Philippians 3:13-14
“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
What stands out to me most about this verse is where Paul was when he wrote it. He wasn’t standing on a platform looking back on a successful ministry. He was actually sitting in a prison cell, in chains, and he still says, “I press on.” And right before this, he lists everything he could have leaned back on, his resume and credentials, his heritage, all the things he’d accomplished, and then he sets all of it down. (He says, “But whatever was to my profit I consider loss for the sake of Christ”.) So, he set it all down.. Not because those things didn’t matter, but because he had found something bigger. He had gotten hold of the mission God gave him, of knowing Christ and being part of what He was doing, and it mattered so much more to him that he couldn’t stay fixated on anything he’d already done. He wasn’t unsatisfied. Rather, he was locked forward, because what was ahead was worth more than anything behind him.
I read this verse yesterday and thought it was fitting as we just finished camp season. We just finished nine camps – the most in LifeCamps History! Roughly Ninety campers and roughly Ninety mentors. Ninety children who lost their father, and who walked away this summer knowing that there is a heavenly father who loves them (and many chose to give their life to Jesus!). Think about what that means for a second. In Luke chapter 15, Jesus tells the parable of the lost sheep, the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine to go after the one that was lost, Jesus said “there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” That is our ministry. We go after the ones that are overlooked. These are children who lost a parent to service, who are carrying a weight no child should have to carry, they are forgotten…..and because of that, the hard truth is that most organizations, and honestly most churches, aren’t reaching them. But we do. We go after them. We chase down the one. And this summer, this team put their arms around ninety of them, and I believed Heaven celebrated just as it says in Luke. Every single one of us had a hand in that. I am proud of what this team did, and so thankful to Jesus for making all of it happen. I hope you are too.
So let’s take some time to celebrate it. To reflect, recover, rest, and as we would say in special warfare teams — refit, and re-kit.
– Trevor Fabian
Executive Director