we will put more miles on the church vans, and even earn some frequent flyer miles. There will be groups from the church traveling to PassportKids Camp, Passport Youth Camp, and as far as Brazil. As they go, they will go with our prayers, taking with them part of us, as we are bound together as a church.
The team going to Brazil will offer ministry to people, whose names we do not know, but who will become important to their lives. They will offer ministry to children, showing them love and care; provide glasses to others who have trouble seeing, build a church for a congregation, and share the gifts of fellowship with everyone they meet. The time in Brazil echoes the words from the gospel of John, where Jesus says, “. . . I came so that everyone would have life and have it to its fullest” (John 10:10 CEV).
This is also the verse, which is the focus of Passport this summer, for our children and our youth. During their time at Passport, our children and youth will consider the meaning of this “Wild Life,” which is the theme of camp this year. They will use their time at camp in worship and prayer, ministry and service, community and scripture to reflect on this “Wild Life,” or life to its “fullest.”
I am thankful to have the opportunity to go with our children to PassportKids Camp this summer. In thinking about this “Wild Life,” I cannot help but remember the line from the poem by Mary Oliver, which says, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life.” It calls us to look for the places where our lives intersect with what Jesus describes as life to its “fullest.”
The question before us is always what does life to its “fullest” look like. We might travel elsewhere and discover it, but we do not have to travel miles away in order to find it. We can travel to places like Brazil or Passport, which are sacred places, and we might discover life to its “fullest;” but we also want to bring it back home with us. We also want to discover life to its “fullest” in our ordinary lives.
We can discover this “Wild Life,” even in our ordinary lives, as humility and patience, service and generosity, prayer and worship, ministry and community are intertwined with our lives. We can use this one wild and precious life as a gift, as it is animated by the love and grace of God.
-Tripp