New Assignment

It has been a long break from blogging and I am ready to return. I have been substitute teaching a lot and that has come to a close. At first I was a bit confused. I was so needed and suddenly I wasn't. Now I understand why. Right after my last stint with no dates on the horizon, I received an email requesting church camp curriculum for two grade levels. Usually I receive this request mid-March at the earliest, sometimes as late as early May and need to have it ready for June. This year I am so excited to have the opportunity to write for 4th and 5th grade and 6th and 7th grade camp. I have been studying the word "generosity" to prepare and letting the definitions of that word and many characters in the Bible roll around in my brain making connections that will eventually find themselves in the hearts and minds of the campers and counselors at camp this summer. Of all the things I love to write, camp curriculum holds a special place. This is an opportunity to a child or adult to come face to face with God in a place that is not given to distractions and stress of everyday life. In some cases the kids are just looking for a week away from home, or maybe their parents are looking for a week away from them. No matter the circumstances, God appointed them to be there that week, in that cabin, meeting those friends, under the leadership of this counselor studying the curriculum that God will give me to write. The process of writing camp curriculum is an absolute rush. I am given an idea from the directors, then the Lord and I get to work just talking and dreaming about what He desires the message to be. There is always a hook or something that the campers and adults take away from each lesson, and I work to introduce characters from the Bible that they may never have heard of, or studied in that way before. This year's theme is "Extravagant Generosity." I have enjoyed studying the word generosity this week. Being a lover of words, I find it absolutely fascinating the see the journey that words take. They have an original meaning on the language they are developed in, then they change as they are bumped along to other languages and new grammatical and spelling rules and social mores apply. Generosity has changed over the years. The Latin root is also found in words like genesis, genious, generation. I'll go into more later, but I am finding that the word "generosity" has had quite a journey and is more closely related to God that we think.
I plan to update this blog as I continue to write and find those characters who exhibited "Extravagant Generosity!"

Happy writing