Jesus' hands and feet were always dirty.

Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.
That sucker punched me in the face today. Actually, I think it’s going to continue to do that whenever I read it throughout my life. I claim to live in Jesus, but do I walk as Jesus did? Heck no I don’t. And whenever I see that and realize what I just said. I’m ashamed and humbled.

Let’s go back to what lead me to this. Over the past few months, I’ve been put on a roller-coaster called, “Do you trust me?” over the future. And while this will continue to be my ride for the rest of my life, the main theme of this ride was over Summer. Those of you who know me know I’m a Hume Kid. Since I was a little tyke this place filled with the smell of pine trees and dirt and the sound of screaming campers has been my home. It’s been a place I’ve come to love so much more since I left. A place of comfort, growth, and love. However, it also became my identity, and who I was and what my faith was, was defined by this place. Being surrounded by Christians who’ve known you, know your parents, know everything about you, makes it very easy to coast through the river of Christianity. I never had to work at my faith, because my camp did that for me. I never had to openly work at showing my Jesus to those around me, because at this place he IS everywhere around me. When I left for Capernwray, suddenly I wasn’t, Katie MacDonald, Hume kid we’ve known forever. Suddenly, I was Katie MacDonald, who we don’t know. My character had to be shown through my actions, and through who I portrayed myself to be. It was one of the most humbling and incredible things I’ve experienced in my short life. To suddenly be able to figure out who I was without Hume Lake being my whole identity. Suddenly, Hume was a part of my identity, but my character and my love for Jesus was who I was. It was freeing, and made my love for the place I call home grow so much stronger.

Now back to Summer. This will be my 9^th summer. Which means, yes, I’ve worked a lot of jobs. So far, I’ve been in every department except Maintenance. I’ve been blessed by that, and have gotten the opportunity to work my way up the ladder, you could say. These past 3 summers I’ve spent the best summers of them all in my favorite place, the Meadow, working with crazy junior highers, and loving every minute of it. This summer, I won’t be there. And that hurt. A place I had come to love so much is obviously not where God wants me this summer. And coming up to that point is hard, especially when it’s somewhere you believe you should be. I still don’t understand why I’m not going to be there this summer, but obviously, I have some things to learn, and who am I to mess with God’s perfect plans?

For a long time, I couldn’t imagine working any other places. I didn’t want to work anywhere else. I felt entitled to the job I wanted since I’ve been here 10 years. Entitled because of who I was. And that entitlement got me a smack in the face when I was rejected. I pushed for jobs, but not the “not-fun” jobs. Not the hard ones. Not the ones that required behind-the-scenes work. Because I was above all that. I earned my place at the top. I worked hard to get there. I was not going back down to the dirty floor for another summer. And in the middle of that rant, is when I saw a picture of Jesus. Bowing down and cleaning his disciples feet. He had everything, he was everything, he was at the top, and yet he got down and dirty to do as he said he was sent for. To serve. Even in the dirty, hard jobs. Even to do the jobs no one else wanted. And the tears came. Because the hypocrite in me realized my foolishness, and I was humbled.
If I love Hume Lake and these campers as much as I say I do, then I need to be like Jesus, and bow down and be a servant in whatever capacity I can do. And if that’s cleaning toilets, then it’s cleaning toilets in the name of Jesus, so that these campers can have an experience like none other, that they may come in contact with a magnificent, and awesome God who was the ultimate servant. Working at Hume Lake, had in a way, become a glory thing for me. I liked being at the top. I liked being up-there with the kids. And not all of that is bad. There will be more summers to do that again. But this summer, Jesus is teaching me to be a servant. And I’m going to be the best servant I can be. And love these kids the best way I can. Through showing them the joy that there is in serving the humble and righteous King, who humbled himself to serve me. And who knows what kind of situations I’ll be thrown into where my life and my love for Jesus can shine light to a campers heart.
I claim to live in Him. Now I need to walk as Jesus did.