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Fruit at Camp #10: Reflections
While serving at camp this summer, I wrote 9 blog posts, each about a different Fruit of the Spirit. I’d wanted to write this series for a while, and God showed me that camp was the perfect time. First, there were 9 Fridays in July/August. Second, camp is arguably the… (Keep Reading)
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Fruit at Camp #9: Self-Control
Upon reading this verse in full, I immediately thought, Hold up, isn’t self-control resisting temptation and sin, not a fruit? Turns out I was wrong. While the other fruits refer to virtues God wants us to live out, the final one is even better. We can live out the other… (Keep Reading)
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Fruit at Camp #8: Gentleness
For all of us who love tackling each other in football and lifting heavy objects (don’t ask me how many fridges I moved at camp last year), this one may be hard to fathom. Jesus wants us to be gentle? The Greek word for gentleness is Prautus, and it often… (Keep Reading)
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Fruit at Camp #7: Faithfulness
The Greek word we often translate as faithfulness is Pistis, and it also refers to belief, faith, or trust. By calling the Galatians to embody the “fruit” of faithfulness, Paul wanted them to trust God fully. When I say I’m faithful to a person or loyal to a deadline, that… (Keep Reading)
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Fruit at Camp #6: Goodness
What even is goodness, you may ask? Is it just another adjective on the good, gooder, goodest scale? We often sing about the goodness of God, but I’ve wondered what that means. The Greek word for goodness is Agathosyne, which refers to “uprightness of heart and life”. By experiencing the… (Keep Reading)
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Fruit at Camp #5: Kindness
I personally skim over this one way too often. Kindness, yep, I help people and give kids high-fives, surely that counts. The Greek word for kindness, Chrestotes, has several underlying meanings. For one, there’s an assumption that when we show kindness, we do it by meeting real needs. Kindness is… (Keep Reading)
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A Second Camp Story
It was a warm summer evening at camp, and naturally, the Camp Staff had a plan. The campers were gone for the day, so it was just the full-timers. Since our camp is situated on a river, we set off on a canoe/paddleboard adventure. Around twenty of us made our… (Keep Reading)
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Fruit at Camp #4: Patience
I thought patience meant not getting frustrated while stuck in traffic, or not slamming the door in your sibling’s face when they come into your room for the fifteenth time. Turns out there’s more to it. The Greek word for patience is Makrothymia, and it has multiple meanings. (Keep Reading)
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Fruit at Camp #3: Peace
Interestingly, the Greek word often translated as peace is Eirene, which refers to the pagan goddess of peace. Given that the Galatians worshipped pagan gods before converting to Christianity, they would have been familiar with the meaning of the word. So often we look at the world and wish for… (Keep Reading)
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Fruit at Camp #2: Joy
Before we dive into the “meat” of today, we need to know what Paul means when he calls joy a Fruit of the Spirit. The Greek word we translate as joy is Chara. The word occurs more than fifty times in the Bible, such as when the shepherds saw the… (Keep Reading)
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A Camp Story
It was a hot summer day at camp, and naturally, I had neglected to put on sunscreen. Our task appeared simple: move a 26-foot-tall inflatable from the beach to the middle of the river. I’d already spent the morning hunting for missing concrete anchors in the murky water, so we… (Keep Reading)
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Fruit at Camp #1: Love
Since I’m only introducing one new word per week, I think it’s important that we understand what each word means. While the English language has one word for love (which is continually being redefined), the Greek language uses four words used to represent love in the Bible. (Keep Reading)
Writing, Life, Faith 