YOLIJWA SUNRISE

Earlier this summer I spent a week on the staff of Camp Yolijwa.  This is a Christian camping program operated by the Churches of God at Doubling Gap Center near Newville, Pennsylvania.  I work on the staff of our Youth Camp, an increasingly demanding assignment for a man my age.  180 10th, 11th, and 12th graders have far more energy and stamina than an overweight, diabetic, relatively out of shape 59 year-old pastor.  Far, far more.

Generally I am the first one up at that particular week of camp. I rise before even the cooks who will prepare the breakfast for all those teenagers.  I rise not too long after some of the kids have finally fallen asleep. I almost always rise while it is still dark.  I do not rise at this hour by choice, but because of my sleep patterns and the amount of sleep that I seem to require to function.

There is something nice about that early hour, and the silence that accompanies it.  Even in a dorm where more than 70 boys are sleeping within earshot, there is a sense of isolation that puts me at peace, The silence holds back the distractions and the urge to "do things" and prompts a quieter, more reflective spirit within me.  It is a time when I most often hear from God for it is into that solitude and detachment that His "still small voice" often speaks with an eloquent whisper.  It is a time when I am most likely to "take the time" to reflect, assimilate, and commit to a direction God has given me. Many a powerful new beginning "has begun" in the morning's solitude - particularly at Camp Yolijwa.

But there's one more blessing in store for me at those times.  As the darkness begins to recede and the first sounds of a stirring camp arrive into my ears, I step to the front porch and watch the sunrise. The first rays of the sun that begin piercing the hillside upon which the camp sits never fail to inspire a sense of beauty, and energy, and hope for new life in my innermost parts. For out of the even the "good darkness" of the early morning, there still is to be experienced the glory of the Light of the world arriving. 

God often uses the times of isolation and solitude to reshape and refocus so that we will be ready to receive His light in all its brillance.  But the Light's arrival is a first deposit and a reminder of the promise of God that is being renewed day by day out of the grace and the plan of God.