RefraME

Society today needs to reframe how we view Jesus.

When I was out in Colorado for my two weeks of training to become a red shirt, we watched one video that a guy had created where he went across the US asking the one question, "Who is Jesus Christ?" The most common answer was, "He's a nice guy." So you want to tell me that the Son of God who was humbly sent down to this earth, who was born into poverty, had 12 devouted followers, performed miracles, taught thousands, then died on a cross for us was just a "nice guy?"

This summer the theme for the workcamps that I am setting up and running across the country is REFRAME because we are reframing who Jesus Christ is to us, and who we are to Him. For the past two and a half weeks my crew and I have been working none stop at two different camps to make sure that the youth coming in can really reflect on this theme, and more importantly on who Jesus is to them. After we traveled the country driving from Colorado to North Carolina, we helped another crew set up and volunteer at their camp in Lexington, North Carolina. It was great for both of us; my crew got to have a practice run of what it looks like to set up for a camp, and the other crew got some much needed help from us. We only stayed half way through the camp, but we got to see some of the residents and the kids, and how they loved the camp and the theme. We then left on Wednesday to head down to Greenwood, South Carolina to set up and run our own camp.

In the beginning of the week, it was hard for the campers, and even me to see how this theme was going to work for this camp. The first two days are always more introduction to the camp and what is going to happen, so the theme really hadn't started to come out yet. Then, Tuesday started it all, for everyone.

Tuesday night program we showed a video entitled King of Kings; a simple black and white video without any spoken words, just music and written words on the screen. It talks about how there is a king above all kings, where no earthly king can ever compare to Him. Then another king ascended the throne, sin, and it comes in many forms, especially those that are hard to detect. But then a new king came into this world, and He was born into poverty in a manager. Our society is putting sin on a throne, where we are worshipping it by blindly following and letting it comsume out lives. Matthew did the same thing in the Bible; he was a tax collector who cheated many people out of their money and only thought about himself. Then Jesus came along and told Matthew to follow Him, without hestitating even once. He used to worship sin, but now He follows Jesus. We need to reframe who we are following in our own life.

Wednesday was truly powerful; where we asked the question, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" This hit hard to many people; one girl in a youth group had just found out that her father was admitted to hospice with only days to live when she heard this theme for the night. It is a hard question to ask, one that many people reflect on a lot. Are these bad things happening becausee of our sin? Think of the sick man in the Bible where the pharasses asked if the one man was sick because of his sin or his parents sin? Jesus said neither reason, but becasue He will be able to truly see the face of God through his sickness. We are all given crosses to bear, some will be harder than others, but that doesn't mean that we are being punished for things that we have done. God doesn't give a someone a cross that is too much for them to bear, for He knows what we can and can't handle. This night, this one night is  what changed the pace of the camp for the rest of the week.

During the program there is what is called, 'God Sightings' where some of the campers will come up and share how they saw God working today. The last girl to go on this night was a small timid girl who looked like she was a deer in the headlights. When she got up to speak, she spoke softly and shared of how when she was 4 years old her mother left her, and then when she was 8 years old shse realized that her mother was never coming back for her. Over the next few years, most of her family had left her, and when she would try to talk to someone about the situtation, everyone wouldn't listen and would just leave. This is the second workcamp that she has been on, last year her first and she wasn't too sure about it. But now, after having had two years of being surrounded by people who are loving and caring and willing to listen without leaving, she decided, on this night, to follow Jesus, to accept Him, and to love Him. This girl is 14 years old.

This is why I do what I do, this is why I am a missionary. We need to reframe how people view Jesus, that He isn't just something we can pick up and throw away on a whim, or something that is just a small part of our lives, or something that we experience on a week/two week mission trip and then go back into our world of ourselves, a world of sin. We need to actively choose Jesus, make Him not just a part of our life, but the center of it. We need to reframe how we view our relationship with God, we need to reframe ourselves.

RefraME