Whatever is...

With the church camp season almost upon us, lists are floating all over my small apartment. Lists of things to pack, purchase, leave behind, goals, and whatever else I can think of in preparation. There is so much that doesn't belong at camp, so what I allow myself to bring can be tricky. Not just longer shorts and extra deodorant, but there are spiritual things that have to come along to.

What am I bringing to camp this year? My prayer journal, my Bible, my Rosary. But more importantly, I am bring my favorite verse to meditate on as the weeks go by. My focus over the next fives will be a verse from Philippians that caught my attention at the end of the camp season last summer. I've carried it quietly in my head ever since then, but I have yet to truly put it into practice.

Last year's camp season was not an easy one. There were physical challenges (tornado, flood, heat, etc.) but there were more difficult emotional challenges. There was a grudge or two, some loneliness, and a fixation on the negative rather than the positives of camp.

Which is where Philippians 4:8 comes in. The goal over the next five weeks is to focus on the good, but more than just the good. The true, the noble, right, pure, lovely... You get the picture. I want to see those things. The excellent, praise-worthy pieces of camp and I want to keep them close as the weeks go by.

But more than that, I want this attitude to extend beyond camp. Somewhere along the way, camp became a sort of spiritual restart button for me. It's that time of year where I really check in and try to understand where I am at in my faith and how I can do better.


Tota tua.

A Nuclear Tsunami

"What in the world is a nuclear tsunami judge? I don't know, you don't know, but the nation of Islam could unleash this upon us at any time. A NUCLEAR TSUNAMI!" yelled the high school debater, while I sat back, unimpressed with this "scare card" of evidence he had just pulled.

Scare cards are something debaters use to scare judges away from their opponents side of the argument. Nuclear destruction, war, global warming, and other oftentimes less likely threats are thrown at the judge to scare them away from the opponent and win the debate. A conscious judge can recognize a scare card from a more realistic piece of evidence, but if they are just casually listening, the weak connections between the case and the threat can seem realistic and terrifying. But if the judge is alert, focused on the debate, and prepared to strip away the nonsense, they can see past it.

Life is full of scare cards. We worry about the near-future, and if our plans will work out correctly. We worry about the far-off future, about retirement, mortgages, loans, and other long-term commitments we took to live the way we want to live. Don't let them distract you from the real issues. Don't fall for the scare cards.

Stay focused on the things that matter. God doesn't want us to worry, God's got this. We are told time and time again that worrying only distracts us from God and the bigger goals we have. Don't fall for the nuclear tsunami ploy, it's not really a threat, it's just something to worry about.

Tota tua,

LeAnn