Pay day!

It's been raining in my neck of the woods - almost non-stop, in fact, since school let out on June 2nd. I can think of maybe five days that have been sunny, but even that's stretching it.

In other news, I'm volunteering at a local Christian camp this summer! I'll be a day camp counselor for the next four weeks starting Sunday. (They have us sleep over Sunday night so we can prepare for the week, but the rest of the time I'm just there during the day.) Originally, when I applied for the position, I wanted to be full-time, meaning that I would work the whole summer and also get paid to be there. Well, that would have been more than great for me, but, unfortunately, because of the economy right now they were unable to hire me full-time.

Was I depressed to hear that I would only work there for a month and that I couldn't get paid for my time there? Did I grumble? Course not! I love the camp I'm going to! I love being around kids because it gives me the excuse to act a bit like a kid, myself, and who doesn't enjoy that? I get to share God's love with them, and I know I'll be blessed as I bless them. I couldn't care less whether I get paid or not. In a way, my service is my reward. For me, every day I'm there will be like a pay day. I think Paul had the same attitude towards his work. This is what I was reading in my devotionals this morning:


(1 Corinthians 9:7-10)
Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk? Do I say this merely from a human point of view? Doesn't the Law say the same thing? For it is written in the Law of Moses: "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." Is it about oxen that God is concerned? Surely he says this for us, doesn't he? Yes, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest.


Paul goes on to say that even though he's a preacher, he doesn't expect the church in Corinth to send him any money, even though he has the right to ask for pay for his work among them. After all, isn't that how he's supposed to make his living? By preaching? Nah, he'd rather take on a second job - just so he can promote the gospel even more. His preaching is his pay day.


(same chapter, verses 17-18)
If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make use of my rights in preaching it.


Don't think that I'm expecting my time at camp to be all rainbows; I think I have an idea of what I'm getting into. No, I'm not trying to be arrogant. Sorry. I did shadow a few day camp counselors during the day last summer, though, and I was a camper there, myself, for the past six years. I realized last year that being a counselor isn't always rewarding. I shadowed one counselor who had six perfect little six- and seven-year-old girls. They were so sweet, always wanted to hold my and their counselor's hand...Then there was another group of six- to ten-year-olds I was with who couldn't get along at all. Half the time, their poor counselor looked like she was about to rip her hair out. I have no idea what sort of group I'm going to be assigned to each week, but I have a feeling that God is going to test my patience more than a little. Cleaning up little cuts and scrapes that don't require the nurse's attention, putting up with kids that don't know how to play nice, making sure that everyone gets along - or, at the least, tolerates each other - keeping them from running off to where I can't keep an eye on them...keeping them semi-dry in the rain...But I know it will be worth it, and I wouldn't miss it for anything.


(again, same chapter, verses 19 and 22b-23)
Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible...I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.