The Awakening Teen Camp is just a month out from it’s first session and I am excited and nervous all at the same time. Lots of preparing to do and I’m praying for wisdom a ton. It looks like some of our major planning for housing and transportation are coming together and I know as we are faithful and diligent God will bring the pieces together.
Amazing how much our being faithful in the little affects what God works in our lives.
Next week I’m headed out of town on a ministry trip to Bethany School of Missions in Minnesota. I will be helping lead small groups for a Bible class on the End Times and am really excited. I will be doing some extra study this week which is always a bonus.

Growing up was always one of my least favorite things. The freedoms such as driving and making independent decisions seemed far less appealing than the securities I enjoyed as a child. Sure being grown up might be great but the process of getting there certainly wasn’t fun. I remember while in my mid-teens asking Mom when you get to the point where you have life figured out. Her response was both terrifying and reassuring – she said (I am paraphrasing here) “I haven’t gotten there, I’m not sure you ever do”. What!? You mean there isn’t some magical moment in which maturity and wisdom will suddenly be mine, when I won’t have to wonder what is next? Yet at the same time I was relieved; this is a part of everyone’s life, growing up is a process we all have opportunity to partake in.
A better term for what I used to refer to as “growing up” is maturing. It’s more than a growth spurt and actually can be avoided, albeit at great personal detriment. Maturity is a choice. This is why we really don’t finish ‘growing up’ by going to college, getting married, having children, having a successful ministry or establishing a career. We can participate in externals, even become successful, without making wise internal decisions and many times we confuse the external success with internal growth – the two are not naturally synonymous. In fact, true internal maturity is marked by an absence of grasping for success in this life. Hebrews 11 is rife with insight on what success in this life lacks and what actually has value and is worth grasping.
Before I begin a tangent on Hebrews 11…
I am thankful for the choice to mature – that the journey of ‘growing up’ doesn’t end at a white picket fence and that my family (natural and spiritual) called me into maturity even when I didn’t always appreciate it. It might not always be fun but it’s worth it.

What is write-worthy in this day when we are constantly assaulted with personal opinions, thoughts and belief systems? How can one find truth in the midst of deception? Daniel 12:4 speaks about the increase of knowledge at the end of the age, however, this leads to “men running to and fro”. While knowledge appears necessary on the front end it is nothing more than an endless house of mirrors which avoids absolutes and even truth.
During the tribulation at the end of the age knowledge will not save or preserve life (even good practical knowledge will be useless – what good is it to know how to build shelter when there is nothing to build from, to know how to bake bread when there is no grain?). The message to Daniel does not leave us without hope: “Many shall be purified, made white, and refined… none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.” Proverbs 1 and 2 highlight a necessary pursuit tied to understanding; wisdom. The Father charges: ” IF you receive my words and treasure my commands within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding, IF you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding, IF you seek her as sliver, and search for her as for hidden treasures…” Proverbs 2:1-5