Heartfelt Encounters and the Quest for Divine Direction

As the sun casts off the chill of winter at Elkhorn Camp, the blossoming of spring brings a bevy of new beginnings and hearty adventures. You'll feel the pulse of anticipation for the summer camps, and the vibrant tales from recent retreats that have left an indelible mark on our campers and community. We're rolling up our sleeves for the 'man camp', where the theme 'chain reaction' promises to ignite a series of inspiring events, complete with steak dinners, pickleball tournaments, and the ever-thrilling axe throwing. Our campfire stories this time include a heartfelt recount of prayer's power threading through our search for a new head cook, who has now joined our camp family as if by divine appointment. Listen in for a sneak peek into our outdoor education camps and the local church's gracious aid, fueling the dreams of many eager young minds.

Are you standing at one of life's many intersections, looking for the path that leads to clarity and purpose? Let's traverse these roads together, as we glean wisdom from the biblical story of David and apply it to our own life's tapestry. In this episode, you'll hear heartfelt experiences that shine a light on the universal journey through uncertainty and the towering questions that loom over us. We'll wrap our hands around the notion of seeking divine navigation and the solace found within a supportive community. With stories that remind us of our shared human experience, we offer an invitation to those contemplating a deeper faith commitment or simply seeking a listening ear, reaffirming that within this journey, we are never truly alone. Join us by the metaphorical campfire for a time of connection and reflection, and leave with your spirit warmed and your resolve strengthened.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:04

Hey, it is great to be with you guys today just to share a little bit about your camp at Elkhorn and all the exciting things that are happening there and how God is on the move and doing some pretty cool things. It's the time of the year where it's springtime and for a lot of us that means a lot of different meanings, but for us it means our busy season is upon us and we're excited about how God is going to do some things this year that is just beyond comprehension. That's the things that happened every year at camp, and so I'm just excited about that. And we've just finished up some retreats. We did a middle school high school event that was sold out. We used our entire facility that we had beds available during the winter months, and so that was encouraging. We did a fourth through sixth grade retreat. We did a first through third grade retreat and just lots of children all over the place, you know, lifting up praises to God and experiencing some pretty cool things and having a lot of fun, and so that's the season that we've just been through, and so to me that's just exciting, and of what is yet to come as we get prepared for summer camp and what that all looks like, but we've got a few stops along the way. I figured it up back. You know, just a couple weeks ago, between then and summer camp, we still had like 24 events that were going to happen before summer camp. So there's still a lot of things that are happening and moving. We actually have a group of ladies at the camp right now this morning that are there having a church service as they prepare to leave Elkhorn, and so God is doing some cool things.

Speaker 1: 2:39

I noticed on the screen here this morning about man camp coming up April 20th and the theme for that is chain reaction and the thought process behind that. If we as men really are men of God, what kind of chain reaction does that look like as we move forward with generations of people that are going to be impacted because of our influence as men, influencing people for Christ? And so, men, I really encourage you to come out for that. It's a one-day event. You don't have to sleep in one of our beds, you don't have to be away from home, you know you can come out, have a steak dinner, fellowships with some other brothers in Christ, and we've got some pretty cool things planned too. We've got some pickleball courts. Now that we're doing, we've got some axe throwing, a lot of different things that'll be fun that day, and so you don't want to miss out on that.

Speaker 1: 3:32

I know that many of you probably have been praying for us at the camp for one specific thing we needed a head cook, and that's a key player at our camp Over the course of the summer, as well as through all the retreats. We have so many people that are looking for good meals to be able to come into, and God blessed us this past week and we hired a cook, and so thank you, thank you for lifting that up in prayer and joining us in that, and we are blessed. It was someone that I had interviewed before and it just didn't seem like it was going to work out for her family schedule, and I just was to the point where I just thought, man, she was perfect and I thought I'm going to call her back and just say maybe there's something we can work out, part-time or something. About six hours before I pick up the phone to call her, she called me and she said God's been tugging at my heart and she's a school teacher. She said I think I need to quit being a school teacher and I need to come work at Alcorn and I thought how cool is that. You know that God is doing that and he's going to use her in a great way for our ministry, so we're excited about that.

