Press On - by Brent Ruple

This week is one of our 'Servant Weeks' here at Camp Caudle. "Wolf Life", the campus ministry of the Church of Christ at ASU Jonesboro, has chosen to spend the first half of their spring break working here, getting Camp ready for the summer! These young men and women who lovingly refer to this week as 'Slave Week' could just as easily be spending their break kicking back on a beach somewhere or just bumming out at their houses, but they have instead decided to lay rock, paint fences, clean cabins, and frame our new barn and house.

There is just no way to fully describe how much difference it makes to this ministry to have twenty able-bodied college students show up for four days with the willingness to serve in any way that they are needed. I know that when these guys and girls are on their 20th wheelbarrow load of mortar to mix by hand, or they have been cleaning toilets and sinks for two full days, the work can lose some of its appeal, be we haven't heard a single complaint out of this wonderful group of students. If only everyone in the Church was willing to serve like that!

I know that for Lee and I, the work before us here at Camp Caudle can sometimes seem overwhelming, like there is no light at the end of the laborious tunnel. Honestly, the work will never stop…there is always grass to be mowed, roads to be graded, buildings to be renovated, and plumbing to be replaced.

So it is with life. If our goal is to be 'finished' with our work, it will be a depressing existence for sure. Our work as followers of God is never finished. So we must take our joy not in the completion of our work, but instead in the process of working itself. Yes, sometimes it is wonderful to sit back and admire the fruit of our labor…the completion of a task, the growing and maturing of our children, visiting with someone on whom we have been a positive influence, but we cannot afford to relax and be idle for too long. In fact, listen to the words of the Apostle Paul:

    …But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
- Philippians 3:13-14

In Christ, we have the freedom to forget what is behind; our failures as well as our successes, and PRESS ON to the future. What does the future hold? Who knows!? But one thing I do know, if we wake up every morning with the intent to attack each day with all the fervor that comes with being a follower of the Creator of the universe, we can accomplish amazing things over the course of that day. Just imagine what can be accomplished through us over the course of a week, a month, or all the years of our lives. Some day, we will all be called home to enjoy the fruits of our labor forever, but until that day comes…do with your might what your hand finds to do.

 

Ewwww....that's gross!

 

 Here you can see the house framing being sheathed with plywood.

 Using the lumber donated by the kind folks at Bibler Bros. Lumber Company.

 

 Building the new bridge to the swimming hole.

 Will doing his best to look cool on the jobsite.

 Painting the fence for our new horses coming this summer.

The end of a hard, but productive day!