| info | home | ||
 |
|||
|
It's All About Him: Reflecting over the last fourteen years of the Bright and Morning Star’s Camp, we come to an absolute and thrilling conclusion. It is truly all about HIM! Named for the One who started it all, Morning Star Camp has been called what it is from the very beginning; His Camp. We could not for a moment say everything has been done there perfectly, because He has chosen to use frail instruments to do His work. But we can say that has only produced all the more proof of the wonder of His ways. “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). His tender mercies have been more than words can express, and His grace has been just as He promised; completely sufficient. Forty years ago, we had in our hearts a desire and with it an idea. It sprang from blessed and happy times at a place called Layman Hot springs where we would gather to recreate together, study the word of God and sing His praises. So memorable and building were these times that it excited strong desires in a ten year old boy, and by the time he was thirteen he and his father were dreaming up some amazing plans. They came up with a name and even made blue prints after the Layman hot springs layout. Dubbing it “Rest Awhile Ranch”, they planned to place it in a lonely desert place in Arizona where ten billion stars leapt out at night and the stillness made audible the sound of one’s heartbeat. It would be a place of refreshment for God’s dear people. But several unmistakable circumstances appeared to be God’s voice telling us “not yet”, and the dream seemed to die. Ten years later that same dream was reawakened in the San Jacinto Mountains of California. This time, a whole new emphasis began to emerge; the need for refuge. So, upon finding what seemed a very suitable and breathtaking camp among towering rocks at 8000 feet, we named it Kadesh after the city of refuge (Numbers 20:16). But it soon became evident that the Lord would not supply the money needed to attain the camp ground and again the dream seem to die, leaving a lingering wonder of a distinct call that the Lord had made. After tremendous storms of losing a home in the mountains there and being reduced to living in an old refurbished school bus for a time, we arrived by most unusual circumstances to a place called Afton, Wyoming. A dear brother asked that year “how would you feel about hosting a camp in the Grand Teton Country?” Being that the nature of this country was so astoundingly magnificent, it thrilled us with the prospect. Slowly the dream came back to life but there were many things different this time. There were many circumstances that had behind them orchestration impossible for man to put together. Without going into all the details here, but for example we found ourselves living next to a man known as the ‘King of the Outfitters’! It was he that God used to show us where we would host His camp. On top of that the Lord supplied all the materials needed for such a venture, and in 1995, we had our first Bright and Morning Stars Camp. There were thirty eight people attending, and it was there that God caused an all encompassing vision to occur. It took us a year to realize that God brought to that first year of camp the two former purposes, while adding two more. They were these… Refreshment: To refresh our souls by spending time studying the word of God and enjoying the beauty of the wilderness. “There remains therefore a rest for the people of God” (Hebrews 4:9) Refuge: after Kadesh, the city of refuge, which is intended to lead to the third purpose of restoration. The cities of refuge in scripture were provided by God’s instruction for those who were pursued by the law, as in Leviticus 24:20 “eye for eye and tooth for tooth.” It gave them refuge from the avenger of blood and a place to be eventually restored. Today there are many hurting ones needing refuge from troubles that hound them, whether from their own mistakes and sins, or from another’s failings. Examples come to mind far too easily, when parents hurt children, children break their parent’s hearts, or brothers and sisters stumble each other. The hurt can be physical but also spiritual, which is sometimes less obvious and often far more deadly.Restoration: “He restores my soul...” (Psalms 23:3) The peacefulness of the mountains coupled with the time of spiritual encouragement, both so richly provided by the Lord, give ample opportunity for answering this need. We have witnessed a little girl come back to the Lord and tell the camp she had never felt love like this before. There are hosts of letters and stories of this sort that filter back to us from camp each year! Redemption: the foundation of the first three. “For all have sinned” (Romans 3:23) yet “This is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us.” (1 John 4:10) and "If the Son shall make you free you shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36) The number four in Scripture symbolizes something universal. It amazed us to realize that camp would not have been complete even in purpose until God’s time and since He has allowed it to proceed, it has demonstrated every year each of what we call the 4 R’s at camp. It seems He wanted an outreach that was open to all. It was not till the next year, at the same time of year our brother had asked us about hosting a camp one year ago, we were reading God’s word as a family in 2nd Corinthians chapter eight. Although we had not been thinking specifically of camp, when we reached verse ten it was as if God said ‘listen up!’; And in this I give advice: It is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began and were desiring to do a year ago; but now you also must complete the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to desire it, so there also may be a completion out of what you have. For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have. For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened; It was at that moment we all realized God was telling us “this is what I want you to do!” And this portion of scripture, through to the end of the chapter, is exactly how the Bright and Morning Star has operated. However, never did we realize it would become a camp of over three hundred in the middle of a wilderness for two weeks. Even the US Forest Service thought we had to be trying to make money on it as it seemed to them very extravagant, one officer told me. They pulled two sting operations on us to see if we were telling the truth! But we laugh to ourselves at the thought that with all our modern provisions three hundred or more for two weeks is a lot…try leading the host of the children of Israel in the wilderness for forty years! Humbling, to say the least.
Still, there is no way we could have ever put together what Camp has become, nor is there any possible way we could have passed through all the challenges and oppositions we face every year to pull it off ourselves. In fact, it seems God allows impossibilities to arise every year, of one kind or another, just to show us how dependant we are and how wonderful He is. The first year we called it Morning Star Camp, but by the 3rd year, in total wonderment of what God was doing, we changed the name to the Bright and Morning Star’s Camp because it is the Lord Jesus Christ who makes it all possible. If we should start naming names we would fall far short of correctly portraying all the dear brothers and sisters God has brought together over the years to bring it to pass! Camp happens because the Bright and Morning Star makes it possible. Has there been failure, learning and growth? Of course. But the most important part of that growth is to come to realize how much IT IS ALL ABOUT HIM. We have seen Him actually part powerful physical storms as well as spiritual storms before, during and after His camp. He has poured out blessing after blessing, but one thing has been driven home to the one writing this story, and that is that God supplies and it is indeed ALL HIM!!! Everything is from, for and about the wondrous person of the Bright and Morning Star, our soon coming Lord Jesus Christ! In His wonderful keeping Grace and tender mercies, One privileged to be a small part of His purposes in His amazing grace.
It’s All About Him ~ by Alan Jackson
You ask if I’m happy/it’s easy to
see/I’m high on a mountain/the world at my feet
|
| Jesus Christ...though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9 |
 |