Rescue

Years back I was privileged to be a counselor at a youth camp. Each week on Sunday all the counselors would get a new group of kids that we were responsible for, night and day, until the following Sunday when the cycle would start all over. On one particular week, my counseling director took me aside to prep me for potential challenges with kids in my cabin. Usually, I'm not daunted by what my boss tells me, but this week was a different type of challenge. One of my kids had severe autism, mixed with a few other complexities. I accepted the challenge and our week began. It wasn't long before I realized why autism was a challenge for summer camp. Every time we would have a line call to gather the camp for announcements or mealtimes, my camper would see all the activity and his brain could not process the information, causing him to panic and run. Working with kids, we are trained to have eyes on our kids and keep them together. So what was I to do when he bolted at every gathering. Fortunately, I had help this week, and my co-counselor and I worked together to make sure one of us could either chase our camper down or could keep him company during these more stressful times. I remember on one occasion he was particularly scared and took off running. I went after him, and as he ran through the woods his fear began transforming into joy. Part of him started out terrified, but when he got far enough away from the group and it was just him and me, he changed into a normal and even playful kid again. As I ran after him on one occasion, he stopped running in the middle of a pack of trees to look back at me. He needed to see that I was pursuing him. He didn't want to be lost or alone, but he wanted to see that he was being rescued. As soon as he saw my face, he smiled, almost deviously, and started running again loving the fact that I would always chase him.

We are all on this life-journey together and for most of us there are triggers that cause panic just like my camper-friend. At times, life's complexities overwhelm us and we start to go down a path of panic or escapism in order to manage. But in these times of panic there is something that brings us back into peace, even joy. It's God. I used to look at the Bible as this story about humanity royally screwing up everything and thats definitely in there. But my lens is changing. I now look at the narrative of the Bible as the story of God in pursuit. From Genesis 3, mankind has been on the run from God and all the way through the rest of the Bible, story after story tell of a God who wants to be known again, a God who is desperate to reconcile and restore relationship with us. He wants to rescue us. At the end of that rescue there is a promise of peace, harmony, and joy. I want all that. In God all the needs of the human heart are met. I often go to Psalm 46 as tool to reorient myself when I am overwhelmed by life.

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging."

Looking at life with God right there with us is powerful. Entering into conflict knowing that the Holy Spirit is absolutely for us that nobody can move us is powerful. Standing in true confidence of God's presence in the midst of loss, grief, and death is powerful. Are you living from that place? Start today. In that place is fullness of joy.