Speaker 1: 4:34

During the month of May, we have outdoor ed camps coming up, lots of schools coming and we're going to be able to share with them about what we do in the summer and hopefully they can come back and we can share the gospel message with them and so pray that we can be intentional about that during the month of May, after we see about a thousand school kids come through and then the summer camp is right behind us. And they mentioned that this church is willing to invest 75 percent in your children, your grandchildren, kids in this community that are part of this church in their lives. It's 75 percent paid by this church, and so that is tremendous to be able to see that take place. And we thank you as a church for not only that but how you partner with us and financially support us and pray for us and lift us up and help us to be who we are, because without you we're nothing. We're nothing, and so thank you for being a part of that, and so april 16th is that first deadline. So if you have kids that have not been registered for camp yet, you have grandchildren that have not, april 16th is coming up very quickly, and so encourage you this week to sit down, get that all planned out, get those registrations in. You can do that online and and that would be, that would be great, um, this summer.

Speaker 1: 5:48

I just want to highlight a couple camps. We've got a lot of camps that are happening, but I want to highlight a couple that have been revamped or are new programs or something that we've done in the past, and we're revisiting them this year. One of them is we are doing a fourth through sixth grade camp. That's only three days long. We've had a lot of parents that have said, hey, a week's just too long for my fourth grader to come to camp, and so we've been hearing that, and so we wanted to be able to deliver something for them, and so we are doing a fourth, fifth and sixth grade camp this year for the first time. That's only three days long. For those kids that maybe feel like they can't be away from home, we still have week-long camps for fourth, fifth and sixth graders. For those of you that are like, yeah, they need to be gone at least a week and we get that. So we want to make sure that we have those opportunities too. But we heard you about the three-day camp.

Speaker 1: 6:40

We are doing a creative arts camp again. This year. We paused on that for a bit and we hadn't done that, and so we're bringing that back and we're excited about that. And so if you have students that are in the arts or music or drama or whatever, and how they can use those talents for God, so I just encourage you to really look at that hard and maybe they can get signed up for that. We are also doing two day camps this year. In the past we've always just done one day camp on a Saturday Kindergarten first and second graders come, but this year we're doing two of them, and so a couple opportunities. If it conflicts with vacations or whatever, or some kids may just want to come to both of them, and so really think about that.

Speaker 1: 7:23

And then the last one that I want to highlight is our high school middle school camp. This year we're doing something brand new. We're combining high school and middle school together. They're going to be in different parts of the campus, but they're going to come together for a lot of stuff. We've got some great talent coming in that's going to be doing praise and worship. We've got speakers. We've got elevated recreation. That's going to be happening. It's going to have a really energetic feel and we're excited about that, and so if you're a middle schooler or high schooler, you're not going to want to miss out on that program and we anticipate that this is going to be very, very large numbers, and so encourage you to get in and get registered pretty quickly.

Speaker 1: 8:01

This year, our summer mission that we're supporting every year the kids get an opportunity to give, to help with something. This year we're partnering with a group called Church Without Walls and basically what they're doing is they are ministering to people in the Russian-occupied area of Moldova called Transnistria. It's a really small sliver of Moldova that's now called Transnistria and it's occupied by Russians, and so there's a gentleman there that is just on fire for being able to share the gospel with these people in this war-torn nation and all the stuff that's going on right now that we're seeing about on the news. He's living it right now, and so this summer, children are going to have the opportunity to create funds that they can use for ministry to share the gospel with people there in that part of the world, and so I'm excited about that and what that all looks like.

Speaker 1: 8:52

Got lots of stuff happening this fall and just encourage you to watch for that publicity coming out. We've got women's retreats, family camps, senior Saints Day and just a great, great lineup of stuff that'll be happening in the fall. And then I also wanted to make you aware of some projects that we're working on. We're constantly trying to improve your camp and do things that we can, and I'm blessed to be able to work for a board that is really passionate about just trying to do everything that we can with excellence, and so we're currently, right now, in the process of building a new shop for the infrastructure of our camp so that we can maintain and keep the grounds the way that we would like to see them be, and we're also building a bathhouse for our wilderness camp, and that's going to be done before we start this camp season.

Speaker 1: 9:37

So the days of taking a bath in the creek are gone. I know, I know, I know, but I'm excited because usually about Thursday I get to work with like middle school boys in the barn doing rock wall. It does not smell that great, I'll just be honest. It doesn't, you know. So we're excited about showers and soap and hot running water and all of that. But our maintenance guy says he's gonna make toilet seats out of like OSB or something really rough, because he said it can't be too cushy. You know, it just can't. It's wilderness. So that's happening. And then in the fall we're going to do a revamp on our boys' dorm and there's going to be air conditioning in there and we've got some other things that are happening there too. So just a lot of stuff that's going on and we're excited about it.

