pride.

I love the CCC ministry in its entirety, and one of the aspects of it that I particularly like is the concept of CMGs (Christian Mission Groups). These are the work groups for the week, and they're made of people from different church groups who probably didn't know one another before beginning their week at CCC. A CMG becomes a family by the end of the week, and God fits each person into the group in their own unique way. It's something that's really incredible to watch from the sidelines as the week progresses. 

Not only do the CMGs form a really unique bond, they work hard as a team on the worksites. As a field coordinator, I am responsible for planning out projects, securing the right amount of paint or lumber or other materials when necessary, drawing plans when needed, and making sure CMGs leave camp with all the proper tools. So during the day, I would go visit my groups and check up on them and sometimes pitch in on the work when needed, but the CMG does the majority of the actual work on the project. What I really love about this is that the CMG is able to take a little more ownership in the physical completion of the project than they would be able to if I had been with them on the worksite for the entire day. 

That said, I made it a point on an almost daily basis to ask my CMGs if they were proud of themselves and the work they had done, or tell them that I was proud of them and their work. So on Friday nights at the end of every camp week, we had a time for the CMGs to reflect as a group on their week and exchange notes of encouragement, etc. So the very last Friday night of the summer, I went around one last time and asked all three of my CMGs if they were proud of what they'd done that week. I got to my third and final group, and in response to my question, one of the campers from that CMG looked me square in the eye and said, "I'm proud of what God has done this week."

After about 2 seconds of processing, I looked back at him and said, "You're exactly right, and that's an amazing thing to be proud of." 

His words stuck with me, however. As I went through the rest of the evening I kept thinking about them and couldn't quite shake them. The simple 9 words that this 13-year-old said to me hit me harder than several things had in the entire summer and made me realize that I had been asking the wrong questions to my CMGs for the whole summer. 

When we do mission work like what we do at CCC, we are physically doing the labor, but what's really happening is that we are the hands and feet and mouths of Christ, and He is working in us and through us to show His love to those who need it. The projects we do are not our projects: it's not my kitchen floor repair or wheelchair ramp or yardwork job. They're not the CMG's projects. They're not CCC's projects. They're God's projects. It is so easy to get caught up in the manual labor and the physical work of the project that we forget why we're there and who we're working for. 

So to a degree, my CMGs should have been proud of their projects. How many high schoolers can say that over their summer they paid to go on a trip and build a wheelchair ramp, repair a kitchen floor, paint a house, build a set of steps, and spend time in fellowship with people who are not ordinarily shown God's love by other members of society? Not many. It's a neat thing to be a part of. And I am proud of the work they did, the love they showed to each other and the families they worked for, and the way they were knit together into a family by each week's end. But I wasn't responsible for any of that--I can't take any of that credit, because it was all the man upstairs. So it took me until the end of the summer to learn this lesson, but I am incredibly grateful that I did and it's not one I will soon forget.