Picture this....

Well, Christmas day is over, the presents are open and we are now just enjoying what is left of our holiday break!

As we all get caught up in flurry of Christmas, it makes it easy to forget who Jesus started out as, so let's picture this:

Mary and Joseph (Jesus's mom and dad) find themselves pregnant and unmarried and are therefore outcasts in society. They don't fit in! When Mary is finally in labour, they can't find anywhere that will take them in. They end up settling for what ever they can get - bunking in with farm animals in a barn with their scratchy hay and manure. By today, Jesus would have only been a few days old and Mary and Joseph would still be adjusting to life with a newborn baby - organizing feedings, enduring sleepless nights, and worrying about where they would go next and how they would do it with a new baby. All the while, attempting to manage the constant stream of visitors who made their way to see their child (shepherds, kings etc). And yet, this is the Son of God.

As Jesus grew up, his family was probably poor and worked hard to have enough. Maybe the kids from his village laughed at him for his ratty, dirty clothes or his family that were thought to be the "weirdos" of the town. Maybe Jesus had a chore list from his parents, or a list of rules that he was expected to follow...just like the rest of us, maybe Mary had frustrated moments of thinking "This can't possibly be the Son of God!!!".

Learning carpentry from his Dad, Jesus took up the trade in young adulthood. It was not a high class job, thats for sure, but he probably got along fine. The manual labor was exhausting, but he worked hard. Then he began to draw followers, as he told stories that seemed totally unbelievable. To most people, they seemed backwards, and totally contradictory to the society of the day. He was mocked and laughed at, and right up until he was killed, some people thought he was just some crazy person claiming to be the Son of God.

Today, it is easy to categorize people and their potential contributions to society based on their social standing...whether they were part of the "in crowd". Throughout Jesus' life, he was seen as an outcast, challenging us to see beyond people's clothes or job or the neighborhood they live in. As we continue to celebrate the humble birth of Christ, we must also now look to the ordinary lives we go back to. During this Christmas season, we sometimes see Jesus as the almighty King but we also must consider the realities of his existence - an outsider with a humble message. And as we head back to our ordinaries, lets challenge ourselves to take notice of those who we consider outsiders in our society today.

(And here's a quote, because I like quotes!!!)
"It's good to remember that Jesus grew up as a poor Jew in a poor town. His life was not about having great material possessions, but about living for God in this humble and modest way." - Stephen Chapman, associate professor of the Old Testament at Duke Divinity School

Posting by:
- Erin McIntyre, Koino Bible Instructor 2009

Venturing Out

Hi blog readers! This, like John, is also my first post for the CwM blog and even writing this makes me remember camp, and the special place it has in my heart!

Many of these other posts have been about where we as camp staff see God. I’m going to take this from a bit of a different perspective: I tend to feel God when I need to find Him the most. Let me explain this a little more…

In a matter of days…(DAYS!!!)…I will be off to Ireland for a 4 month volunteer term, plus a couple months of travel afterwards. I am going to work with an organization that does respite care for adults and children with disabilities. It’s an exciting prospect—adventure, independence, the unknown—but it is starting to mean something different for me as my days in Manitoba dwindle away. I am going to be alone for 6 months. I won’t have my friends and family or the things that make me feel comfortable or safe. And although that fact is starting to scare me, it's also starting to force me to dig a little deeper to search for God, and is pushing me to put more trust in Him than I have ever had to before.

It’s during times like this that I have to rely on God. I have to put my trust in Him because when everything else falls away, He’s who I’ve got. He’s my “person.” As I am preparing to venture out into the unknown, I am comforted by the fact that God is always going to be with me. Regardless of the changes that happen around me, God remains a constant. When I really need God is when I look the hardest to find Him.

I want to encourage all of you to look out for God. Sometimes, if you’re like me, it’s when you need Him the most that you can feel Him the most: when you are getting ready to go back to school after a great week of camp and feeling like the people at school just won’t understand, or you’re moving to a new place, or you family is having troubles. It’s during times like this that we need a constant, and it’s exciting to remember that God is that constant—both in our ordinaries and in those times we are venturing out into the unknown.

So here’s to adventures and new experiences…and to looking for God in these things!

Kate McIntyre--SLT Director 2009

Since camp has ended...

So, this is my first blog post to the CWM blog. I'm super excited about it, and hoping that campers are too. If you are excited, add a comment, respond to a post, let us know what you think, because really, you are who this is for!

It is now 3 months after camp has ended (longer for some of you) and right about now is the time when I start to wonder what happend to the person I said I was at camp. Perhaps he decided to take a vacation, and fly south for the winter months, perhaps he got lost in the busyness of school, or perhaps they never existed. Maybe that's not your experience at all, but if you're anything like me, you're probably wondering those things.

I was one of the Bible instructors at Camp Assiniboia this last summer, and one of the things that I tried to do at the end of each week at camp was let everyone know, staff and campers that although camp is ending, the things that happen at camp don't have to. One of the themes of this blog is "Where you see God?" and I think we can all agree that at camp, its pretty easy or at least easier to see God.

When I was a camper, I saw God in my counselor when they helped resolve conflicts between people in my cabin, I saw God when they shared their stories around a campfire, and most of all I saw God when we would talk together afterward. They showed me that God was with me no matter where I was, that I could pray whenever I wanted to and most of all, that you could be a Christian and still be a really cool guy... but months down the road those lessons, and the friendships and relationships of camp are long gone... which makes me wonder "Where is God?"

As well as being in school, I also lead the youth at my church, Grain of Wheat and every week, we ask our youth that question. Some people see God in nature, a beautiful tree, or their garden... those people sometimes have trouble when winter comes round. Some people see God in their friends, when they feel supported and cared for... they get stuck when their friends seem to be turning their backs on them. Still others see God in music... but what about when the music fades, or you just don't "feel it" anymore. Well, to be quite honest, I don't always know. We all have times when God seems far away and that's normal. In a funny way though, just knowing that is a bit comforting because its hopeful. If we all have times when we feel that God is far away, then we have times when God is close too.

Recently, I've been seeing God in the baby girl that is growing in my wife's body. I am constantly amazed that eventually that thing moving and growing in her is going to be a person some day. It makes me marvel at the mystery of creation. I realize that God is good, and that there's something amazing happening in the world, and it has some special meaning around Christmas time because Christmas is when God came into the world. And the miracle of Jesus coming into the world is made even more incredible by the miracle of my baby coming in April.

So there you have it, I hope I've made you think, and if anything I hope you've said a little "awwwwww" at the cutesy-ness of the last paragraph.

This is John Neufeld, Camp Assiniboia Bible Instructor signing out.