Make War

Session 5, we've been home from sky ranch for just two days now and I am already finding myself face to face with tons of different temptations that seemed absent while at sky ranch. Guys, If you remember, on tuesday night Cameron told us to "make war" against temptation and against all sin. This short phrase has really helped me not give in to many of the temptations that I have faced and I hope it can do the same for all of you. If you feel a sudden urge to sin and if you feel that you should give in to the temporary pleasure of the world, just remember that you should "make war" against this temptation in order to overcome it. Also remember that this worldly pleasure is short, fleeting, and altogether unsatisfactory. Look, instead, for joy in God and in his word. Remember, though, that alone, we are powerless against the devil and temptation, but if we "make war" with faith that God is behind us and trusting that he will help us successfully beat temptation, then the devil cannot touch us. Also, If any of you are having problems with temptation, you have all your brothers and sisters in quest who will be there to help you in any way possible. So remember, "make war" against all the temptations that you face, and as long as long as you do so with trust that God will be with you the entire time, you will not fall to any temptation.

Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak! -Mathew 26:41

Love yall

-Kyle

Purpose

"Every moment is worthless no meaning or purpose,
Every breath is just waisted, if you are not the center of my world
Im just drifting, barely existing,
Cause every minute without you is worthless"
-Worthless, by Point of Grace

So I heard this song and i found it super powerful and convicting. It just reminds me that everything in this life that we spend time on besides God is fleeting. Nothing else will last, and everything else is meaningless from the eternal perspective. We need to keep God at the center of our world. In everything that we do in school, sports, and with our friends, We should be doing it with the motive to please God. It is so true that every minute without him is worthless. Our lives are a gift. Our next breath is not a guarantee. I say this not to worry you, but to remind you to invest in things that will last. This really changes my perspective on spending time with the Lord daily. Before, i thought that if you read your Bible in the morning for fifteen minutes, that was awesome. And it is awesome to be in the word daily, but there is more to it than that!! The Bible tells us to pray without ceasing. Think how different every day would be if we truely did that! I think that is what Christ being the "center of our world" means. for if we keep him at the forefront of our minds throughout the day, than we will naturally start to think of the details more from his perspective. And then we start to change.To become more like Jesus, we need to spend time with him. And thought reading the Bible is absolutely essential, we can't just do it for a few minutes in the morning and then be done.
I know its not a Bible verse, but i really found that song challenging, and I hope you do too!!

Esther Was the Light

Today I asked my dad to take me to Borders or Barnes & Noble to get an ESV Study Bible. When we were at Borders, I was walking in the Religion section and I saw the title of a book that made me look again. The book is called Chosen:The Lost Diaries of Queen Esther by Ginger Garrett. I had to have it. I thought it would be an awesome book to read while reading the actual book of Esther in the Old Testament.

So I was in the car starting to read it, I read a footnote telling me to go to the back of the book to the appendix. What I read there really stuck with me. Here it is:

'What was it that set Esther apart? Although we do not know how Mordecai allowed Esther to groom herself, we know her peers used cosmetics to increase their allure. Fats from animals... were used as the base for cosmetics and perfumes, and it was believed that the strength and beauty of the animals would be passed along to the wearers. These fats... were applied based on the premise that light always creates highlights and shadows. ...One must draw the eye to a good feature, and away from a lesser one.

The Jews say God created Esther with a different approach. Esther's peers used cosmetics to manipulate the light around them. Yet, fashioned by God, in this story Esther would be the light. It is taught that women are illuminated internally by His power and strength. He shaped them to His satisfaction.' (pg 273)

This tells us that by being being the light, we are set apart. That we are 'illuminated internally by His power' and making a difference in that way.

In John 8:12, Jesus says, '"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”'

As followers of Christ, we do not 'walk in darkness'. We have Jesus within us, seeing through our eyes, speaking through our mouths, and shining out of us with the light of life.

I've been reading this book for about 30 minutes now, and already its made me think quite a lot. I recommend it to all of you! I miss you and love you all!

