Ok, so, we went away for what ended up being more than a week. I really wasn't sure what to expect as, like I said, it was going to be more of a working vacation for me and there were going to be 12 of us crammed into a trailer during what turned out to be quite the warm week. But, it was.......wait for it.....AWESOME! I had some prayer warriors on my side and it was obvious they were praying.
I've tried to figure out why it was so great and through two sermons, I've figured it out. It was plain and simply a miracle. So many things could have gone wrong, kids could have got hurt, moms could have been frustrated with each other, kids could have been miserable, but truly, none of that happened. My friend and I have tried to figure out why we don't get at each other's throats. When two women spend that much time together, there are bound to be things that upset you, but with us, we are so incredibly opposite to one another that we compliment each other. I think we are also really good at reading one another and sensing where the other person needs space or is starting to feel upset and then the space is given or whatever they need is observed.
The camp offered programs each morning for the kids and a chapel service for the adults. In the past, when I've attended camps like these, the chapel services have changed my life. I went 7 years ago with 7 kids to another camp (also without my husband and with a friend) and we were in the middle of purchasing the farm and building the house. I had never experienced fear like that. I was certain we were in over our heads and that we were going to lose the farm. But I went to the chapel and the pastor was preaching on, you guessed it, fear, and the giants in our life. I somehow met the pastor's wife, completely serendipitously, and she ended up hearing my whole story, all my fears, saw my tears, and prayed for me. I came back infused with hope and that was the beginning of learning how to battle my fears. All this to say, I knew I had to go and hear the preaching that was going on at least once that week. I was so glad I did.
The guest pastor for that week was preaching on Jesus turning the water into wine. He opened that passage in John 2 in a whole new way. Mary says to Jesus, "They have no wine", when the wine ran out at the wedding. Jesus says, "Woman, what does this have to do with me?" The pastor took those two phrases and elaborated on them in such an amazing way. Mary was pointing out to Jesus an inconvenience...no wine...Jesus pointed out that inconveniences don't bother him! The pastor asked us, "What is an inconvenience for you right now, because whatever it is, it doesn't bother God. If He has called you to do something, don't let any inconveniences get in the way. He can handle them, all of them." I thought of so many things.....I have to admit, sometimes watching all these kids, between the two families, gets a little inconvenient! My house has definitely taken a beating this year. Also, homeschooling is a little inconvenient! Who has time to plan, buy the curriculum, organize their lives, plan for their futures...I need a live-in guidance counsellor, academic advisor, janitor, cook, principal......I'm not sure that I knew what I was getting into when I first decided on this! Then, there's the Bible quizzing.....I knew this was something I wanted to do, but really? Now, I'm forced to organize a club that I am just not that qualified to organize! That's a little inconvenient! And, I'm on the board of the homeschooling group....yikes.....it is a lot of work! I HAVE NO WINE! Ha ha....that came out funny! But truly, I'm calling out to Jesus, like Mary, telling him, "Life is inconvenient! What are you going to do about it?!" "Woman, why are you telling me this? I know!" Jesus replies to me.
Then, the miracle. He tells the servants to "fill the jars with water". They obeyed, no questions asked and served the master of the feast, which would have been risky because as far as they knew, it was still just water! But, no, it had become wine. Verse nine says, the master of the feast "did not know where it had come from", but then it includes in brackets "though the servants who had drawn the water knew". The pastor said, "Those servants would never be the same." They had seen a miracle and would no longer "live in brackets". I loved that phrase, live in brackets. See, before, they were a little uncertain if the wine miracle would actually happen! They probably served it to their master with a little fear because they thought they were serving water! But, after the miracle, "greater things than these" were going to happen in their lives because I'm sure their faith grew bigtime after that. We already live outside the brackets. We've seen, I've seen, many miracles in my own life. I've got the Bible. I've read the stories. There is no need for me to live inside brackets. John 1:50 talks about "greater things than these"....these are the things that God will continue to show those people who dip into the jars of water and trust Him for wine, whose faith is developing with all the signs He does in their lives.
It all ties into the inconveniences of our lives. It means we have to take more risks of faith. More risks=more faith=more opportunities for more faith=more signs=life of adventure! It becomes an amazing journey with God, absolutely amazing.
The week I went up to camp with my friend I went and bought all the groceries for the week. I planned all the meals to be "trailer-y", easy to fix, kid-friendly, etc. It was a full cart load. I dipped into the jars of water, never knowing if wine would be there. While I was away, a friend mailed me a cheque because she knew I was going away to help out this mutual friend of ours. Her cheque covered the whole cost of the groceries that week....wine was made! And, while I was at the camp, we used basically every last morsel I had brought up. When we started to run out of things, a nice older couple came and dropped tons of snack-type food off that came from the food bank where they volunteer. She gets regular deliveries from these kind people. I witnessed it! Why do we doubt God and His goodness? He supplied what we needed and He gave the best. "This, the first of His signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested His glory. And His disciples believed Him."
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