Dark Caves and Dusty Feet: West Coast Honor Camp Friday through Saturday

This past week at West Coast Honor Camp, Pastor Shawn Thornton taught on "Think Right, Do Right, Feel Right," using examples from the Old and New Testaments. On Tuesday, we looked at Elijah and "Three Things About Standing Out." On Wednesday, we looked at David and Goliath and "Taking a Running Stand for the Living God."

Pastor Shawn taught "Stand Up When Feeling Down" Thursday.
Photo provided by Laura Carpenter

On Thursday, we learned how to "Stand Up When Feeling Down," once again looking at David. This time, we looked at 1 Samuel 21-22:2. David was on the run, as Saul had become jealous and wanted to kill him. Initially, he fled to Gath, but because he killed Goliath, his life was in danger there as well. So, David found himself in a deep, dark cave — a fugitive in the very country he was annointed to rule after Saul.

It was during this time alone in a cave that he wrote many of the Psalms and provided a blueprint for how to "Stand Up When Feeling Down."

1) Tell God How You Feel. This was what David did in the first Psalm he wrote in the cave, Psalm 142.

2) Praise God for Who He Is. In Psalm 57, David praised God intentionally, in spite of his "deep-dark-cave experience."

3) Serve God by Helping Others. In, 1 Samuel 22:1-2, we're told about how word spread of David's predicament and how those even worse off than David came into the cave to dwell with him, making him their leader. Suddenly, David had others to care for and teach about God, which we see in Psalm 34.

Service remained the focal point of the closing message of the week as well: "Stand Up by Stooping Down." For this message on Friday, Pastor Shawn looked at the Last Supper in John 13:1-17, 34 when Jesus washed the disciple's feet. In this passage, Jesus set the example of how to "think right, do right, feel right," teaching the disciples three requirements for "Standing Up by Stooping Down."

1) Stooping down requires personal humility, even when no one else expects it. The disciples expected the lowest of them, or even the lowest servant of the house where they ate, to wash their feet, as was the custom. Nobody expected Jesus to don the apron and use the bowl.

2) Stooping down requires practical action, even when no one else seeks it. Simon peter never saught to have Jesus wash his feet, but it was a task that needed done.

3) Stooping down requires Christ-like love. In verses 14-15, Jesus tells his disciples, "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you." The command continues in verse 34: "a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another."

As the children return to their homes, their trials, and their burdens, this is our prayer for them: we pray that they seek to think right, do right and feel right, and are able to stand up for their faith and love and serve as Christ loves and serves them. We pray that the junior high campers can put on the Armor of God that they studied this week, and that the high school campers can apply the lessons they learned in ministry.

Watch tomorrow for one more post to conclude the series on West Coast Honor Camp 2012, and please continue to watch for other youth and Awana-related posts in the following weeks.

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