-Ally

Inspiration

everyone in quest session 5 has inspired me to do so much, and to challenge other people in their faith i hope we can all see each other again someday.

bringin' da truth

"I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of this world, just as I am not of this world. And for their sake I sanctify myself, that they may be sanctified in the truth."
John 17:15-17

This is what Jesus prayed for his disciples right before he left them. He left them with a call to bring the truth to the world.

That is us too my friends. We have been called to be vessels of truth to the messed up world. He does not want to take us away from it because this world NEEDS us to bring the truth.

May we be continually sanctified by the truth of God's word!!! Let's read it when its hard lets read it when its easy, lets read it in the morning, lets read it in the evening, lets hide it in our heart, lets go baby.... its time to bring THE TRUTH with our lives!

Encouragment

"So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
Isaiah 41:10

How awesome is that? I can't tell you how many time I get discouraged because I am so scared. I'm especially scared of failure, which is lame, but it's something you should know about me. I know that I shouldn't be scared because God will "uphold me with his righteous right hand" that's so cool. What are things that your scared of and what are ways you can apply this to your life? I LOVE to hear your hearts so please share. I am so happy to be on this blog again. It's awesome! I hope all of you are doing great and that the Lord is moving in your lives in new ways that are so exciting to you! Keep me updated on things.
I love you guys!

In him, Madi.

Quest

Hey everyone. First off, I want to say it's great to see the blog being used again by so many awesome people, and I can't wait to see what all of you have to say.

What I want to talk about real quick is something that I noticed at the Session 5 campfire. Everyone was telling a part or two of their own personal testimony, and there were so many successful stories. All these people that had guilt or had fallen away during the year were talking and saying that now they knew they could go out and live their lives for God. Which is so awesome! I love hearing that kind of stuff. But one thing I noticed was that during everyone's turn to speak, almost everyone said, "And then came this week," or "then I came to Quest." And in that point in the story, everything turned around and out came the lighter side of the story. What I want to say is that, although Quest is awesome, and it's such an amazing place to get to know the Lord and His will, it's just a title. It's just the name of a section of Sky Ranch. It wasn't the building, or the tribal comps, or chili dog day that created Quest into what it was.

It was all of you.

While it was the Lord that brought us all together for that wonderful week, it was all of you that encouraged each other throughout the whole week. It was the counselors, it was the campers, it was Cameron and Dana, that were the heart of Quest. We were the collective body of believers that made Quest so awesome. That also goes back to our Bible X time when we talked about the Christian community, or the body of believers. Anyways, I just wanted all of you to know that if you really want to get to know the Lord this year, and grow in your faith, don't let Quest be part of your encouragement. Let it be everyone that made up Quest. Let it be each other. Try and keep up with each other this year and keep that bond that all of you made during your sessions. Don't let it go to waste. And this blog is perfect for that. This is the perfect place to keep up with everyone that you've come to know and love, why not use it? I would love to see this blog kept alive and running until Quest next year rolls around. I encourage everyone reading this to keep posting and asking, even if you only have something small to say. Y'all are awesome, please keep it up.

-Joe

The Importance of Wisdom.

"Break my heart for what breaks yours, Everything I am for your Kingdom's cause

." -hosanna, hillsong 

I want THIS to me  my  battle cry.  

I read through proverbs this past month, and PROVERBS 2 really stood out to me. 

It talks about the importance of wisdom, the value of Wisdom, and even how to find it. 

Proverbs 2:1-5  1 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, 2 making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; 3 yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, 4 if you seek it like silver and search for it as hidden treasures, 5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find that knowledge of God. 

When we seek wisdom we will find it.  In wisdom we find understanding, and when wisdom come into our heart the knowledge will be pleasant to our souls. THE LORD GIVES WIDOM, FROM HIS MOUTH COMES KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING!!! Discretion will watch over us, and understanding will gaurd us delivering you from evil in MANY different aspects. 

(discretion is knowing when you speak and when not to speak, knowing what you say, when to say it, and how to say it, or being careful in situations) 

Proverbs 2:20 You will walk in the way of the good, and keep to the paths of the righteous.

Walking in the way of good and keeping the paths of the righteous, is a way that others will see a difference in Christians and an important way of wisdom.

If we do not have knowledge and understanding of God, we can easily be broken down.

