Camp E.D.G.E.
Greetings from Camp E.D.G.E.! Camp E.D.G.E. is the theme for this year’s Vacation Bible School at the church where I serve. The kids are having a wonderful time and learning some very important lessons. The “E.D.G.E.” in Camp E.D.G.E. stands for “Experience and Discover God Everywhere.” One of the truths that the children have learned is that God can be experienced and discovered in His Creation. I’m thrilled that the kids have been taught this. I don’t remember being taught this truth in the church where I grew up. It is not, however, a new idea. Many of the biblical writers imply this very idea. Likewise, throughout Christian history various theologians have made reference to the “two books of revelation”—the Bible and Creation. In the end, however, Jesus may be our best teacher when it comes to seeing God everywhere.
In his book, We Have Seen the Lord, William Barclay writes: “To Jesus the whole world was full of signs; the corn in the field, the leaven in the loaf, the scarlet anemones on the hillside all spoke to him of God. He did not think that God had to break in from the outside world; he knew that God was already in the world for anyone who had eyes to see. The sign of truly religious persons is not that they come to Church to find God but that they find God everywhere; not that they make a great deal of sacred places but that they sanctify common places.”
There have been a lot of places in nature where I have definitely experienced and discovered God. One such place is Camp Denali in Denali National Park (pictured above). Beholding such awesome beauty as that found in Alaska, it would be hard to not see God. The challenge for me is to find Him in the not so obvious places. At Camp E.D.G.E. it’s not just the kids who have been learning. So have I.
–Chuck Summers