Campfire Talk – Week 7
by Nick Luna (pictured above)
Hi everyone! I’m a 3rd year on life squad studying to be a teacher and in education at Iowa State.
Today I will be talking to you about love. Here at camp you guys talked about a story yesterday called the Prodigal Son. One son leaves to go find what he thought to be a better life and his brother stays. When the son who left comes back the dad is overjoyed and decides to kill the fat calf for a feast. The son who stayed is angry because he was loyal to his dad this whole time and never got a feast with a fat calf or anything of the sort. The point of this story was to show that the son who stayed had access to all that the father had all along, and the one who left deprived himself of that, yet when he came back, the father welcomed him back with open arms.
This story reminds me of a younger me. When I was a kid I often chose to do things I knew weren’t always right in elementary school. I thought it was funny to make fun of a kid at school with my friends. Even though I knew deep down it wasn’t right, I still did it for my own enjoyment. I felt like that was more important than doing what was right. It ended up having a big impact on this kid, and he was so sad that his mom even came to our house to reason with my other, who had no idea this had been going on. This resulted in me being suspended from school. While my mom was very disappointed and made sure to take away my beloved iPad, she didn’t give up on me. My parents spent lots of time helping me understand the impact I was having on people and why it is so important to love others no matter who they were. While this experience helped some, I still went on to middle school with more to learn.
Even after all that my parents had done, I still fell back into my old ways in an attempt to feel better about myself. I would still make fun of other kids, and often caused a lot of trouble in class, disrespecting my teachers and spending lots of time in the dean’s office. The dean, however, saw the good in me. He sat with me day after day, taking the time to truly understand me and allowing me to reflect on who I wanted to be.
Over the course of my life, I’ve been given endless grace and love, even when I didn’t deserve it. When I left the path of God, I was still sent people who would welcome me with open arms when I decided to come back to making good decisions.
Love isn’t always words of affirmation or gifts; it’s the presence of people being there for you no matter what you do.
People who love you may raise their voice at you and get a little angry if you get bad grades or get suspended from school because of something you did. However, no matter how angry my family got with me, they were always there to help me schedule my dentist appointments or build me up after a bad grade but still teach me a lesson. The dean who sat with me all those days I got kicked out of class is now the reason I am in education and want to do his job one day. These are people who embodied God for me. God doesn’t ever give up on you. He will sit with you day after day, and as long as you’re willing to learn, he will continue to give you changes to change and to bring you back to a better life. There is nothing you can do that will separate you from the love of God, which is a gift we were given in Jesus. Tonight I want you to think about what other people have done for you and appreciate people for the little things they do. For example, Caleb Wragge (program director here at camp) does so much for us staff and counselors. We mess up all the time but no matter what Caleb forgives us with open arms being a great boss and role model. With his youth group and position on staff here at camp being there to always listen. Tonight I encourage all of you to pray bout something that bothers you or something you need help with because God will always welcome you. Ephesians 4:32 says, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
