Without You
By Lisa Boyer
“Dear Friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God...”
1 John 4:7a (NIV)
I met her when I was 11 years old…
she was teaching vacation Bible school at the church camp our youth group went
to, and I was in her class. I don’t know why, but she loved me.
For the next 14 years or so, we kept
in touch through old-fashioned letter writing and almost every year, I returned
to camp (for many years as a camper, but then as a counselor). Not that I want
to explain it, but for at least five years, my nickname at camp was “camp
brat.” I don’t know why, but she still loved me.
We’ve been completely out of touch
for all of the last 15 years and most of the last 20. Yet, once every year, I
wake up from the same dream: that I’m back at camp looking for her, but can’t
find her anywhere. So this year, I made plans to return to camp for a day and
see her again. Unfortunately, I became sick and was unable to go.
The Sunday after camp was over, as I
sat down to finish a letter I’d begun to her, I decided instead to pick up the
phone and call her. Sure I wanted to know how life has been and what her kids
were doing, but mostly, I just wanted to thank her… thank her for her
investment in me, because knowing her was instrumental in what God would do in
my life!
I can’t say for sure what the exact
impact was, but I know this - - being loved changes a person from the inside
out. That’s probably one reason I wasn’t the “camp brat” every year I was there! I
also wonder if hers is the example I follow when I reach out to teenage girls
with God’s love.
Loving is so important; the phrase
“love one another” is stated as an instruction 15 times in the New Testament. I
cannot begin to express how thankful I am to God for placing a woman in my life
when I was 11 years old who lived out that instruction of loving.
GOING
DEEPER:
1. Has God been prompting you to
reach out to someone with His love? Today, will you prayerfully begin taking
that journey?
2. Call
someone who has impacted your life, thank him or her, and share what God’s been
doing in your life.
FURTHER
READING:
Lisa has been married to Ted for
over 20 years and they have two teenage sons. Lisa serves in Quest 56 on Sunday
mornings at Oakwood.
