Following New Blue Prints Devotional: Day 4 - I Choose to Work in Unity With God's People

Theme: I choose to work in unity with God's people.

Study Book: Nehemiah Chapter 3

Personal Reflection

Chapter 3 portrays a group of committed and dedicated people working together to rebuild Jerusalem. They are composed of family, friends, neighbors from different backgrounds and professions, men and women together. They come together for one purpose, laboring in one accord, helping one another.

This chapter records a long list of people's names which many are hard to pronounce. Honestly, reading their names was tedious. At the same time, I knew that every name mentioned has a purpose. Every name has meaning. Like for example, the name Eliashib, the very first name mentioned in this chapter. Eliashib in Hebrew means, "God restores." This chapter starts with the message of "God restoring" the Sheep Gate (which has a deeper meaning that I hope to dig later).

Camp Application

Feeling tedious of reading the names, I went back to my study guide. I read something that the contributor mentioned which totally changed my outlook in this long chapter which is full of names and list of repetitive words of the kind of work they did.

As I read the names, I envisioned the faces of the people that I will be serving with at camp. I visualized us, volunteers, working in our respective cabins, decorating, preparing logistics, and most of all, supporting each other in sowing the seed of God's truth and grace in the children's hearts. Like the people in this chapter, we came from different backgrounds. We have different temperaments and personality. Yet, in this five-day period, I make a personal decision to set aside my selfishness, my pride, my privacy, my comfort. Doing allows me to give what my fellow volunteers the support they need from me. 

"Following New Blue Prints Devotional is created for RFK Camp volunteers in preparation for RFKC 2018. Images used in this blog is a personal choice."