Speaker 1: 10:25

So how can you help? Well, one you're already doing and that's pray for us. I encourage you to continue praying for our ministry and what we're doing and how God is doing some things there at the camp and in the back there are brochures for summer camp. Pick one of these up for kids to get registered, but also so that you can have a list of all our programs that are happening this summer, so that throughout the weeks that you can have a list of all our programs that are happening this summer, so that throughout the weeks that you can bathe this in prayer that we can be faithful to God's word, that we can teach the truth, that you'll give creative hearts and minds so that we can create the best programs possible, and so pray for us.

Speaker 1: 11:01

The other is to be involved. If there's a way that you can be involved in the camp, it might be that you help us with donations of food items. You've probably seen a list, maybe at some point, of food items that we need. Maybe you can help us with that, maybe you can pray for us, maybe you can financially support us. But somehow we just want you to be involved because, though I've been privileged to serve on your behalf at the camp now for 28 years, it's not my camp, it's your camp, and I want you to feel that, I want you to know that, I want you to own that and be able to partner with us the best way that we possibly can, because we know that God has some pretty cool things that are going to be happening, and, you know, at the end of the summer I always evaluate, and sometimes numbers are way up and sometimes numbers are down. Sometimes financial giving is up and sometimes it's down, and then I just kind of stop and I pause for a moment.

Speaker 1: 11:50

I think maybe this summer, maybe all that we did whether it was great numbers or low numbers, whether it was high financial amounts or low financial amounts maybe it all happened for one child that's going to have the opportunity that's going to be able to walk the streets of heaven one day, because you decided you were going to invest in Elkhorn, you were going to pray for programs that were happening there, you were going to get behind it and be involved and you were going to financially support that. Maybe that's why we're going to do all that we're going to do during the months of June, july and August this summer is for one child, and if it's for that one child, it's worth it. It's worth it, and so I just thank you for all that you're doing and privileged to be able to be here this morning just to share a devotional thought too, as we wind out our time together today. And so this morning I want to look in 2 Samuel 2. That's the text that we're going to briefly look at this morning and talk a little bit about a man by the name of David, someone that we've probably heard the name before. But in 2 Samuel 2, verses 1 through 4, it says this After this, david inquired of the Lord Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah?

Speaker 1: 13:09

And the Lord said to him go up. And David said to which shall I go up? And he said to Hebron. So David went up there and his two wives also, ahinom of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. And David brought up his men who were with him, every one with his household, and they lived in the towns of Hebron. And the men of Judah came and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.

Speaker 1: 13:43

You know, as we go through life, I think there are oftentimes those giant-sized questions of life that we have to deal with. You know, there's just questions of life that are very, very difficult for us to answer at times. And if we were honest with ourselves and I'll be honest if I was honest with you this morning there's some heaviness that's going on in my life right now morning. There's some heaviness that's going on in my life right now. But I'm excited to know that I'm not the only one that's had to deal with stuff like this, that there's people before me that have had to deal with the exact same thing. Maybe that I'm dealing with right now in my life and maybe that's true for you, as you're trying to wrestle with some of these giant questions of life and how, through all of that, we sometimes have these little distractions or little roadblocks along the way in our journey of life that cause us to be distracted a little bit. I don't know about you, but how many of you maybe went into a store or a grocery store and you come out a different door than you went in and you have to pause for a second and think where in the world is my car? Have you ever done that?

Speaker 1: 14:50

A friend of mine, he told me this story one time. It was really cold, I mean really cold and he thought my car really needs washed though, and so he said, I went and got the car washed. And he says as I got out of the car and I went into the grocery store, he thought, man, these doors are probably going to freeze on this thing, grocery store. He thought, man, these doors are probably going to freeze on this thing. And so he got his groceries and he come out and he tried to open the car and it wouldn't open and he said, ah, I shouldn't have got the car washed. I knew this was going to happen. So he went into the store and he asked if there's, you know, do you have anything? And they said well, there's a. There's a mop bucket back there. And he said I go back and there's just like really gross mop bucket sitting there. And he said I filled it up with hot water and I'm lugging it out to the parking lot, you know, and I start dumping it on the car. And he said still couldn't get in, you know. So he thought, well, I'll try it one more time. So he goes back and he gets some more hot water and he dumps it on the car. And and then he realized that wasn't his car. That's why he wasn't getting in it, and his car was parked over here. That looked just like it. And so he said I just drove away and they're looking at their car how it's all wet on the side and all this.

