Well I'm back from camp, but prematurely so.
John and I were planning on staying, at the least, through tomorrow morning to finish out Junior High camp and then we were hoping to stay on for the fourth and fifth graders next week, but God had other plans.
On Monday night, we received word from our parents that one of John's good friends from our high school youth group collapsed and died on the youth group's annual backpacking trip.
Nathan was one of 15-20 guys that have run together over the past four and a half years, growing in the Lord and becoming brothers along the way. All of them are like little brothers to me (some more than others) because of their friendship with John.
He graduated in May and was going to come to CSU in the fall and live in Newsom, which I was really excited about.
But God definitely had other plans and we need not ask "why?"
He's gone home to glory at the age of seventeen - reigning on high with our Lord and Savior, face-to-face, and now a part of the cloud of witnesses that surrounds us.
Praise the Lord!
There is such a comfort in knowing where Nathan is - such a great hope and joy is found in that knowledge.
Face-to-face! How I long to be where he is!
However, please be in prayer for his family, our church family, and for the others who were on the trip with him. There is a lot of sorrow and emotional damage. Pray for unity and strength in the church, and pray that Christ would be proclaimed boldly at the memorial service tomorrow (which is why John and I came back early).
We were so blessed to be at camp when we found out - we had work to do and little ones who were dependent upon us, so it kept us from breaking down completely and allowed us the opportunity to look at what happened from a very different perspective.
God definitely knew what He was doing when He placed us there to hear the news.
But I will write more about camp later. Right now, I'm worn out from chasing after middle-schoolers all week - it is time to sleep in my own bed.
God bless - He has plans for all of us.
Mood: Worn Listening to: downhere, downhere
Reading: Psalm 119
"Those that cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs." [[Jonah 2:8]]
2 comments:
I am sad to hear that we will be short a brother noext fall, and that I will be unable to meet him on this Earth...But praise God that I will get to meet him someday. Nathan will get to spend eternity in a good place and even though his life here was cut off, it is not a sad thing...Heaven is better than here anyway. I love you Kate and I am here if you need me. I am becoming an expert in young death (although most of mine were unsaved).
God bless you and I am glad you are back from camp...especially since Dave is gone now to his camp.
I can't imagine getting such unsuspected news. I will pray for the people left here that must deal with it.
Praise God that He called a soldier home.
Get some rest.
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