Welcome to Staff Training

Well, believe it or not, the week's over. It honestly doesn't feel like it should be because I could've sworn I was just getting to camp just yesterday. But time flies.

Before I talk non-stop about the week and how amazing it's already been... let me show y'all some of the crew that'll be here for the summer.

Credit for all photos: Jeff Basey

These are just a couple out of the 28 counselor that'll be working at camp this summer. I can't tell you how humbled I've been at how solid all these guys are. Already the counselors have grown together and built friendships that usually aren't there till the end of the summer.

God's been changing my heart to a couple different things and it's hard to say really what all that is. Loving others has taken on a whole new meaning. I'm still a bit nervous about being able to love well the kids that are coming in, but I feel so much more confident after this week. And the confidence I have really isn't in myself... it's in my heavenly Father and the other counselors that I know will have my back.

"Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."  -- Philippians 4:6-7

The testimonies of the counselor's here honestly blow my mind. Stories of those with broken homes, friends that have been killed, trust issues, needs for happiness and fulfillment, and so much more all have Christ as their game changer. Without Christ there wouldn't be a single person at Camp Oak Hill this summer, yet God has brought those He's saved with his no less than perfect grace.

 One of the things that I realized this week is that by the end of the summer, I'm gonna be exhausted. And I might just get there before then. This week was only training and I know that when the kids are here it's gonna take even more out of me. But at the same time I look forward to it. I'm looking forward to giving everything that God's given me and show that to the guy's I'll be working with. So because of that I treasure now more than ever my time alone with God and his providence in my life day after day.

This is a passage that's encouraged me and I hope will do the same for you if you're in need of love and strength.

"For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith - that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."  -- Ephesians 3:14-19

- Aaron Fleming (ajflemin@ncsu.edu)