Someone I'm very close to in my life walked with the Lord all throughout highschool, but then they entered college and they were beaten down by those around them because people would throw questions at them, that they couldn't answer.  Or make statements, that they couldn't refute. All of that made them doubt so much, to where their faith was destroyed.  Because they did not have a large knowledge of God. 

The importance of seeking after the Lord with all that we are, giving ourselves completely to him, and growing in knowledge of him is so so so crucial.  

We are called to share the word of the Lord, but it's tough to do that if we don't know it.  

That's why it's so important to spend time in the word.  Receiving God's word is the first things it says to do in this chapter.  In reading God's Word, we gain wisdom. 

To sum it up Wisdom is important in GLORIFYING THE LORD, in growing closer to the Lord in our relationship with Him, and God working through us to save the Lost, and bring knowledge and understanding to them. 

I am second videos

(Click on this title and it will take you to their website...after you have read the blog duh)

So im chillin on my morning off from camp and decided to check out some videos online. Yesterday, Dana had to lead a breakout and I had to leave but I downloaded a couple of videos that were like inspirational stories... yeah Dana was crying through the whole thing... haha. Anyways I checked out some I am second videos and I was so encouraged. There are a few that were really cool that I reccommend: Jason Witten (Dallas Cowboys All-Star Tight End), Jason Castro (Aggie, WHOOP and American Idol finalist), and Josh Hamilton (Texas Rangers All-Star Outfielder).

We have so many poor examples of famous people out there, so I wanted to let you check out the stories of some studs.

Love you guys and prayin for you a ton

JUDGERS!!!!!

Okey dokey, I know that everyone has to deal with these people. Judgers (or people who judge if you are an English grammar freak :D). Anyway, judgers annoy me to no end. Seriously. I cannot stand it when I am with someone and they say things like "wow that girl is really fat" or "that guy is super ugly". It annoys me, and yet I judge all the time. Why is that we do the things that annoy us the most? I have been getting better at not judging. I sit there and tell myself, "who am I to judge?" Besides, I do not want people judging me (and I know they do). So, my question for ya'll is, what do ya'll do when you find yourself judging someone? And, are there any bible verses for this? LET ME KNOW!!!!

I love you all and miss you so very much!

James

I have been reading through james since i got home and it turns out you can really aply it to your life. in chapter 2 it talks about not judging people because of thier outward appearance or the ammount of money they have. if your looking for a book to read i HIGHLY suggest James.

-Austin C. Mann

Finding encouragement in Philippians

Last night I was pretty discouraged. It is so awesome to have so many of the Quest kids back at camp but it is hard for me when they tell me how difficult it was for them this past year with their faith. I care about you guys so much and I wish I could just walk through life with each of you. But then I got to thinking that it doesn't matter how hard I try to encourage you guys, equip you guys, or blog with you guys.... even with the best motives, it is not enough. God has to capture the hearts of his sons and daughters and move in their lives.

I was sitting down by the fire and felt hopeless, it didn't matter how awesome of a week the Quest kids have, it is completely in God's hands after you leave camp (don't get me wrong I know that it is 100% Christ in me that can do anything here at camp, I know that it is not me, trust me, if it was, Quest would be nothing). But it is the fact that I can't do anymore than a week and blog you know? I was broken last night.

I woke up this morning not very motivated to read my Bible but decided that I would look into Philippians. In the first chapter, Paul talks about how much he misses those he loved dearly that he had to leave.

"For God is my witness how I long for each of you with the affection of Christ Jesus." Php 1:8

That caught my eye because I feel really similarly about you guys. I kept reading and a couple of verses before that last one it said:
"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion."

Paul was devastated to leave these people but he was confident in the Lord who is the one who does the work inside of them.

Then Paul talks about how earnestly he prays for them. I was so encouraged through this and realized that prayer is really all I can do. We serve a God who is so big and loves each of you more than I ever could imagine. Of course he will complete the work he started in you and carry you into completion.

