Happy 4th to you! For those of you who served in the military of our great country, THANK YOU for being willing to put your life in jeopardy so the rest of the country could pursue life, liberty, and
happiness!
A short note to let you know George and I had a good week at Youth Camp, June 24-28, near Hillsdale, WY, which is about 30 miles east of Cheyenne, where coal trains crisscross the grassy plains every 20 minutes or so, gleefully sounding their brassy horns at the RR crossing not 200 yards from the conference center. Believe it not, we all grow accustomed to their presence and carry on! (I actually like the sounds of the trains as I drift off to sleep at night.)
There were several kids that made professions for Christ, and other decisions as well.
The preaching sessions had strong emphasis on Scripture–as opposed to “story telling” to play on kids’ emotions. George and I
profited greatly from Pastor David Jones’ messages. David is from the Atwood Baptist Church, Atwood, KS.
Besides doing the music, we also did some teaching. George
presented the devotions each morning, and then we each taught “Break Out Sessions” on the requested topics of “Prayer” and “Dating.” I taught the girls and George the guys.
Both topics were a unique challenge considering that many of the
kids do not come from Christian homes and not all go to church on a regular basis.
On the dating issue George zeroed in on “purity”. I wish I could have cloned myself and listened in. He always comes up with good stuff, and manages to throw in some humor.
I challenged the girls to “Kiss dating goodbye” stating that the Bible doesn’t say a word about it. (Joshua Harris wrote a book several years ago with that title.) A gal said, but I’m already dating and I like the guy. That’s when the fun began.
I challenged the girls to focus INSTEAD on developing the abilities God has given them so they will have skills to enrich their marriage once “God gives them” a husband–that went over real
big–wait on God to give them a husband??!! How absurd is that!!! (I said I thought it was pretty cool how God gave Eve to Adam! and Rebekah to Isaac.)
I encouraged them to pursue medicine, teaching, business degrees, music, arts, etc., and also to consider going to the mission fields with those talents to help orphans, other missionaries, etc. Since each session was only a half hour, we really had to pack in the info fast, and still leave room for interaction. How I wish we had more time with these precious teens!!
Music wise, the kids sang really well by the second day. We taught them 2 Matt Redman songs: Blessed Be The Name and You Never Let Go. They also loved singing Psalm 19:14, Psalm 40:16, I Cor 10:31, and I John 1:5-7 “God is Light and in Him is no darkness at all…” We grinned at how well they sang “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise” and “I Sing The Mighty Power of God.” Of course, we put a new twist on these old hymns. We know the SUBSTANCE of this music will “sneak up” on these kids someday when they least expect it. The Holy Spirit promises to bless His Word!
Today we received an encouraging email that kind of echoes the last couple of sentences:
“You don’t know us. We saw you at Montrose Bible Conf, in Montrose PA a couple of years ago. Your music still touches us today. Quoting scripture in music is priceless and lasts a lifetime. Thank you for having a website and God bless you hugely.” JB & JG
We are still amazed that the LORD continues to use us in His service. What a great and mighty God we serve! Isaiah 40:12 “Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?” v. 26 “Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: He calleth them all by names by the greatnes of His might, for that He is strong in power; not one faileth.”
As I Cor 10:31 says…whatever we do, eating, drinking, etc. may we do ALL for the GLORY OF GOD.
Kathy Abbas
