One of the benefits of being a part of the Pine Valley Recreation Staff is a hyper-awareness of the parallels between the physical and spiritual worlds. The incredible task of leading people through group initiatives at Low Ropes and personal mental challenges at the Comfort Zone constantly has me thinking of different examples of how the physical world was made by our God who knew we humans would have trouble understanding how the spiritual world works.  I am so thankful that the lessons we try to reinforce here are not just for the campers.  Our Rec team, including the lifeguards (Waterfront Staff), is made up of about fifteen people, cycling in and out - all of us from different backgrounds, cities, and different places in life.  If not for the lessons God has taught in His Word and in our earth-bound life, I would think that for us to work as a team would be impossible.  But, with our God, all things are possible!  That being the case, all that is left for us is to pray hard and figure out a way to make it work.

The two heads of the Rec department, Kris and Hilary, decided that for us to be a team, we needed to do team-building activities.  I was the one who wrote the Low Ropes manual last summer, so I had the privilege of leading our group through the course.  But that was not enough.  So Kris looked through his book of San Diego hikes and found one he thought would be suitable to "grow our teamwork skills" and "break people."  After forty-five minutes of convoy driving, four or five hours of hiking, three miles of goat trails, bouldering, climbing down a hill by use of a rope, stopping and starting, finally reaching the goal of a series of waterfalls and pools called Three Sisters, actually making it back to the cars and camp, and having a late dinner together in the dining hall - I know he was right.

It wasn't just that someone ended up broken, which was kind of true because one of our number went into this hike of madness with a hurt knee, and ended up with a swollen and hurt knee, but the hike itself was an experience of growing.  We talked and laughed and got to know each other better.  We tried to catch each other when a misstep would have sent us tumbling hundreds of feet.  We looked for ways to make the trail easier for the less sure-footed, and lent a helping hand when it would have been dangerous for another to go it alone.  When there were dangers on the trail such as sandy declines or poison oak, we would radio the information to the ones in the back, or shout it down the length of our group.  We worked on learning that a group is only as strong as its weakest member, and that it is much better to stay together as a team than to forge on by oneself.

As Christians we are called to be the body of Christ, and as the body of Christ we are called to understand that we are all connected, yet having different roles, to accomplish the task set before us by God, namely to make disciples of all nations.  Hundreds of people from all over the southwest, and sometimes all over the world, come though Pine Valley Bible Conference Center in the course of a summer - and our job is to serve them the very best we can, as a team, while they are on our grounds.  Every day we work hard, but we also talk and laugh and get to know each other better.  We try to catch each other before we make mistakes, or pick each other up when we fall below the standards of service for which we aim.  Through prayer partner groups we are trying to learn to help each other in our Christian walks - to point out dangers in life and not let another be caught in them.  We learn about each others' strengths and weakness so we know in which positions we work best in a pinch, and what we can do to help our summer staffers grow and change while we are here.

I'm not saying we have these concepts down.  The cry of "ten nice things" rings out plenty of times every day when we fail to be kind to each other, but we're working on it.  As Christians, we should struggle daily to become more like Christ - freely admitting that perfection is a goal we will never attain in this life, but with the strength of our Lord, we can work towards.  It is so incredible to know that the summer is just beginning, and that God has so much more to teach us during it - about our personal walk with Him, about how we fit into His plan for the world, and about the importance of teamwork in completing even simple daily goals.  Praise God that He chooses to use our silly raucous Rec team to do His will!