Crossroads Reflection

Written by Molly Reed Before Crossroads summer camp whenever I heard the word “eternal” I would think about the Marvel movie, but camp gave me a whole new perspective on what eternal actually means. The sermon on the first night we were there was titled “Lasted love in a plastic world.” The overall message was that only God's love will last forever and that there is no real love or eternal life outside of Jesus. This one sermon alone had already changed my perspective and little did I know at the time, but the whole week would be packed with powerful messages!  

The key verse of the week was 2 Corinthians 4:18 “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” Which seemed vague to most of us going into the week, but all of the speakers did such a great job breaking this down and explaining it to the 1,000 kids that attended camp. In family time after each evening service we, as a youth group, had time to discuss the message and share anything we found insightful or ask any questions we had. We then broke down into small groups and we were able to get even more personal. 

At camp we had two services a day, one in the morning and one in the evening, and between we had so many activities to choose from. There were more active things like participating in tournaments like volleyball and dodgeball, trying to beat the fastest time at the challenge course, or playing the Crossroads original game called Epic. There were also activities that were more laid back like hanging out at the pool, participating in the talent show, doing the daily craft, or hanging out in the jam lounge. My personal favorite activity was the challenge course. I held the girls record all week of the fastest time and got recognized at the end of the week! 

My favorite sermon had to have been Tuesday night titled “Eternal life in the already, but not yet”. Sharie King had some great analogies and a great diagram that really helped me to understand 2 Corinthians 4:1-18. She broke it up into verses 1-10 and then 16-18. She used a really fascinating analogy about how caterpillars don't know that they'll become a butterfly, but it's actually in their DNA! She then compared it to how everyone is made in the image of God but not everyone reflects His image. She also had a diagram about seen and unseen things and shared a prayer with us. In family time that night we talked about ways to reflect God in our everyday life. 

The main theme I took away from the week was that God created everyone for something eternal. This week changed my perspective on some things and I'm so grateful I had the chance to attend Crossroads summer camp!