Love

So I want to talk a minute about what the Lord has been teaching me about Love this summer. Love is one of the five character traits we are teaching this summer. It is the first and I think for good reason. It all starts with love; in 1 John 4:8 it says, "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." We start the week teaching this and I think that that helps show what it is we want our students to do on site that week.

Loving others is something that often times I have struggled with, the words of the Hillsong United song Hosanna have always been my prayer:

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you have loved me

Break my heart from what breaks yours
Everything I am for your kingdoms cause
As I go from nothing to Eternity

The line, show me how to love like you have loved me, is something that has constantly been weighing on my heart, then the next line, break my heart for what breaks yours just adds to the message. Jesus calls us throughout the new testament to love the least of these, to serve them. How many times have I brushed someone aside just because I thought they were scary, dirty, annoying? Thats not what I'm called to do, I'm called to love them anyway. So, as I entered into this summer, my prayer was that the Lord would break my heart for what breaks His. That I would come to love the people I come into contact with unconditionally. And then out of an overflow of that love have no choice but to share Jesus with them.

And so, after three weeks of campers, and site kids, I am in love with every single one of them that has passed through. And as I mentioned yesterday, it is now my desire to finish so strong the next few weeks and pour everything I have into the lives of my students and the kids on my site.

Pray for us this week, 550+ students, 22 churches, its gonna be interesting!