Thursday Night

As someone who has been to Hume Lake many times, I am in constant awe of all it has to offer. It never ceases to amaze me all the things that the camp offers and all of the lives it changes. In morning chapel, a man named Luke Everett, (this year's misison speaker), shared his life story and his walk with Christ. Luke is 80 percent deaf, but despite that fact, he is one of the most astute followers of God that I have ever had the chance to meet. As Luke opened up his message, he told about his childhood struggles. When he was born, the doctor told his parents that he would not make it, his parents were praying for a change to come over him and that he would live. His parents went to the local church, and the pastor told his parents to lift up Luke to the Lord and put their son in God’s hands. Twenty minutes after this prayer, Luke’s parents received word that Luke was suddenly recovering and he was going to make it. This was not the only near death experience that Luke encountered as a child. He nearly died five times in the first five years of his life, but miraculously Luke made it through. Each story was compelling and very meaningful. When he was ten, his father decided that he would sell everything and move to Mexico to start an orphanage for deaf children so, the family packed up and moved to Mexico. His troubles only got worse. His family was constantly in need of support and after six months, the orphanage already had twelve deaf kids as well as eight of Luke’s family members. His family relied on the Lord more than I have ever heard of anyone doing, and God provided everything they needed. Later in his life, Luke lost two brothers, a sister, and had the orphanage burn to the ground. Despite all of these happenings, Luke stayed faithful because he knew that when he goes to Heaven he would see his family once again. He is one of the most amazing guys I have ever had the pleasure of meeting and I can honestly say that he has greatly influenced my life. Recreation today was super spirit day, and the theme was fantastic furry fuzzfest. It was quite the theme, and it consisted of Viking capes to cheetah fur. All the campers went especially crazy in an attempt to earn some extra spirit points for their team. There were many crazy relays and challenges. Recreation concluded with the team cheers and everyone went to lunch. Following lunch, everyone headed off to free time, then dinner, and then chapel. I feel that chapel tonight greatly affected the majority of the campers, more so than any other previous night. The speaker, Chris Brown, talked about the challenges of being a Christian and what it means to fully devote your life to Christ. A good part of his sermon was the difference between making Jesus your savior, versus having Jesus as Lord and what that means. He challenged all of the campers to turn away from being their own Lords, and have Jesus be the Lord of their lives. This hit home for many campers because of how difficult it is to not go the world’s way, but to go God’s way. Many tears were shed as campers realized what it meant to make Jesus their Lord and the sacrifices they would have to make in their lives. Chris gave everyone the chance to stand up and be redeemed in the areas in their lives in which they were mocking God, and to lift those areas up to Jesus. Everyone that stood stayed in the chapel and broke into small groups where they shared their areas of weakness with their counselors. It was a very powerful night for all of the campers and I know that it changed many lives forever. The night was concluded with a skateboard competition and a talent show in which various people from Saint Matthew played guitar and sang. At 10:15 we broke into small groups and talked about the day. Lights were out at 11:30 as we attempted to rest for the next day.
-Zach Garman