I haven’t blogged in a while. I was looking for something truly noteworthy to share with you out there. Something that talked deeply of God’s grace and redemption. I wanted it to be powerful and inspire others to see that God is always working…even when it doesn’t seem that way. I got it this last week.

This year for some reason I decided to lead two camps. One for High School and the other for Junior High. This makes for an exhausting June and a lot of work for me and my student staff, but will be rewarding.

We received a few scholarships from a very generous anonymous donor, saying that he didn’t want anyone to miss camp. The day before we left, we had one spot left. I was tempted to just leave it at that and go home and be done with it, but I felt the Lord saying all day long keep looking, keep calling, keep texting. That spot needs to be filled. I racked my brain all day long and our student database. My assistant, Jill, and I went through our lists 20 times thinking of people to go and for whatever reason one after another couldn’t take this last, paid for spot…We finally came to the end of our ideas and I was ready to give up and

Jill says, “What about Johnny?”

I say, “I thought Johnny was in college.”

We look him up and he’s a Junior going into his Senior year.

I say, “Call him”.

Ring, ring, ring…”Hello, Johnny? This is Jill from the church. I was calling to see if you’d like to go to High School camp. We have an open, paid for spot and we were wondering if you’d like to go.”

Johnny: “Let me check…[brief pause]…YES!”

Ok, so now our last spot is filled and we feel good. No spots wasted.

Fast forward to our third night of camp, the speaker has been sharing the Gospel over the last few sessions and now in the middle of the message he says, “If you want Jesus, stand up now.”

No eyes are closed, no heads are bowed…EVERYONE is looking. We are praying. Then Johnny stands up. No doubt what he is standing for. He’s not confused. He knows Jesus is his greatest desire. I take him out and talk him through what it means to be a believer in Jesus and shared with him how he got here. He was amazed…So am I.

The Sovereignty Breakdown

I thought I’d lay it out clearly so you can see God’s hand in all of this:

1. Johnny wanted to go to camp, but didn’t say anything because he didn’t have the money.

2. A wonderful man in our church, totally independent of Johnny had it laid on his heart to make sure nobody missed camp.

3. We couldn’t come up with anybody to take this spot, until we got to the person who God had planned to be there before time started, Johnny.

4. He takes the spot in an instant.

5. We arrive safely and all the people around him are speaking to the exact needs that he is feeling.

6. The night that he his under the deepest conviction is the night that an invitation is given.

7. Johnny trusts Jesus…

Johnny is now 4 days old. He is a new believer, but he loves Jesus and is thankful for his salvation. He has much to deal with still in his young life. You can pray for him as he is living with his older sister and younger brother and money is very tight. He is also working hard to prepare for this next school year to have good grades and high SAT scores so he can get some scholarship to go to college. God is going to do big things through Johnny. I’m crying while I’m writing this right now.

I love God’s sovereignty. I love God’s grace. I love God’s redemption and I love how He works all things for our God and His glory. I hope you do too.

Christ is all,

Jason