The Name of the Lord is a Strong Tower

As a team at Echo Ranch, our staff this summer are using our devotional time together to examine the various names of God in Scripture. Names like Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Rophe, Jehovah M’Kaddesh, Adonai, and many others are a part of our conversations and are the focus of our Sunday worship times. These names in Scripture almost always come out of times in an individual's life where God has shown Himself, and in so doing, the individual has walked away changed, rejoicing in the knowledge that the God of creation revealed Himself to them while they were most vulnerable. These are powerful stories of God being God, and the testimony of the individuals of how God cared for and revealed His goodness to them has endured to this day!

These names of God have become even more personal as we have navigated the murky waters of the present day Covid-19 crisis! As a ministry, we have leaned into the knowledge of God's faithfulness, and made the commitment to continue to walk by faith, pursuing the call of sharing the good news of the gospel until we felt God was telling us to stop. We were able to have four weeks of camping -- four weeks of sharing, four weeks of seeing God work in and through the lives of the campers, revealing His grace and plans for the lives of those who put their trust in Him alone! It was a daily battle, weighing the risk versus the opportunity, prayerfully working through the information we had, and being constantly on guard to minimize any potential exposure that would demand we shut down.

Through all this, we watched God work. In the lives of the campers, He called, and they accepted. In the lives of our counselors, they came and served, endured, quarantined, and grew! In our staff, we walked by faith, and saw God guide, protect, bless, and reveal His goodness in so many ways! We watched Him be true to His names and give us a summer of experience that allows us to testify in what we have lived, not just what we have read! We have watched our extended family walk beside us, confirm us, encourage us, pray for us, and rejoice with us as we witnessed God's faithfulness.

While our plans changed a lot, God has not. God's goodness has brought us to the reality of how amazing He is, how completely in control He is, and how true His word is. We can testify that "all things do indeed work together for the called according to His purposes,” and that in these times of perceived trials, we all are conformed into the image of His Son through the walk of faith He has allowed us to be a part of! Thanks for walking beside us, as we together walk by faith, pursuing our God who is completely faithful!