I am praying for you guys harder than ever, and more humbled than ever. May Christ continue to capture your hearts

heys guys! so questers going back this year get ready for some fun. I just got back from visiting my awesome sister, and wow. God can seriously work through little things to refresh you on your faith. Last year when i came back from camp i was on such a spiritual high and ready to learn new things about the Lord. Once school came around as well as soccer i found it hard to keep that high up.. and those should never be excuses? I have been luke warm for the past couple months and only opened my bible when i got bored..and im sure some of you out there feel the same as me? When i got to camp i immedietly felt that stillness and comfort in the Lord even when i was having a blast! Sarah B and Cam i consider you guys my brother and sister. You are such role models for how Christians need to live their life--and all the fun and talks we had helped me get back on track. I have my bible with me right now opened next to me.. and i can tell you that it would not have happened if i hadnt come back to camp. I am ready to grow in the Lord!
sam

Not just a camp high

First, I just want to say just how happy I am to see everyone posting on here again! Thanks cameron! I'm going to Quest next week, july 4th-july 10th, and I'm so excited to see what God has in store for me.

I was just reading what some of you said about how amazing Sky Ranch was for you these past few weeks. God always teaches me so much at Sky Ranch. Camp always brings me so much closer to Him than I ever thought possible. But it always feels like I'm super "holy" only a few weeks after camp...then pretty soon after, I return to the same person I was before camp. So here's your challenge: don't make this just a "camp high!" Hold on to everything you learned. Remember these joyful feelings you're experiencing right now, immediately after camp, and never, ever let them go.

Trust me, it gets hard. I'm sure you all know about the struggles that come along with being a Christian today. Stay strong! And I think the best possible thing you can do, in the future, when you feel like you're not the same joyful person you are right now, right after camp, is pray. Pray to God for strength when you feel the need to. He's always there.

WOW

Wow. I do not know what else to say. Seriously. I used to be this super depressed, my life sucks, there is no reason to live person and now...I have not been able to stop smiling. Sky Ranch was the best thing that has ever happened to me. God sent me there for a reason and I realize now that the reason He sent me there was so I could rededicate my life to Him. I am happy again. I am filled this unquenchable joy and everyone around has noticed it. The light has finally been brought to the darkness. Thank you to everyone in Quest. And thank you God for helping me through this. I love you all.

Home!

I had an awesome week at Sky Ranch. It feels so weird not being with my new found brothers. I can't wait to take what I learned this week and put it into my regular life! Thanks Cameron for being so amazing, and helping me on my journey towards christ!

P.S. Say hey to Taylor, Will, and Jake for me!

Let us not forget...

Last night campfire was so good!!! It was really hard for me at the same time because of all the brokeness in the room. I grow so attatched to the people that come through Quest and when they express fears about returning home it rips me apart. It reminds me of the dark and cruel world that we live it. It is getting harder and harder to live our faith out in America. I wish that we could all walk through life together, supporting one another. But that is not what called has called us to do.

The Lord gave me a beautiful picture in my mind last night in the midst of my brokeness. I saw a group of young people, those who came to Quest, walking out into the darkness with some firewood and matches in their hand. As they walked off in separate directions from camp the picture panned out into a map where you could see all across dallas and texas and the united states and then all the way to europe. Little lights started to flicker like little specks all across the map as the Quest kids began to stoke their fires. As I continued to watch, the little specks began to grow and burn brighter and brighter. More specks formed around the bright specks and God began to move in mighty ways across the country.

All from a small group of high school kids God chose to bear his light into the darkness. Then I began to be comforted. Quest, we are supposed to go back home.

I was reading in James 1 this morning because we have been getting so much out of it in our inductives and this verse really stuck out:

"For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his face in the mirror. For he looks at himself in the mirror and immediately walks away and forget what he looks like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be bless in his doing." James 1:25

Let us not forget what the Lord taught us, but may we shine like stars reflecting Jesus Christ in a dark world.

blogging about our blog

Today I'm going to blog about this blog and my thoughts on if I should continue it into next year.

Something that is so hard about camp is that on Saturday, you all have to go back home to the same lives that you left before camp. You changed but no one else back home did. It's rough. This blog was created to help that transition. It is a way to continue to encourage each other as a body, planted throughout Texas and the U.S. and even France.

