Orioles slugger Chris Davis has been the story of the first half of the baseball season this year for the Baltimore Orioles, slugging 24, make that 26, Major League-leading homeruns so far for the birds. His path from struggling Texas Rangers phenom to breakout star has coincided with a personal struggle with his faith that eventually led him to relinquish control and make God a number one priority in his life.

This spiritual side of Davis’ story was touched on in a recent Baltimore Sun profile:

What few knew was that Davis had already begun a reckoning with his spiritual side. He had always been a Christian, raised in the Baptist church from the time he was little. When he decided to get tattoos, he opted for a cross and the word salvation on the right side of his back and a Bible passage from Hebrews, chapter 12 on the left.

But faith remained an abstraction for him, off to the side of a ballplayer’s life that included late-night drinking and carousing.

“I basically had everything I wanted,” he said. “Had money, my own place in Dallas, was playing in the big leagues as the next great thing for the Rangers. And I just had this overwhelming sense of loneliness, this emptiness. And I didn’t understand it.”

The night before the first game of the 2010 World Series, he awoke in his San Francisco hotel room, drenched in sweat and sure that he needed to pick up his Bible. Since then, he said, he has begun every day by giving thanks and reading scripture. He had to put in all the work, he decided, but the result would be in God’s hands.

“That’s kind of where I was able to let go,” he said. “I was hanging on to baseball so much. It was everything to me. If I was failing at baseball, I was failing at life.”

Letting go and letting God, as the saying goes, won’t make you a Major League-leading homerun hitter like Crush Davis but relinquishing control does allow God to shape and mold you into the person He designed you to be all along. Homeruns don’t mean much in the kingdom of God, but the platform Davis now has to share the gospel is anything but insignificant. Below is a video of Davis sharing his testimony with a group of young ballplayers last year.

Junior Camp will be doing an Extreme Makeover:Delanco Camp style Aug. 11-17.

Scott Bostwick will be returning as the speaker and CJ Caufield and Linda Dugan will be the program directors for the week.

Junior Camp is for our youngest campers, those entering fourth through sixth grades in the fall.

To register, go to delanco.org/register.

Facebook Event Page >>

I’m convinced there isn’t one non-uplighting/non-meaningful David Crowder Band song. Every time my wondrous finger decides to listen to David Crowder Band on my iPhone or my Mac, I’m always happy or in a better mood than I originally was.

Today’s song choice is from their last new music full album together before heading separate ways, and again, it is probably my favorite song on the album (like most of my choices so I apologize for that, hahaha). “If I could feel You shine your perpetual light, then maybe I could crawl out of this tonight. If I could feel You shine, oh let me feel You shine, so beautiful and warm, so beautiful and bright. Like a sun comin’ out of a rainy sky, oh let me feel You shine, God I need a Savior, O come Generous King, O God I need a Savior, To come rescue me.”

Give Us Rest (A Requiem Mass in C [The Happiest of All Keys])
By David Crowder Band

Excited about camp and want to tell your friends, your pastor, your youth group, your church and your community about it? Here are some ways you can help promote camp. Also, don’t forget that if you bring a friend to camp who has never been here before, you can get $100 for your friend and $100 off your registration with our Give and Get discount.

1. Hand out brochures. Click here to request brochures

2. Ask your church to put something in the bulletin. See downloads below.

3. Ask to share a testimony about the difference camp has made in your life at youth group or in Sunday morning worship.

4. Have a Delanco Camp Day at church where your youth director and youth pastor can talk about camp and have youth share their experiences.

5. Post about Delanco Camp on Twitter (use the hashtag #delancocamp) and Facebook. Share photos on Instagram using the hashtag #delancocamp and #delancocamp2013.

6. Hang up posters. See downloads below.

7. Invite friends to “like” us on Facebook at facebook.com/delancocamp.

8. Invite friends to camp on Facebook. Click HERE for a list of all our camps and events.

9. Share our Why Delanco Camp? video.

10. Make a video of yourself talking about how you had “the time of my life” at Delanco Camp and share it. (Email the link to blog@delanco.org)

Downloads
Download Bulletin Insert >>
Download Brochure >>
Download 8.5×11 Poster >>
Download 8.5×14 Poster >>
Download General Camp Slide >>

Add Instagram to the list of places Delanco Camp now has a presence online.

Check us out, follow us so you can see our latest photos and tag photos from camp this summer as #delancocamp2013, photos from other summers as #delancocamp.

If you like (or love – like I do) Lecrae or Trip Lee, then chances are you have heard of Andy Mineo before. Andy is apart of the 116 clique, which is a specific group of Christian rappers, who take their name after Romans 1:16 and being unashamed of Gospel. Even though the 116 clique exist, they primarily do their own music and albums as solo artists, but are also featured on each other’s albums a lot. The 116 clique includes Lecrae, Trip Lee, Tedashii, Andy Mineo (formerly known as C-Lite), KB, Sho Baraka, and Derek Minor (formerly known as Pro). Andy Mineo’s newest album Heroes for Sale dropped in mid-April of this year and it is fantastic!

