Be A Hero

Posted by Karah

Corrie Ten Boom. Florence Nightingale. Frederick Douglass. Mother Teresa. Gary Haugen of International Justice Mission. Martin Luther King. Bono.

History is littered with the names of people who have made a difference against poverty and injustice. Most fittingly, some of these names belong to people who follow Christ.

 

YOUR TURN
Who are your personal heroes? List a few names and explain what makes them heroes in your eyes.

 

THINK ABOUT IT
Read Mark 6:38-44 in your Bible. If you’re familiar with this story, then it is easy to take for granted the enormity of what happened in that wilderness. So, close your eyes and imagine those five loaves and two fishes. Then, picture the big, hungry crowd gathered around Jesus and the disciples. See those fish and loaves multiply as Jesus handed them out. Take some time to sketch or write down some phrases that describe what being in that crowd must have been like.

 

THE POINT
With Jesus’ power, you have all the resources you need to minister to the needs of people, to be a hero. If you are willing, Christ can do amazing things through you. He did it with the fish and loaves. What more can He do with and through you?

 

TAKE ACTION
Glance over the devotions from this past week. How has God used His Word to change your attitude about the world and people around you?

 
Is there a specific need you think God is calling you to meet or someone specific whom you need to reach out to? Commit to follow Him wherever He leads you today.


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Not My Problem!

Posted by Karah

YOU HAVE ONE MINUTE. Create a top 10 list of the 10 biggest problems in the world right now.

Are you part of the solution to any of those problems? Or do you think that because they don’t directly affect you, they’re just not your problem?

 

READ MARK 6: 34-37. Ask yourself:

 What was the seemingly impossible situation the disciples brought to Jesus’ attention?

 What was Jesus’ equally impossible solution to the problem?

 How did the disciples respond to Jesus?

 How would you have responded to Jesus if you’d been in the disciples’ shoes?

 

THE POINT
When faced with a hungry crowd of people who needed food, the disciples chose the easiest solution: to let the people take care of themselves. It wasn’t the disciples’ problem in the first place. But Jesus’ response was to instruct the disciples to do something. He’s still telling us to do the same thing.

 

TAKE ACTION
Take a good look around you. Who are the hungry people in your family, school, community, and world? Think about more than physical hunger. Who is spiritually hungry? In need of a friend? Ignored or overlooked?

 
What steps will you take this week to reach out to one “hungry” person in your life? List three below.

 
Pray with persistence for the “hungry” people in your life and world. Ask God to soften your heart toward them and show you how He wants to use you to meet their needs.


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Compassion

Posted by Karah

Milton and Fred Ochieng, brothers from a poor, remote village in Africa, dreamed of becoming doctors one day. Their father’s dream was even bigger than that. He wanted to build a clinic that would provide health care for their desperate, struggling community.

First, Milton won a scholarship to Dartmouth College. By selling chickens and cattle, his family members and neighbors in Lwala were able to scrape together enough money to buy his plane ticket to the United States. A year later, Fred received a scholarship to Dartmouth and joined his older brother there. Even though the brothers were far away from Africa in the United States, they couldn’t forget the village they’d left behind. They knew they had to do something to help their neighbors in Africa. So, the brothers began educating people about the suffering in their hometown in hopes of raising money to build that clinic of their father’s dreams. That dream became even more important when both of their parents died from AIDS.

Today, the Lwala Community Hospital serves 15,000 patients each year. In addition, they provide small-scale micro-enterprise, public health outreach, water, sanitation, and education programming to Lwala and beyond.

 

THINK ABOUT THAT STORY as you read Matthew 9:35-38.

 What do the two stories have in common?

 What are some of the things Jesus did for the people?

 According to the passage, what made Jesus respond the way He did?

 Have you ever done something for someone without gain? How did that make you feel?

THE POINT
Maybe you aren’t called to build a hospital. But God wants to use you to do His work on earth. When Jesus saw the hurting people, He was moved with compassion, and He took action to help them. What about you?

TAKE ACTION
Think of one person you can serve. Pray for an opportunity to reach out this week. Plan—then act on it.

“I choose kindness . . . I will be kind to the poor, for they are alone. Kind to the rich, for they are afraid. And kind to the unkind, for such is how God has treated me.” – Max Lucado


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Wrecked. Broken. Destroyed.

Posted by Karah

When was the last time you used one of those words to describe the way you felt about something? What was it? Why were you so heartbroken about it?

 

READ ABOUT IT
Jeremiah felt that way, too. When God revealed what was going to happen to Judah because of their sinfulness, Jeremiah was heartbroken. Read Jeremiah 8:18–9:1 in your Bible. Underline all the words and phrases that express Jeremiah’s grief over what was going to happen. Then, ask yourself:

God was broken and heartsick over the peoples’ sinfulness. When you look at the sin in the world, what’s your response?

What’s your response to sin in your life?

TAKE ACTION 
What sinfulness in your own life has God broken your heart over? Confess it and seek His forgiveness today.

What sinfulness or circumstances in the world has God broken your heart over?

What steps will you take to make a difference—big or small!—in those areas this week?


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No Hope

Posted by Karah

1 LET’S RECAP…
Over and over, Jeremiah had made God’s point clear: judgment for sin was coming. He had pointed to their disobedience and railed against their hard hearts, but the people still remained unrepentant. Now, Jeremiah told the people that they were going to get to face the consequences of their sin: invasion by the Babylonians.

