At last, our “Advent Adventure” has taken us into Jungle Camp! Here’s a glimpse of my new home as described in a letter home.
“Like a small Tzeltal village, camp is a series of mud-walled, dirt-floored, and thatch-roofed buildings. The largest one is the kitchen and dining room where we meet. Smaller huts are toilets (pit-type) and showers (bucket-type). The place where I sleep houses eight girls, with bunk beds, table, shelves and chair.”
At camp, I started off with several advantages: I already knew how to cook over a wood stove. I was also familiar with riding horses, even though my camp skirt got tangled in my mule’s saddle. I was a strong swimmer — some of the campers didn’t know how to swim at all.
But I had to other lessons to learn. I discovered I had no skills at soldering. My tin “candleholder” was a drippy mess of molten lead. Other campers were far better than I was at carpentry. I kept trying to even the legs of my wooden stool until it ended up becoming a boot scraper!
When Jesus came to earth, he had no advantages over other small boys in the village of Nazareth. His house was not grander than theirs. His education was the same as theirs. They all ate a similar diet of fish and bread. He wasn’t even better looking. Isaiah 53:2 tells us, “There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him.”
Do you ever feel like others have greater advantages than you? The Lord asks you to use whatever talents he gave you, not to compare yourself with others.
