I have now been in the Dells one week. It has been quite an experience! I have a job at a place called Holiday Shores; it's a campground that has lots of seasonal renters that have their own trailers and just rent the spot to stay on and then there are quite a few rental trailers, RV spots, and tent sites too. The first day we were treated to their famous doughnuts and were put to work, not necessarily doing the job that we would be doing all summer. We cleaned cabins, trailers, and motel cabins, then put some new trailers together. Two days later, it was neat to see people enjoying the fruits of our labor. Later, I was assigned the job of overseeing the game room and rentint out golf carts. They have a room full of arcade games and a ping-pong table (They are hoping to get a pool table too.) and lots of balls and paddles for kids to borrow to play all sorts of sports. Memorial Day weekend was quite busy and after a few mistakes and troubles with different machines, hopefully we have everything straightened out. I have some wonderful co-workers; one is from our group and is actually from SDSU too, another is a high school student who's kind of quiet, and the third one I haven't gotten to meet yet; I've heard that he's from Bulgaria.
Switching subjects, yesterday we had our first day of recreation with the whole group of Dells STPers. We went out to Devil's Lake and went rock climbing (I didn't actually rock climb. The climb up to the rock climbing was enough climbing for me, plus there were rock stairs, so I'd like to say that I still went rock climbing!). It was so beautiful there; we could see across the lake and all the mountains and trees. The water was so clear and cold; it was amazing! Our team and our brother team stayed out there until sunset. It got a little buggy, but other than that it was really nice outside. I don't know how people can experience nature like that and not believe that God is real and He created everything, forming it with His own hands.
We have quiet times every morning, and yesterday morning the scripture was taken from 1 John 4 where it talks about love (7-21). We are supposed to make several observations about the passage and then figure out our favorite verse and form an application from it. I think most of that passage is a favorite of mine, but the verse that stood out to me the most was 19: "We love because He first loved us." (ESV) That verse doesn't place any conditions on love; it doesn't set any rules; it just says "we love." I thought about how some of us say we are Christians, but then we don't love like Christ. We put limitations on it; we say we can love only those who are from our country, who are neat and tidy, who have homes and food. But that's not what God wants; that's not how He loves. He loves unconditionally. Unconditionally means without limitations, absolute. What if everyone loved with an absolute love? What if we had no limitations on our love; if it didn't matter what people did or didn't do to/for us? What if we loved like Christ and were willing to give up anything and everything for someone that we just met, or better yet, someone who we didn't even know, someone who didn't deserve it? What if...? I think it would affect everything. I think it would start a chain reaction that could affect the whole world. There is only one problem; it has to start somewhere. Whoa, you might be thinking, you're suggesting that I take part in this. Yes, I am. It only takes a spark to get a fire going and that one spark can give warmth to someone that's hurting. Let's be that spark and set the world on fire for the love of God!
Switching subjects, yesterday we had our first day of recreation with the whole group of Dells STPers. We went out to Devil's Lake and went rock climbing (I didn't actually rock climb. The climb up to the rock climbing was enough climbing for me, plus there were rock stairs, so I'd like to say that I still went rock climbing!). It was so beautiful there; we could see across the lake and all the mountains and trees. The water was so clear and cold; it was amazing! Our team and our brother team stayed out there until sunset. It got a little buggy, but other than that it was really nice outside. I don't know how people can experience nature like that and not believe that God is real and He created everything, forming it with His own hands.
We have quiet times every morning, and yesterday morning the scripture was taken from 1 John 4 where it talks about love (7-21). We are supposed to make several observations about the passage and then figure out our favorite verse and form an application from it. I think most of that passage is a favorite of mine, but the verse that stood out to me the most was 19: "We love because He first loved us." (ESV) That verse doesn't place any conditions on love; it doesn't set any rules; it just says "we love." I thought about how some of us say we are Christians, but then we don't love like Christ. We put limitations on it; we say we can love only those who are from our country, who are neat and tidy, who have homes and food. But that's not what God wants; that's not how He loves. He loves unconditionally. Unconditionally means without limitations, absolute. What if everyone loved with an absolute love? What if we had no limitations on our love; if it didn't matter what people did or didn't do to/for us? What if we loved like Christ and were willing to give up anything and everything for someone that we just met, or better yet, someone who we didn't even know, someone who didn't deserve it? What if...? I think it would affect everything. I think it would start a chain reaction that could affect the whole world. There is only one problem; it has to start somewhere. Whoa, you might be thinking, you're suggesting that I take part in this. Yes, I am. It only takes a spark to get a fire going and that one spark can give warmth to someone that's hurting. Let's be that spark and set the world on fire for the love of God!
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