I don't know any better use of my time than to blog with the next generation of God's chosen leaders. It is a lofty commitment, I only lasted through December last year, but I feel the Lord tugging at my heart to do this again with you guys. I love ya'll more than you know, and I pray that the Lord gives me strength to be faithful.

This blog is centered around the living, breathing, active, and infallible word of God. We post what we learn, we post our questions, and we encourage each other to pursue Christ harder than anything else in this life.

Today I'm making the commitment to you. Let's do that trash.

Cant wait to kick it again!

Hey questies! I'm shane from stonewall session 7 of 09'. I've only posted on here once but would always love to read other questie's lessons and experiences. But since school got busy I started drifting away from here. I think God wanted to lead me back here so I decided to check out to see if things we're still going good on the blog. The last post was only 13 days ago and to think that everyone's almost made it a year staying connected is exciting. I will be returning to quest session 7 again this year and can't wait to reconnect with old questies! I hope this blog stays alive and we get a lot new bloggers throughout the summer. I plan to start posting more on here and contributing to our awesome quest community.

Can't wait to reunite with everyone and to kick it again!

God Bless,
Shane Steiner

The Message

I've been reading the Bible version called "The Message," and it has allowed me to see scripture in a new, modern way. I had found myself somewhat in a standstill with God's word, not reaping from it what I would expect, when I decided to check out this different version of the language of God. It has been blowing my mind. I love the way that it says things, so simply yet boldly and with strength. It penetrates my very soul. Thus, if anyone is feeling stagnancy with God's word, may I suggest to check out this version. It will rock your world.

It is funny how often I use things that I learned in Quest this past summer in my day to day life now. When I was abroad in Europe for a month, I had probably 5 or 6 spiritual conversations with non-believers, just travelers who I would meet and then they would ask me about my beliefs. It's funny how God prepared me for that time through my ministry at Sky Ranch. I used what I learned time and time again, and it was like God was recalling it all back to me...Behind Closed Doors helped not only you as campers, but me as a counselor. I wasn't aware of the best ways to talk to non-believers, atheists, agnostics, etc. until Quest. And it's just insane, because it works. Keeping a standpoint of being non-judgmental and just loving the heck out of people, for reasons they don't understand-- that love goes so far, it goes such a long way.

There is also a girl at work that I have befriended named Sarah. Her and I hang out once a week after our shifts and she is an agnostic/atheist/I'm not too sure what she labels herself, but she is a strong advocate of science and what science proves or says about our lives and how we are here, etc. It has been wonderful building a friendship with her, because genuinely I do care about her and enjoy her company. She is extremely bright, intelligent, and easy to talk to. We share life together and I also have the opportunity to love her and love on her and show her God's love without even talking about it. She and I had our first spiritual conversation 2 weeks ago after work, where she finally brought up dozens of questions she had for me and I found myself just fumbling for the answers and for the right things to say, when I just kind of stopped and realized that this was what we had prepared you guys for, this is what it's all about. It's about loving people through their disbelief, to continue to remain firm and confident in our faith but to show the other person love through our disagreement. The great thing about it is that afterward, she wasn't turned away. She thanked me for respecting her and said she looked forward to the next time we conversed about it. To me, this was a miracle-- that someone who questions everything about what I believe and who I am still wants to continue a friendship with me and also continue to talk about this issue.

But really, Quest changed my life. Last summer was epic. It not only brought me closer to Christ, not only allowed me to connect and build relationships with my flipping awesome co-counselors and campers, but it also taught me things. It taught ME how to read my Bible inductively. It taught ME how to evangelize or talk to non-believers about Jesus. It taught ME how to depend on the Lord with all that I have, when you're getting 5 hours of sleep a night and running rampant around a summer camp all day long. It taught me how to love better, how to find my identity in Christ, how to be secure as a woman of God, how to appreciate different parts of the Bible...so many things.

I am currently facing one of the hardest decisions of my life, whether to return to this place that changed my life last summer. If anyone still reads this, if anyone gets this at all, please say a prayer for me that God will direct my steps in His paths of righteousness.

Thank you, Quest, and thank you JESUS, for all you have done, for these kids, for me, for your Kingdom.