Rest In The Valley

One RLB (Container divided into four living spaces) left on the West Side and the major work of moving the camp will be completed. From that point on I will just need to move all of the insignificant things. Equipment, bunkers, oil drums and such things as that will all have to come over but nobody cares about an oil drum. So with that I am looking forward to the peace and quiet that will come.

The Camp is growing so fast also now that we are here, on the East Side. When we began to move we had three hundred and sixty people. Yesterday, fifteen days later, we had four hundred and thirty nine. Five hundred and twenty five are assigned to the camp and will be here soon. Every morning our office tent is like grand central. of new people as we try to sort them out and get their paperwork done. Sometimes I pause and think that it is almost like people trading, like they are just bodies to fill a need.

With the growth comes some strain. In the initial days there were approximately three hundred people over here. At the same time there were only three Porta Johns, one for woman only. There are also only two shower units with the woman having to drive to the Military showers. Between these two units only one really gives you hot water, the other just warm. The tent space is also limited and most open space is only on top bunks. I am actually staying in the bunk of a man who is on R&R and when he returns I will top bunk it for a while. Everyone is in the same boat.

I am in a holding pattern I feel right now. It is strange to me how everything has come together in such a way right at the half way mark of my time here. The camp move from West to East side. The decline of my close bond with Chandel. The increased employees and business that I have with the position that I have. The holidays. Catherines Birthday. The attacks both Spiritually and personally, everything seems at once. Truly though, except for some weakness here and there I have maintained myself and content with where I am at, in the desert.

I have been thinking alot about this place, the personal desert that I am in. What it may be and when I will come out of it. I am pondering the several possibilities, trying to leave them in Gods hands. One that I may have experienced what I needed to to understand the realities of this world, the positions that some find themselves in. That I have lived in Small community. Developed Discipleship and small groups, and lived in the open to all those around me. That now may be the time for me to prepare for my return home. That over the next six months is the time for me to go deeper with the Lord.

This is all speculation on my part. Of course all plans made by man are speculation but I will and do have a responsibility for myself and the Lord to be ready for His service as He calls me. I have focussed so intently on the others around me here that in a way I have not done anything for myself. On the other hand the focuss on others has grown me in ways I would have never imagined at home. If you can see it as I do, the is a duplicity to my life in many ways. Here and home. Self and others. My plans and His. They will all fit together in the end, as perfectly as He has them.

I do not have the answer at this point. No great revelation as to where God wants me to go. But what I do know is that my heart is set on Him. That through all of the struggles that lay ahead and all that I have been through, my purpose has always been to try, as best as I can to Glorify Him, to be a light and to be transparent to you all. In this I know that I am in His will and that all things will work together for His good.

So piggy backing on the post from yesterday, I believe that I have walked into the valley. I have seen the big picture from above and gotten an idea of the landscape. As I have moved down the big picture has become indivdual details for me to focus on. As I spend time here now I can enjoy the fruit, I can look to be strengthened in rest. I can fellowship and not stress with the weight of the journey and then at some time descide to walk back up the slopes or move along the stream but either way it will be good.

Lord, may I walk through the Valley now. May I find the rest that you offer. May my thirst be quenched by your streams of living water. May I find wisdom and peace in your word and in the end may the strength that is revived in me hieghten your glory.