Speaker 1: 15:54

But we have these little distractions in life, don't we? I mean for me, sometimes, my wife, she loves to shop. If anybody knows my wife, she loves to shop. And I always say, every time we go to a mall, I'm like you know, you could drop me in the middle of a woods and I'll find my way home. You put me in the middle of a mall. I'm lost for sure. I'm like where are you at? I don't even know where I'm at, you know. You know, that's kind of how I am. You know, and I think we could all probably relate to Columbus when he said when I left I had no idea where I was going, and when I got there I didn't know where I was, and when I got back I didn't know where I'd been. You know, I think if we were honest with ourselves we probably could all relate to that.

Speaker 1: 16:34

But we have to deal with these giant-sized questions that we come along in our life. And when we think about David, he was the type of guy that asked questions. He wanted to know what God specifically wanted him to do. Because if we look at the text here this morning, shall I go up to one of these cities? He said in verse 1, and the Lord said to him go, david. And so then he asked another question. He said well, if I'm not supposed to go, where should I go? And then God answered him and told him where he was to go. You know, and I think if we was to heed that, and we was to take the advice of David a lot of times and figure out what it is that God wants us to do in our life, what the master plan is, that some of these giant questions that pop in our lives, that we would be able to deal with them a little easier. And so this morning I want to just talk through that a little bit about what are some things, as followers of Christ, that we need to be doing more often as we tackle these questions and, maybe just as important, as we help others with these questions as they deal with things in life, and one of them is to consult our Maker.

Speaker 1: 17:45

You know, it's exciting to me to know that God is available to us 24-7. There's never a time where he's closed for business. There's never a time where he's not there. You know, I don't know how many of you have ever woke up in the middle of the night with something that you were wrestling with in your life and you just stopped in the quietness of the night and something that you were wrestling with in your life, and you just stopped in the quietness of the night and you started to pray. And isn't it comforting to know that God is there and that he hears you and that he cares. Isn't it comforting to know that there's a small group of us here, meeting in Follinsby, west Virginia, this morning, that he loves and he cares for, that. He is there for us. Isaiah 30, verse 21 says your ears shall hear a word behind you saying this is the way. Walk in it. Whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left, just God whispering to you.

Speaker 1: 18:50

I can remember one time at camp I was in a cafeteria at the camp and there was screaming and hollering and things going on all around me all around me. And I walked up to the drink bar my back was to the entire group and I was filling up a glass with some lemonade and I just heard a quiet voice say he's choking. Now, I don't believe that God audibly spoke to me that morning. I believe that someone in the room said that. But amidst of all the chaos and the screaming and the hollering and everything that was going on, I heard something quietly say he's choking. And I immediately turned around and I scanned the room and I saw one of the faculty members going like this and I went over and I did the Heimlich. Nothing happened. Second time did the Heimlich?

Speaker 1: 19:44

Piece of chicken comes flying out of his mouth, lands on the kid's plate. This is the funny part. I didn't want to go real morbid on you. Here he's still walking around and doing fine. Chicken comes flying out, lands on the kid's plate right next to him. The kid goes, pushes it out of the way and just keeps shoveling it in like no big deal, you know, but I think that there's times where God quietly speaks to us. Maybe it's in the middle of the night, maybe it's in the middle of the day, maybe it's amidst conflict and work, but he's there for us and he cares for us.

Speaker 1: 20:20

John 10, verse 27 says my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. And so it's important for us to understand that. The maker of the universe, the guy that created us, you know we want to spend time talking to him when we have these giant questions of life. The other is to read our Bible. You know I'm excited about this series and if you're not staying, you probably should.

Speaker 1: 20:44

Jason is starting today, talking about relevant ways that you can use the Bible and study God's Word. How important that is Because Hebrews, chapter 4, verse 12, tells us for the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing even to the divisions of the soul and the spirit and of the joints and the marrow, and a discerning of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. Again, have you ever felt his touch in the middle of the night? When you wake up and you hear words like Hebrews 13, 15, where it says I will never leave you, I will never forsake you, does that not comfort us? I think it should, to know that he's never going to leave us and that he's always going to comfort us when anxiety and termites away at our peace. Any of us ever dealt with anxiety? I think we all probably have at some point, if we were honest.