2 READ JEREMIAH 8:14-17 to get the peoples’ reaction to Jeremiah’s prophesy. Focus on verse 15.

How would you describe their reaction to the coming invasion?

Why do you think they reacted that way? Explain.

What would your reaction have been? Why?

The people seem rather hopeless here. Why do you think sinfulness often leads to such a feeling of despair and hopelessness?

3 THE POINT
When we allow sin to separate us from God, we will feel hopeless and alone. When you are mired in your sin and facing the consequences of sinful choices, it is never too late to turn to God with absolute repentance. Don’t wait!

 

4 JOURNAL
Think back to a time when you really messed up, yet hesitated to ask God for help. What happened? What did you learn? When you finally did repent, how did it affect your relationship with God? Your perspective? What consequences did you face. Jot down your thoughts and your thankfulness that God has provided a way for you to be reconciled to Him through Jesus as a prayer in your journal.


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The Latest on the Crestridge Beehive!

Posted by Karah

Week by week, day by day, the construction workers are making progress on our new store – The Beehive! It was really exciting to see it get painted last week. They almost completed painting the outside in one day – and it looks great.

It now matches the Bear Trap. You can just imagine rocking chairs – and a lot of them – lining this side!

They have also added trim around the top and base boards in the rooms.

 

 

 

 

We have two bathrooms in the new building, which will be great for use during skills and various activities! They have been working on the bathroom floors this week and they are looking good as well.

We also enjoy a beautiful view of the mountains from the back porch, especially the top landing area outside of the museum!

This is going to be a great building that will be put to good use in the near future and for many summers to come!


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Retro Friday: Cherokee 1

Posted by Sharon

The cabin that is now Cherokee 25 has gone through a few changes in it’s time.  In our post last week, the aerial view showed that there was only one cabin built on Cherokee Hill at the beginning.  Technically, it wasn’t called Cherokee Hill then.  That cabin started out as Arvine Bell’s living quarters and the Staff Lounge.  The original cabin had a wall separating where Arvine lived from the Staff Lounge.  It also had a fireplace.  When they decided to build the Cherokee cabins, that cabin became Cherokee 1.  Arvine had to move down to the cabin that is now where the SALT girls live.  The Staff Lounge was moved to what was most recently the store.

In this picture, it looks like they are having cabin devotions just before bed and they have a fire in the fireplace.  How great would that be to have a fireplace in your cabin!  Although it would be great, it probably is not too safe.  They decided to take the fireplace out.  In 2009, Cherokee 1 was changed to Cherokee 25 since we added 5 new cabins.  By 2010, we were able to renovate all of our cabins.  Cherokee 25 is now all open with 2 bathrooms and 2 showers.

Our new store will have the Museum on the top floor.  You will be able to find lots of great information about camp and its history!


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Retro Friday Begins

Posted by Sharon

The first summer at Camp Crestridge was 1955 which means we’ve celebrated 57 summers!  That is a lot of history, pictures, stories, etc.  We’d like to show you what camp was like “back then”.  Every Friday, we are going to post a blog that will highlight different parts about camp through the years.

Today’s focus is the beginning of the Dining Hall.  Did you know that when camp began in 1955, the Dining Hall wasn’t even built yet?  The campers and staff had to put their dresses on and walk to the Ridgecrest Conference Center to eat every meal.  And remember, the roads weren’t paved yet.  They had to walk on the dirt roads.  How would you like to do that now?

As you can see, these pictures are of the Dining Hall being built after camp began.  Sometimes it is hard to imagine what camp was like before all the buildings were here.  We are thankful for the way God has provided for us and grown camp through the years!


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Remembering the Past

Posted by Sharon

As you may know, our beloved Store was recently taken down in order to build a bigger, better Store.  Most of us aren’t aware of what the Store once was.  After digging through old pictures, I found one that reveals its history.

The Store used to be the Staff Lounge back in the day.  This picture was taken in the 1960’s.  It used to be an open room with furniture, books, and the signature pay phone.  According to Anja Cleveland, if a staffer wanted to make a phone call, they had to wait in line and everyone would end up hearing their conversation.   Campers were rarely allowed inside.  As a camper, Rhonda Smith went in only once and that was to give her counselor a perm!

At that time, the clothing was sold in a small building behind the Dining Hall called “The Beehive”.  The small building was where the Crafts building is now.

After the Staff Lounge was moved, it turned into the Store; a place where we currently give out candy and drinks and sell camp clothing.  The Store had a more official name which was “Crestridge Cupboard”.

Before we tore down the Store, we wanted to take out anything salvageable.  This was the last picture taken of the Store.

That building held a lot of memories!  We were sad to see it go, but just wait until you see what is taking its place!  Check back soon to see pictures of the progress.


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What Camp is like without the Campers

Posted by Sharon

Have you ever thought about what camp is like after the summer?  Have you ever wondered what we do when you’re not here?  It’s a hard transition when you leave camp and there’s only a few of us here.  I’m sure you probably go through a “camp” withdrawal after you leave.  We go through a “camper” withdrawal as well.  Just know that we are here thinking and praying for you.  Anytime you want to stop by or send us a message to let us know how you’re doing, we’d appreciate it!  Well, hopefully this will give you an idea of what camp is like without the campers…

What Camp Is Like Without Campers from Ridgecrest Summer Camps on Vimeo.

I hope you heard at the end of the video that we are getting a brand new Store/Museum this year!!!  Construction will be starting soon so be sure to check back for updates!


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