Bluffs Blog #3

Hello Friends!
I hope this blog finds you well and excited for summer. I myself am quite excited to be back at Pine Cove. We just finished our first week of training, which is where all the specialty training goes on. Our lifeguards are trained, our ropes people are trained, our boat drivers are trained, and then people come to help set up camp. This week was good, it had some rough moments, I won't lie, but over all it was wonderful.
I am so excited to be surrounded by people who are willing to serve the Lord for a summer and sacrifice so much, it truly makes me excited for heaven when I'm here.
Well, about halfway through this week our camp director asked the leadership team what we are most nervous about this summer. My answer was failing. The thing that has plagued me the most is feeling like I'm inadequate, that I will do a horrible job as program director this summer and that the people I with will regret hiring me. Now I recognize that some of that is just Satan trying to distract me and get me to focus on things other than my main purpose for being here. But let me show you the amount of sin wrapped up in that statement that the Lord has revealed to me over the past couple of days.
1) Pride. That is one of the sins I struggle with the most. I like to thing I can do it all myself. Even this week I had a moment when I was overwhelmed and not having fun, and I thought to myself "I should ask for help on this project" my initial reaction was "no I got this. I can do it by myself", but the Lord reminded me of all the great things He did when I laid down my pride last summer. So I asked for help and the result was better than anything I could have imagined.
2)Idolatry. Idolatry is when you put anything before or higher than God. Can you see the idolatry in the statement I made about my biggest fear? It is my fear of man. I am so afraid of letting people down, and of them being disappointed or not liking me. Many times I'm more worried about what they think than what the Lord thinks. I quickly find myself doing things to please man and make him happy, rather than pleasing the Lord and trying to make HIM happy.
3) Dependence on myself (I'm not sure what you call that... Pride maybe?) I laugh when I find myself thinking that things are not going to go well if I don't do it. Somehow I got into this mentality that I have to do everything, and do it perfect, otherwise it won't work at all. But if there is one thing I remember from my past summers is that the Lord doesn't need me. He chooses to work through me, but He could do it on His own. And that He uses the lowly and humble. His grace is made perfect in my weakness, and it is sufficient for when I can't do it on my own.
My prayer the past couple of days has been that the Lord would step in and use me. That Raychel McKelvy would step out of the way, and allow the Spirit of the Lord to work through here. I was to be a vessel emptied out for His use this summer.
Please know that I am SUPER excited for this summer, but the Lord is faithful to grow those who ask to be grown, and He is faithful to complete the good work He began in me.

So, for those of you who don't know, this summer my job is going to be program director for our camp the "Bluffs". This means anything program wise, I am overseeing it. I have a right-hand man Take Out who is going to help set up and his job is to oversee/ minister to all of the sections outside of the programs. I am excited for my job because it allows me to do the things I love: hanging and talking with people and acting and being on stage. I am also nervous because it is quite a big responsibility and again, I don't feel equipped to lead a bunch of people. But the Lord has brought nothing but encouragement my way since I've been here, and the amount of people that have confidence in me being in this position is heartening.

Ok. I will sign off, but I have a couple of request for you my reader.
1)Prayer. Just prayers for the things I mentioned above, and that I would stay focused on the things the Lord has placed in front of me and not worry about things outside my control.
2) Letters. I love receiving hand-written letters, and I've decided this summer to beg for them. So if you think about it, I would love to hear from y'all this summer in letter form. So you can write to me:
Raychel "Reba Smackentire" McKelvy
Pine Cove Bluffs Camp
P.O. Box 9055
Tyler, TX 75711-9055

Have a wonderful summer!!
In Him,
Raychel