Speaker 1: 21:54

Philippians 4.6 says Be anxious for nothing but in everything, by prayer and supplication and thanksgiving, let your request be known to God. Now I know that God is an all-knowing God and I know that he already knows that Mark Laughlin has junk going on in his life, but he also, I think, likes to hear from us and he likes us to lift those things up to him and have conversation with him so that we can put the Word of God to work Like. Colossians. 3.16 says let the words of Christ live in your hearts and make you wise, make you a wise individual, someone that is just passionate about trying to do our best to do what God created us to be here for to be the person that he wants us to be. And I think that as we go through life, we're going to have lots of things that we have to do, decisions that we have to make, and it's not always easy. But I think, if we look at 1 Samuel 3.10, it says speak Lord, for your servant hears you, amen. Speak Lord, for your servant hears you.

Speaker 1: 23:11

And so if we have our Bible and we're blessed, I think, in this country, to have the Bible in our native tongue immediately available to us I mean, probably everybody in this room has at least one, maybe two Bibles, and you're walking around with one on your phone, so we constantly have availability for a Bible in our lives. And so if we have that, we need to read it and I think, but more importantly, if we have a family of faith, we need to consult them. You're blessed here this morning. You're in a room full of a family of faith. Everybody in this world doesn't have that. Everybody doesn't have the sense of family that you have here as a group of people that have decided to meet here to follow Christ and to serve him, and so we're blessed to have a family of faith beside us.

Speaker 1: 24:08

And what does that look like? Because we need to understand that we don't have to face problems alone, that amidst the heaviness and the things that are going on in our lives, that it's not just us that have to deal with those, that others have gone before that. And so my guess is, in this room here morning there's people that would probably say you know what? Our marriage is not perfect, and so find someone that has a marriage that's doing well and walk alongside them. You know, maybe you're trying to make some kind of a business decision and you're wrestling with the ethics of it. Maybe what you need to do is find a Christian businessman and walk alongside them and say what would you do in this situation? Maybe you're battling some midlife decisions Go buy a motor? No, you don't want to go buy a motor, so that's not good advice. But as we battle these midlife decisions, maybe before we throw it all out the window and leave our family and cash in our 401k.

Speaker 1: 25:21

Maybe we want to seek good counsel so that we can do the things that God wants us to do, because if you have a family of God, consult them. Do everything that you can to consult them. I know in this building there are wise men, there are wise women who would love to have conversation with you, because they've experienced that already or maybe walked with people that have. And so for us to say that we need to do that by ourself, we don't. And, lastly, I think we need to have a heart for God. You know we need to be like David that starts asking those questions like okay, god, you want me to do this, how do you want me to do it? When do you want me to do it? How far do you want me to go? You know, start asking those questions so that we can be people that have a heart for God. Philippians 2.13 says for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure.

Speaker 1: 26:29

And sometimes I think, as we go through life, everything just feels right, or maybe you have a sense of being and and I think sometimes you want to listen to that that's something called your conscious right. We want to listen to that. But we also have to be careful because we don't want to turn it around and manipulate god and say to the point where I'm at peace and I feel good about this so much that God has to be in it, that it's okay for me to cheat on my wife because God's in it. Or it's okay for me to disregard my bills or lie to my boss or flirt with my neighbor next door that's married, it's okay because I'm feeling at peace with it. I feel like God is okay with it. We have to be careful of that because God will not lead you to violate His Word. He will be faithful and he will lead you through the words of His Scripture and the advice of His faithfulness. And so God is a God that will be there and he's going to show up and he's going to do things in a great way.

Speaker 1: 27:39

And I'm not sure this morning who is at one of those intersections in life I already shared. I'm kind of at one of those intersections right now and what gets me through is understanding that I'm not the first to go through this, I'm not the last that's going to go through this and I'm surrounded by people that love God and I'm going to consult them and I want to do my best to have a heart for God so that I can pay attention to what's going on around me. And certainly we all have a Bible and we need to spend time reading it and we need to spend some time on our knees praying to God that he can direct us and guide us as we go through these rough questions of life and what that looks like. So this morning we're going to come to a time of invitation and there may be people here that are outside of Christ, that want to make a decision for the very first time.

Speaker 1: 28:45

There may be people here today that, plain and simply, are maybe dealing with something and they'd like to talk with some people and I know there's elders, there's men in this church if you're a lady, there's ladies in this church would love to sit down and talk with you and to work through these things, to understand that, as we face these giant size questions, god loves you too much to leave you alone, to leave you on your own and to wander away from you. In fact, the opposite is true. He's going to be running towards you. He's going to be running towards you to do everything he can. So let me pray with you as a church.