“The anticipation pulsed my insides like a shaken up Coke. Literally years I have waited to join in on the Annual Memorial Day Camping Weekend. This annual camping trip that stirs the heart and spirit and life of a person like no box of programs ever could. It’s different. And that’s good.
Usually I’d been working or out of the country. I even remember getting pictures of last year’s trip while I was in Uganda. The stories of what can happen during that weekend were built up inside of me that I came this year with every expectation of God to show up, while simultaneously having no agenda at all.
I’d only met Jason and Jenny once or twice, but none of the rest of the many awesome people I would meet that weekend. I had only heard about what Grace Klein did and is about through word of mouth. Never had I crossed the border to join them to “do life” for a weekend like this one. A couple of moments will stay with me for awhile. As you read my memories, please understand this… the lives in these stories have had weeks, months and years of prayer poured into them. Nothing our God does is by accident. He knew us in the womb so He knows what He’s doing at a camping trip weekend in Alabama! We just set ourselves up to be open to it all.
One night we all gathered around the fire. Because there were people from Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Florida and South Africa, we were encouraged to pray with someone we had never met before. I jumped back a row to pray with a lady named Ali. Ali… that sounded familiar. She told me her story and what she wanted from Daddy God that evening… and I cried. I knew her! I’d gotten a heads up about her life and had been praying for her for weeks now. We called out to God together, received His peace, and laughed at how God brought us together for that moment. How well He knows His kiddos and delights in us.
Another time our large group prayed specifically for two people. Jenny and Jordan. Jenny from Grace Klein in Alabama and Jordan a young man and friend of my family in Georgia. More than being stoked that my brother and sister were getting prayed for, blessed and covered in holy armor was that we were blending as communities and families. One thing a friend from Georgia said, “The camping weekend is for focus within a Christian community to take care of one another as a family.” Knowing the intentionality of Jesus family, many of us began asking ourselves, “what does God want for this family? How can I care for this family? How are we growing as a family?” A shift in my approach to these dear people happened in that moment and my heart burst with a love deeper than self.
The Friday morning, of this camping weekend, I stopped by the hospital in Atlanta to say hi to our friend Evan Moon. I let him know we were about to leave for the weekend to see all his friends in Alabama. He just looked at me unable to speak at that time. I missed my friend that weekend and I think a part of all of us did. So, we were praying all the time for him. One sunny afternoon all of us gathered around a tree, where encouraging signs had been hung in honor of Evan, that stayed on that tree, for all the four days we were together. All together we called it ALL down from Heaven for our brother. Not long after we prayed we received a video of Evan explaining his events the last week… TALKING so clear to understand that we watched it in laughter and awe. Evan was not talking when we left Atlanta on Friday, but after we prayed for him, Evan started talking. We all praised God! He heard our prayers and He answered them big time! Our God is a big God and never regrets working in the details, or the mundane, to show us His love.
The last night I sat with a friend and was able to hear more about Grace Klein. I didn’t hear a mission statement or their list of business throughout a normal week… I heard their hearts. All weekend I had been watching, engaging and listening. Our camping trip is about broken people coming together and being built up in Jesus’ love and hope. It’s about giving more of yourself than you think you can, because you probably can give more. A community that meets more than the physical needs of people around them. A people desperately living to be Jesus to the world around them. As I learned this new space, I realized my own valuable contribution to the family.
As I came back to Atlanta from the camping weekend, God pressed me to continue praying specifically for Jenny and Grace Klein Community. She had told me, “our two communities (Birmingham and Atlanta) are not an accident, but we are communities on purpose that are only a part of the bigger Church around the world.” It’s messy. It’s tough. But I guarantee it will show others the most radical LOVE they’ve ever met. And that love is from my Jesus. It is pure. It redeems. It forgives. It heals. And it shows up in the backwoods of ‘Bama. Nothing like being together. Can’t wait till next year!” – Caitlin Woodward
“Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Don’t forget to pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to preach about His secret plan – that Christ is also for you Gentiles. That is why I am here in chains. Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should. Live wisely among those who are not Christians, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and effective so that you will have the right answer for everyone.” – Colossians 4:2-6
