When I was thirteen, a neighbor invited me to bible camp. I spent a week at Cooperstown Bible Camp. On Thursday of that week, I remember the missionary/speaker at the end of the evening saying, “If God calls you…you will go anywhere in the world for him.” That was the last thing he said that evening. I also remember the last thing I said, “NO WAY!”
Thirty-seven years later I fail to describe what happened. My last waking thought was saying NO to God. My first waking thought was saying YES to God. I don’t know what happened during the night, but whatever that missionary had, I wanted. Perhaps the Spirit of God spoke to me while I counted sheep. But, early in the morning, I woke up and found the missionary and prayed that God would transform my life into His life. It was a moment I have never regretted.
The word of God is a word of TRANSFORMATION. God, through his word, accepts me the way I am but then transforms me into what I might become. Jesus loves me, complete with all my quirks and sins, but then recreates me. This transformation has been described in a thousand ways. “I was blind, and now I see, lost and then found, captured, reborn and regenerated. But, whatever we call it, I believe it is the glory of the Gospel. That process started 48 years ago for me at Cooperstown Bible Camp, and I suspect even earlier. Praise God for Cooperstown Bible Camp!
However, “What about here in Casselton?” Are we encountering God in such a way that lives are being transformed? Are you being transformed into the likeness of Christ through your participation in God’s work and kingdom? The website is filled with opportunities to be about God’s work – to grow, learn, and serve. But, it is NOT about being busy. It is about being transformed. As you look through the possibilities to grow, learn, and serve, ask yourself how God calls you to participate so that you might know the joy of transformation.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2