I almost wrote an entire album review instead of just one song because all the songs are really great, jammin’, rappin’, deep, lyrically, and musically written songs. “You Will” is one of my many favorites from this album, but it has a simple message. The chorus is “Y-O-U, owe me nothing, no nothing. I know You will, even when they say You won’t, I know You will! I know You will, even when they say You can’t, I know You will!”

I have questioned God many times, but I don’t doubt Him. I know He will provide, I know He will be there in my highs and lows, I know He will [insert your own words]. He loves you and He will and that in itself is a very important fact.

 Heroes for Sale
  by Andy Mineo

Thanks to the fine people at Home Depot, the Dining Hall makeover is continuing today with a floor replacement to go along with the painting our friends at Hope Church did during their work retreat several weeks away.

Thanks, Home Depot and thanks to Rich Dugan for the photos!

Hello all! Or maybe even a little HOWDY!

Ok, if I haven’t already lost everyone, I wanted to share some truths about God I have been reminding myself about and they center around the verse Psalm 56: 3-4.

“But when I am afraid, I put my trust in you. O God, I praise your Word. I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me?”

I love this verse and have for some time.  It brought me a certain sense of comfort so I began making this verse my mantra, repeating it over and over again. It would remind me that no matter what pain or sadness I feel due to another person, that if I trust in God, all will be well. If I trust in his plan, it is better (because God’s plan is ALWAYS better). It was a feeling of safety, knowing God is bigger than any other enemy – any other mere mortal I can face. It’s pretty sweet, being on team GOD.

But lately, this verse and the Holy Spirit have been trying to tell me something different. I have been repeatedly reminded that my own worst enemy can be me. That is my fears, my concerns and my anxiety about… whatever can be distracting me from seeking God’s will. A lot of times the mere mortal we have to be aware of is ourselves.

I have started this awfully annoying habit lately of over worrying. It starts out as a small stray thought that becomes a crazy uncontrollable amount of panicked thoughts that will obviously lead to my impending doom and disaster. And they are not the big worries of life. They are little and completely irrational. I allow myself to be quickly consumed with “what-ifs” and trying to figure out how I can figure it out. I am trying to solve it all, and if you have ever met me, you are well aware that it’s probably not gonna go down so well.

And I realize that again I am giving myself the full responsibility and full reins of whatever scenario of life I have. Instead of seeking peace and the understanding of God, I try to figure it all out on my own. I separate myself from God’s plan and I am my own mortal enemy.

And so I need to trust in God and God’s plan and seek him always. It is a daily mission to continuously seek what you haven’t given to Him and to give it up freely and trust that he has got your back. Because, reality check – we don’t know everything. Not even close. SO there are gonna be days when we are leery of God’s plan, but trust it because it doesn’t get better than best.

I am no brainiac, but I do know some of the faults of myself. I am easily entangled and confused daily to seek something other than God’s plan, especially if God’s plan may be leading down a bumpy road. And because I know I will struggle with being confused or overwhelmed or not knowing – I focus in on two of the simple yet most important things I know about God, at least to me:

1. GOD IS LOVE. Knowing and remembering this brings me an automatic sense of peace. That everything of God is also of love. And knowing that God is love means that God has good things in store. God is all the good and beautiful and loving things in life.
2. GOD IS WAY BIGGER THAN ME. Sounds stupid. But if God is not containable by me, if God is bigger than me, then I am not going to understand everything he is about. I will not get all the answers or understanding and I may be seriously confused – and that is ok. Want to know why? Because God is also love. If God is bigger than me AND God is love, God’s justice, mercy, righteousness, goodness and faithfulness are all more that I can ever begin to imagine.

And that’s a good thing.

So, not understanding God’s plan can be a good thing. And that is why trusting in the God who has the truest and biggest knowledge of what love means is the only option. Because choosing my plan, fears and worries over God’s plan makes me my own mortal enemy. And with our big and loving God, really, who should we fear?  SO try and take a few breaths and think about how cool it is to have God who is so hard to understand sometimes. And trust that his love for you and his plans for you are more than you can even begin to comprehend.

And that’s a good thing.

Love, Kathleen

Proverbs 3: 5-6 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.  Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths.

Romans 8 – Nothing can separate us from God’s love.

1 John 4:7-8 – Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God.   Anyone who loves is born of God, and knows God.  But anyone who does not know love does not know God – for God is love.

Our friend Mike D. of Tenth Avenue North has a new video journal for the song “Where Life Will Never Die.” You can watch it below or click HERE.

A single moment in time.
If we can meet God,
even for just a moment,
EVERYTHING will change.

Friday, May 24

Pastor Jeff Brower of Wellspring Church in Egg Harbor, NJ

Saturday, May 25

Stephanie Hogan, Director of Titus Women Ministry

Sunday, May 26

Kelly Hallahan, Missionary with World Gospel Mission

Worship at all three services will be led by the worship team from Fearless Christian Fellowship, a young adult ministry in Millville, NJ. All services start at 7:30 pm.

There will be a residential program for the weekend for young adults and families. The cost is $95 for the weekend per person. Kids under 12 can come free with their family. Plan to arrive at camp at 6 p.m. on May 24. The program will end after the service Sunday evening.

Questions: email Dave Brown at lavadave@gmail.com