family

Kamp Kalamos is over. And what a wonderful week it was! Sadly, we fly out in less than 12 hours. 12 hours...

I'm a bag full of mixed emotions. I want to cry out of sadness and confusion, but I'm excited to see friends and family. Much has happened since I've been away. Long story short: my friends and I had a house in Nashville, and then we didn't, and now I have a new house with fewer friends. We have three days of debrief after our arrival in Atlanta tomorrow, and I was planning on staying with a friend for a few days after that. Now, we are going up to Nashville to move our stuff from one house to the other. The point: don't expect a very succinct and processed blog post about this summer right away. I've struggled to process much at all in terms of how I'm growing and learning, and with a whirlwind next few days I don't think it'll get any easier. Debrief will help, but I may not be able to blog again until after I make it all the way home to Houston on Saturday.

Back to Kalamos and the point of this post: The theme for the camp was the Church as a family and what that looks like in a number of situations. There were lessons on respecting elders in the church, lessons on the body of Christ, lessons on the different roles of people working in and out of the church, and lessons on relationships among Christians and what they should look like. At Kalamos there were teens from evangelical churches all over Greece: from Volos (oh, how wonderful it was to see them again!), from First, Second, and Third Churches in Athens, and from many others. There were also teens from across the world, most of whom spoke Greek. We worshipped together as a family at least twice a day, most of the time singing in Greek, but there were some times when we were able to recall the English lyrics ("Who Am I", "Here I Am to Worship", "Prince of Peace"). I don't think I can describe to you what it is like to truly worship alongside other languages if you've never experienced it. Language really is no barrier. Despite singing in two different languages, we were fully united as one voice praising our God, our Lord, our Jesus. We know Him the same. We worship the same God, with the same voice, under the same stars, which He created.

I know intellectually that I have brothers and sisters all over the world. That's also a fact that's become even more obvious to me as I've begun to pray for a different country everyday (thanks David Platt). But coming here? I've now met those brothers and sisters. I know exactly how they need prayer and support. I can see their hearts and their struggles. They feel like my brothers and sisters, and I love them dearly. Nothing, not language, not distance, can separate me from them, just as nothing can separate me from the love of Christ. Why? Because the love of Christ has been poured out onto each and every one of us. And this week that love was poured right back out upon one another.

I lived in a tent with the 11 youngest girls at Kamp. They are 12, 13, and 14 years old. They love playing bougello (water fights) and making farsa (pranks). They're young and innocent. They may not have opened up to me very much, but that doesn't matter to my heart. I love these girls. I love them like I love my best friends, like I love my sisters. I could never forget a single one of their faces. While I would much rather be with them to watch them grow, thanks to a world of internet, I can still keep in touch and watch from afar, all the while praying earnestly for them and waiting for God's timing in allowing me to return.

My heart feels so full, but I know that all this loving is making it work, just like any other muscle needs work to grow. This tightness in my chest, this heart that feels like it'll burst at any minute? It's a heart that's growing and stretching and learning how to love more abundantly, more selflessly, more purely. It's learning to love because it's been loved first.

Join me in prayer for our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world. But join me in prayer especially for our siblings in Greece that I now know personally. Because I've blogged about various ministries I've been involved with here, you can see just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the kinds of prayers needed in Greece. As I begin journeying home, let me know if you'd like to talk about this summer. I might need a few weeks to organize my heart and mind, but I assure you, I will LOVE to talk about these amazing servants of Christ and how you can be praying for them.

Well, I'll blog again from America. I can't wait to see you all!