Every year when I go to be a counselor at high school church camp, I prepare the bulletin for the following Sunday before I leave. And every year the title for my sermon is the same. "It Happened At Camp." When the bulletins are printed, I have absolutely no idea what the sermon will be about, because I haven't lived through the week at camp yet. I engage in this practice because it reminds me to trust God with the process of life. I figure if I spend a whole week at church camp and don't discover something to preach about, then I just wasn't paying attention. I have never yet come up empty handed and this year was no exception.

Is God alive and at work in the world? The answer is an absolutely unqualified YES! I know because I just spent a week watching God in action in and among and through the lives of 28 high school youth and four adults. Is the work of God in the world predictable and controllable? The answer is an absolutely unqualified NO! I know because I just spent a week watching God surprise me over and over again with unexpected gifts.

In many ways it was a typical camp experience, and even if that was all that happened it would have been good. We had the rare experience of having an even balance of boys and girls. We had good weather, good food, fun games, meaningful worship, good singing, a helpful theme to study and a good staff to help lead that study. We became a community of individuals who discovered connections which bound us together in profound and meaningful ways. It was a good week of camp which definitely falls into the "worth doing" category.

But mixed in with the typical stuff were a number of surprises -- unplanned, unexpected, unanticipated "accidents" which turned out to be deeply meaningful experiences that transformed the entire camp event. I was reminded again and again that God's emerging design is far more richly textured and profoundly moving that anything I might dream up on my own. When I can manage to get out of the way long enough for God to work and pay attention closely enough to notice, remarkable things begin to happen. Such was the case this past week.

The plan was for the whole camp to sleep out in the play field on Wednesday evening. This has become something of a camp tradition. Unfortunately, the weather on Wednesday evening was threatening rain and so we postponed the sleep out until the next night. It ended up not raining, but if we had gone ahead and done it as planned, we would have missed one of the most amazing skies I have ever seen. The final verdict was that we were seeing a form of heat lightning, but the sky on Thursday night as we lay in the field looking up was pulsing. It was a spectacular show definitely worth seeing.

On another occasion, I walked into the room where my small group was meeting, prepared to lead the morning discussion on whatever the theme of the day was supposed to be. That idea lasted about 30 seconds. As the result of a series of conversational twists, the discussion took a sharp 90 degree turn and quickly departed from the plan. Because I allowed myself to be open to what I perceived to be the leading of God's Spirit in that situation, I spent the next hour and a half with my small group in an honest and open discussion about sex. They trusted me enough to risk asking real questions they are struggling with. And I felt brave enough to risk struggling with their questions with them. We didn't solve all of their dilemmas, but they had the experience of having an adult in the church take them seriously and deal with them honestly. I counted it as an amazing gift to be trusted like that. And I saw the whole conversation as yet another of God's unexpected surprises.

But the most overwhelming surprise of all took the entire week to play itself out, and in fact, will continue to play out for a long time yet to come. On Friday night before camp began, I was talking to my daughter on the phone, wishing her a happy birthday. When I mentioned that I was going to be at camp the next week, she made a passing comment about wishing she would have known sooner so that she could have gone. The next morning I called back to say, "It's not too late. You can still come if you want to." She wasn't there, but her mom left her a note telling her about my invitation. She didn't find the note until Sunday morning (the day camp started). I got a call from her last Sunday after church saying, "Yes, I'd like to come." So she did, and as a result I got to spend an unexpected week with my daughter at camp.

But that is not even close to the whole story. To understand the whole story requires an important piece of background information. And I do have permission to share this story with you. As a few of you know, a few more of you suspect and many of you are completely unaware, my daughter has spent the last year and more battling the eating disorder anorexia. For quite a while she was on the road to dying. I am happy to say that she has turned the corner and is now on the road back to living again. But it is a long and difficult journey. One of the effects of the anorexia was that she had isolated herself from most everyone around her -- family and friends alike. And so, over the past several months, there has been a growing distance between us. We weren't cut off, but the wall was pretty high.

The idea of going to camp was a source of major anxiety for her. Everything about camp ran against the grain of her comfort zone -- from not being in control of what she ate or when she ate it, to having to interact with a large group of people all day long for days at a time. As she described it to me, 99% of the voices in her head screamed, "Don't go!" But there was a small, quiet voice that said, "Go! It will be good for you." And she chose to listen to that still, small voice. Not without a lot of struggle. Not without a lot of fear. But she did listen to it. She went to camp. And after a lot more struggle once she got there, she chose to stay. And life will never be the same again -- for her or for me.

At least two things happened as a result of her decision to risk being at camp and staying at camp. Through the experiences she had and the caring people she connected with while she was there, she has begun to find herself again. The struggle will continue for some time to come, but a major shift has occurred in the battle.

And the other thing which happened is that we have re-established a new connection between us which is strong and flowing with life. It feels like rain falling on parched ground after a drought. The week which we just spent together will stand out as one of the most significant experiences of our relationship for the rest of our lives.

Two days before camp she wasn't expecting to come. Even mentioning it to her was an unintentional by-product of our conversation. And yet that unexpected surprise contributed to both saving her life and renewing our relationship. In my book that qualifies as nothing less than a gift straight from the heart of God.

Is God alive and at work in the world? The answer is an absolutely unqualified YES! I know because I just spent a week watching God in action. Is the work of God in the world predictable and controllable? The answer is an absolutely unqualified NO! And I am so grateful for the gift of God's unexpected surprises! Watch for them in your life.