What Being A Joggler Taught Me

This past summer, I had the privilege to travel around the Midwest to different church camps and youth events to recruit for my school, Ozark Christian College. This means I spent several months preparing and then NINE straight weeks with three other people. We rashly decided to call ourselves “The Jogglers”, which are people who can jog and juggle at the same time. Only one of us could actually do that… but we didn’t care.

Our team came to completion a little late after our original other guy had to give up his spot on the team for some good reasons. We were the last team (of six teams total) to be formed, and were unsure who would end up on our team or even if we would have another guy.

Lesson Number One: God’s provision is always perfect.

That’s when, by some really wonderful chance, Nick came onto our team. He didn’t have anything to do this summer, and we needed another dude to spend the summer with. I don’t know if we would have made it through the summer without Nick. Each of the other three of us were able to depend on Nick in a different way. As for me, I gained a best friend. Nick and I soon were calling each other “Bae” and freaking the girls on our team out with our bromance. Without Nick, I definitely would have struggled this summer, and the girls would have probably killed me. I don’t have the words to express how thankful I am that Nick joined us when he did.

As the summer began, we quickly nailed down our signature group pose, and weeks began to both crawl and fly by. Each camp or event had different strengths and weaknesses, but we were able to love on students and other sponsors each week. Almost every camp, though, I was able to lead a family group with Chelsea. This extreme honor taught me another lesson.

Lesson Number Two: Having Christ in common is all that’s really necessary to build a relationship.

Let’s face it: The likelihood of Chelsea and I being friends on our own accord was slim. She’s a freakin’ boss basketball player whose quiet, kind personality probably (understandably) avoids obnoxious, uncoordinated and un-athletic souls like mine. But we found ourselves in a situation where we had nine straight weeks of forced 24/7 friendship, and I am so glad we did. Even though our interests are different and we don’t have the same friends, Chelsea is one of my favorite people I’ve ever gotten to know. Because we both love Christ, and are loved by Him, we were able to fashion a real friendship. Chelsea became my sister, and I am a better person, a better Christ follower, because she chose to care about and put up with me. (Chelsea is about to get married and WE CALLED IT during the summer that Cameron was going to ask her dad and WE CALLED IT and IT IS WONDERFUL)

A summer full of camps and CIY’s mean you get to do some pretty fun things. Example: All out mud and water fights with your teammates that end in funny pictures and memories like the one above. It can also mean you are each totally exhausted and on edge. Our team wasn’t all smiles and hugs. It was that a lot of the time, but not all of the time. To be perfectly honest, this brings me to something that Sara taught me this summer.

Lesson Number Three: God is intimately working on all of us at the same time and sometimes in completely different ways.

Sara is the only person on my team that I was friends with before this summer started. I’m lucky enough to be in a really special Community Group with Sara, and it is probably because of this that we could so easily get on each others nerves. We already knew each other pretty well, and so we were more comfortable saying what we thought when we thought it. So I had to learn that as much as God was challenging and stretching me that summer, He was doing the same in Sara. When you understand that, you somehow get that grace for both of you is what is needed. You can’t just expect grace for yourself. Even though we weren’t perfect all summer, Sara and I are still friends. We still are in Community Group together and still able to grind on each other’s nerves. But I am so glad that we still are all those things. Sara enabled me to see beyond myself, and I am better because I spent nine straight weeks with her. Plus, if you can look back and still be thankful for someone after that pressure-cooker kind of an experience, then you know you have found a true friend. I’m so thankful for my sister, Sara.

Our summer was divided into a week of training plus three weeks of camp, a break week, and then five final weeks living out of our van while being at camps in Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois. This second half of our summer was definitely my favorite. We were on our own. We had come back to Ozark every weekend the first half, but until the very end of the summer we would be just a team of four. I had my doubts, honestly. I was afraid of how we could handle being together and only having each other to lean on. This brought on another lesson.

Lesson Number Four: Christian community is not always perfect, but it is the most incredible thing to take part in.

The Jogglers became family over the last five weeks. A family fights. A family apologizes. A family talks about real things. That is what we were able to do. I think it helped that we gained a pair of adopted grandparents that loved on us for two weekends. We even came up with loving nicknames for them and got emotional when saying goodbye to them!

Our weekends with that family and their church were a highlight from the summer. They loved on us, fed us, and let us sleep. That was everything at that point. This brings me to the next lesson.

Lesson Number Five: The Church is basically the coolest thing on earth.

The people we were able to get to know throughout the summer were honestly my favorite part of the summer. Students, sponsors, and ministers. The people we met helped carry us through the summer. There are just too many people to list, but I promise that we are still so thankful for you. The Church is the Bride of Christ, and what a privilege it was to meet so many members of it this last summer. The Jogglers are better people because of them.

Specifically, I learned the most from the other Camp Team-ers and interns we met. Whether from Ozark or not, it was an honor to work alongside them and see kids coming to Christ. I can’t wait to be in heaven with them all.

I must be honest. When the end of the summer came, I was ready for it. I was so tired. I was physically, spiritually, and mentally exhausted. Our final responsibility as The Jogglers was to lead groups with a couple other teams at Fall Fast Track, where incoming Freshmen come to schedule classes and attend orientation. This was the last thing I felt like I wanted to do before we all went our separate way, but God showed me how perfect his timing was again. This leads to the second to last lesson in this post.

Lesson Number Six: When you pour out your life in service to Christ and others, you get to be a part of Kingdom Work. And that is the most fulfilling and wonderful thing we can ever get to do.

At this final event for the summer, we got to help some students that we had actually talked to about Ozark register for classes they were going to actually take at Ozark! It was one of those sweet moments when God lets you see what you did actually meant something special. It confirmed that my summer had been spent well. The exhaustion, in the end, was worth it. Now, looking back, I can see that God used The Jogglers to do His work. What an honor!

Our time was limited. I remember when the summer seemed so far from over, but now I realize how little nine weeks was in the grand scheme of things. The truth is that I will most-likely never spend that amount of time with this team ever again. From this point on, we are four individuals. And yet…

Lesson Number Seven: Everything has a season, which is good.

And sometimes sad.

I will always be a Joggler. I think that I will always remember our summer together. The good and the bad, the wonderful and the horrible. Most of all, I think I will enjoy watching the lives of those we came in contact with as they serve Christ and His Kingdom as we grow up. The Jogglers’ time ran out. Praise Christ!

At the same time, it is okay to be a little sad that I will never spend a summer with those three people again. It is okay to feel down about people only being in our lives for a short amount of time. It is okay to wonder if they think about that summer the way you do. Maybe they do, maybe they don’t! Either way, even Jesus grieved certain things. I think we can too.

But the Jogglers didn’t get stuck in that. Chelsea is getting married next week and beginning a life of ministry with her husband. That’s Kingdom Work. Sara is spending five weeks in the Congo over the break serving orphans and those affected by years of war. That’s Kingdom Work. Nick is spending next summer at a Bible College in Thailand while teaching English and how to do youth ministry. That’s Kingdom Work. I’m staying home next summer, hopefully to intern at a church. That’s Kingdom Work.

Our summer ended, but the thing that brought us and held us together, the Kingdom Work, still goes on. And that is something we can be thankful for, forever.

I love you, my Jogglers. Thanks for the adventure.