Hebrews 10

Tonight I had the immeasurable pleasure to sit down with some wonderful women and study the Bible together. We read Hebrews 10, which is a book of the Bible I almost never dive into even though it's great.

The verses I was assigned to read more intensely were 8-14.

Here it is:

When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), ⁹ then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. ¹⁰ And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
¹¹ And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ¹² But when Christ^[b] had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³ waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. ¹⁴ For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.


And here was my response (that was 100% the Lord because my brain was a little fried when I wrote it).

This is the distinction between the Old Testament and the new. The Jewish sacrifices were the manner of reconciliation before Jesus, they are voided once Jesus paid the price for everything. God not desiring or taking pleasure in the old sacrifices was because He knew that a more permanent and all-encompassing price was needed. The ransom of mankind was too big to ride on the back of a goat (though a donkey would suffice).

The purpose of Jesus was to be the end-all, be-all atonement, to null the needs of the past, to be the final statement, the last word on the matter of sin and death. This wasn't anything a priest and a clean lamb could do. This was for every human to ever life. Our salvation no longer sits in a temple with men who habitually commit the same ritual day by day. It is bought by one man who had the power to be 100% perfect and yet take on the sins of literally billions of people once and for all. There is no ignoring or discrediting this solid truth.

There was one man. There only needed to be one payment from him. And now we must sit and be in awe of a God who loved us too much to be content with bringing home his children with something worth less than his children. So he had to send someone who was worth exponentially more.

Unspeakable Joy

On Thursday night, the Texas Hill Country was hit with very Texas-esque weather: beautiful during the day, torrential storm at night. Tornadoes touched the ground 20 miles east of camp, and there were intense thunderstorms coming through camp.

And when you're in charge of 8 girls between the ages of 10 and 12, you are fully aware that the time during the storm will be spent giving many hugs and hushing tears.

We migrated from our nightly activities to the big gym towards the edge of camp grounds for cover, and told our campers that it's not a big deal--we just want to stay out of the storm. They all begged to go to the dorm, but my co-counselor and I made up lame excuses about why we couldn't go back.

There were two terrifying moments that night: when the directors told us tornadoes had touched the ground near us, and when our male director whistled to signal us to get everyone in the bathrooms because the weather was bad enough.

Everything in me wanted to burst into tears and to hunker down somewhere safe. My co and I both had wild looks in our eyes before we had to swallow the fear, count our ducklings, and move them into the bathroom. Immediately, 3 of them started bawling. Two more were on the verge of tears.

I'm not a mom, not anywhere close to being a mom, but the Lord 100% equipped me to be strong for them during those 30 minutes in the bathroom. With flickering lights and claps of thunder, the other girl counselors and I pulled out every camp song we knew, trying to keep the girls under control and keeping the panic away.

And despite the chaos, I found myself laughing and dancing. Keeping the girls calm and myself joyful during this time was of the utmost importance. It was supernatural. It was all Jesus. By the time we were released from the bathroom--no tornadoes hit camp--everyone was a little bit more tired and really sweaty. We watched a movie while the rest of the storm faded away.

Thursday was absolutely nuts. The Lord definitely provided the protection and joyful spirit that we needed to make it through the storm.

But it's also cool to say that I took cover at camp during a tornado.

Camp

Howdy readers.

Firstly, I'm sorry that my blog game has been off for, like, a year at this point. Life is busy, yes, but not so busy that I can't post. MY BAD Y'ALL.

I've been at a camp for the last two weeks. Meaning I have been trained to send kids down a cable wearing a harness and rope, send them up a rock wall, teach them how to shoot a .22 gun, bow and arrow, and make a camp fire. Among about a hundred other random skills that you need to be a mother to children for a week.

Yes, this week has heard a lot of "Yes, you need to take a shower tonight" and "You're going to Bible study so you need to bring your Bible!" because I'm with eight 10-11 year old girls who move slowly and get distracted easily. But the wisdom that comes out of their mouths is like nothing I have ever heard.

Needless to say, every day (every hour) is an adventure.

I absolutely love it.

Even when it's hard, and my girls are crazy, and I don't want to wake up, there is nothing better than hearing how the Lord has worked in their lives.

It's towards the end of the week. I have a precious few hours left with them, and I'm actually really sad that my little nuglets are going home on Saturday. The Lord has done big things in my little ones.

Summer 2014 has officially begun.