the glory of the gospel

"Gospel" seemed to be the buzz word at Camp Eden two weeks ago... in all the sessions, in devos, in one-on-ones, it was everywhere! I realized that I often forget the glory of the gospel- the miracle of salvation, the victory over sin & death, the hope of Heaven! How do I do that? How does that happen? It doesn't make sense.

Anyway, it was so neat to watch God at work on the front lines, rescuing those trapped by the grip of Satan. Each day as I spent one-on-one time with my girls I had the privilege of laying out the gospel & the plan of salvation. What a beautiful opportunity. It only took a couple of days to realize that my whole cabin was on their way to a Christless eternity. But praise be to God- He saved every last one of them!

I hope I don't soon forget the events of Thursday night (at Eden). All week Elisabeth & I had been planting as many gospel seeds in our girls as we could, but it didn't seem to be clicking with them. Thursday night, however, it was after 11 & my girls couldn't sleep & Elisabeth was out of the room for a few minutes... so to kill time I started going around the room asking the girls to share what they were most afraid of. To my suprise, they each said they were most afraid of going to Hell. DING! DING! DING! Hello, open door! About that time Elisabeth joined us again and I filled her in on the girls' fear. We started to talk to the girls a little about how they can KNOW FOR SURE that they'll go to Heaven when they die. Elisabeth asked one of them if she'd like to go out on the porch and talk about it. Then another piped up, so I went with her. While I spoke with the one girl, 2 other girls had been added to the family. It was so fun to watch the joy of salvation fill the cabin. The excitement was contageous and one more girl decided it was time she talked things through as well, so she and Elisabeth headed to the porch! I stayed in the room and talked with the brand new believers. One said something like, "I know I should be tired, but I just feel SO ALIVE for the first time!!" Another asked, "Are we supposed to be happy or sad, because people keep coming in here crying?" When the last girl came in from the porch all the girls yelled with excitement "What happened!? Are you saved?" I had to laugh.

It was such a beautiful thing to watch the 180 deg. change in those girls' lives. They were excited to go to chapel and take notes and find the passages (with the help of the index). The last night of camp 3 of the girls stayed up late reading John and saying things like "I always thought this book was boring, but it's so cool!"

"I feel so ALIVE!" echoes in my ears even now. What a great thought. I'm reminded of John 10:10, "I have come that you may have LIFE and have it TO THE FULL." That life is in me! Romans 8:6 says "...the mind controlled by the Spirit is LIFE & PEACE."

Oh God, teach me the glory of the Gospel each day. Remind me of the riches of grace & the blessings of mercy. May the "old, old story 'bout the Savior come from glory..." never bore me. Father, put a song of salvation in my soul and on my lips, & may I always sing its tune.