Awesomeness Takes the Stage >> Erin

The final 2016 Summer Staffer is on the Awesomeness Takes the Stage today! Welcome Erin, if you will!

(Just to clarify the picture above — Erin was eating one of those delicious cookie stick things at the Dork Ball we have to kick off the summer! Sooooo, there’s that.)

As I feel like I have written throughout our whole Awesomeness Takes the Stage posts this summer, Erin was first a camper!

Holy smokes we have gotten to see Erin grow up! For around eight or so years, she has somehow been a part of Whisper Mountain! Being a local to Robbinsville, she has spent a lot of time with us through school or local community events, as a summer camper, and as a volunteer whenever we had need!

Seeing Erin go from sort of quiet and in the background to Lead Guide has been nothing short of God’s gracious and beautiful work in her life. He has clearly become her greatest joy in life which has made her confident to do what He keeps calling her to.

Seeing her exchange the brokenness in her life for the yolk of God’s peace and healing has been inspiring! He is shaping her into a virtuous woman who willingly carries the burdens of others so they too can know God’s freeing peace and ocean of love.

Watching her lead worship, teach and connect with campers makes us feel like proud parents in awe of the woman she is becoming. We couldn’t be more thankful for her being a part of our Whisper Mountain family for so long or more excited to see her growing as a strong leader for God’s glory!

Thank you Erin for serving with us this summer and being willing to be stretched through your role as Lead Guide! You have led well! We love you!

Awesomeness Takes the Stage [2015] >> Erin

You know those people who are equal parts sweet and fun? The kind you want to be around? That’s Erin, and she’s on our Awesomeness Takes the Stage today!

Like the others I’ve introduced to you so far this summer, Erin started as a camper at Whisper Mountain, then served with us as a GIT (that means Guide in Training) and is now serving with us as a Guide! Seeing her growth through these years has been a gift as we’ve seen her walk the hard of life and still choose God. Erin’s joy speaks to the reality of her Daddy leading her, carrying her and loving her and it’s this joy that she shares with those around her!

Erin’s been growing in her ability and giftedness to help lead worship here at camp. A beautiful thing to have her share with us! She leads campers with more confidence and grace as well and is making a real impact in their lives even beyond the days of camp! Her laughter is contagious and I can’t say enough how grateful we are to have her on our team this summer! We are excited to see what God has in store for her as she begins the next chapter of life as a college student!

Today is Erin’s birthday so if you want to help us celebrate her, leave her a little word of love and encouragement in the comments!

Read some of her heart on her guest posts here and here. Catch another glimpse into the Wonderful World of Erin from her 2013 “Stage” post!

Author >> Cassi | Photo Creds: Tom + Cassi

When Christmas Distracts

Season’s Greetings, beautiful people!

As school is slowly winding down + the rest from Thanksgiving is wearing thin on our restless hearts yearning for the next break, our minds are starting to shift to the upcoming holiday: Christmas. Hearing the word brings glee + excitement, but I want to put focus on the main part of the word – the stem.

Pretty lights, trees, + presents get my attention every year, but these ingredients mix into a tempting appearance shifting my mindset from the truth. Every day we are focused on physical, material, + tangible things instead of the whole reason we are on this earth: Christ. Our minds are easily distracted from the One who created them, and set on our daily routines or challenges. We always somehow find a way (our way) to get the bills paid, gifts bought, or overcome obstacles. Every day we don’t realize the absolute need for God until we are at the breaking point. You know that point where you are on your knees and have finally come to the realization that you can’t do it on your own anymore? It’s true God uses those as turning points for us to look to Him and surrender, but we’re missing the point. It shouldn’t take misery for us to remember that Jesus is there for us, and it shouldn’t take a holiday to remember what Jesus did for us.

God calls us to love Him with a daily, hourly, minutely, secondly love. He wants our love for Him to overflow so much that it turns into an absolute necessity to survive. A necessity like how a deer pants for water–our souls should thirst for God. He wants us to WANT Him. He wants to captivate our hearts so our love for others stems from our love for Him. He places tests in our lives to see how we will handle them, and He may give you too much for you to handle only for you to realize He is the only one who can help you carry it.

But He wouldn’t have to do this–we wouldn’t have to suffer so much–if we would just fix our eyes on Him to begin with. God commands us to do this: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind.” (Luke 10:27). If we truly loved Him the way He commands, our lives wouldn’t resemble the common “It’s going good until I can’t handle something so that’s when I clasp my hands and pray for help” scenario. He wants our very first thought to be of Him when we encounter trials AND when we don’t.

God sent His son–Christ–to die for our sins. This is the reason we celebrate Christmas. He is the very beginning of the word for Pete’s sake! So this holiday season, set your heart + mind on the whole reason for the season:  Jesus coming to the world, to not only die for us, but to live as an example for the world to strive to become daily. However, along with the cliché Christian “reason for the season” motto, think about this: Christmas isn’t the only time to focus on Jesus. My prayer for you is to not only focus on Him this Christmas, but that you wouldn’t stop after December 25^th.

\Author >> Erin| ^^ |Photography >> Cassi|

feeling pulled by comfortable

As summer is slowly winding down to an end, the flowers dying, leaves starting to fall, my heart is comforted by all of the warm memories of the past few months that ride on the gentle breeze blowing on me. Fall is almost here and it’s almost like everything from summer drifts away along with the passing season.

Conformity is setting in, and the soothing pull of being comfortable is looking more and more appealing with each passing day. But just as the leaves will soon change colors, so should our mindset. We shouldn’t be anchored down by our fleshly desires to be where we were three months ago. We should be setting our minds on the new, the future, today.

As we embark on this new adventure, we should be praying for opportunities to grow, to be tested, to use what we have learned from the summer, and somehow along the way, we should be choosing to find joy through it all. We should enter into this new season just as we did the last: not knowing what is going to happen, but having the faith that when we are fixing our eyes on the author of our lives, and trusting in Him, that through the trials of our lives he is testing us; He is perfecting us.

My challenge to you — whoever is reading this, whether you’re a past camper, staff member, or even someone with no affiliation to Whisper Mountain — is to live out Romans 12:2 – “Do not conform by the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will” (NKJV). God’s calling us to a life sold out to Him, even if that means being uncomfortable, and possibly standing alone. So get out there! As the wise ole’ Gandhi once said: “Be the change you want to see in the world” but as I (along with Needtobreathe and Charley Woodman) like to paraphrase, “Be a difference maker.”

Join the conversation — what’s it mean to you to be a difference maker?

|Author >> Erin| ^^ |Photography >> Erin + Cassi| ^^ |Music Video >> Need to Breathe|

we are flipping out!

We've pressed on through the exhaustion, the fun, the struggles, the God-workings and we've crossed the finish line! Celebrate with us as Summer 2013 has been completed! I look forward to sharing more about the summer and a couple more staff in the days ahead. For today, we hug the last of our staff goodbye and begin to exhale.

We thank our Daddy for caring us through and allowing the adventure in the first place!

Have a great Monday!