Hi, I’m Noah. I’m 22 and, when I’m not isolating at camp, live in Calgary.
Some things about me:
- I youth lead, I just finished my mechanical engineering degree;
- I have two different coloured eyes (sorta);
- I enjoy doing various mountain things; and,
- My friends at home know me as Ranchman (Ranchboy).
I got connected to camp fairly recently, in 2018, when a friend who had done COLTS the previous summer invited me to help out at Family Camp. I met a ton of great people, bivied on the ridge of Sentry, and got my first feel for the culture and heart of camp. From there, a lot of weird connections to Crow started coming up in my life. It seemed like I kept meeting people who were connected to Crow and who had great testimonies of the work that camp did. In the last year, I began praying about whether COLTS would be a way I could use my summer well and honor God with my time. I received no absolute clarity on whether it was God’s will so I applied and then did my best to give up the results of God.
This last Spring, I was able to come help out at Senior Reunion. I reconnected with friends, met new ones, and had another chance to experience camp. By the end of the weekend, I was coming to the conclusion that, even if COLTS did not work out, I would still come out to cabin lead for the Summer. However, it turned out that God wanted me in COLTS for this weird Summer and, at the end of the weekend, Stephanie and Daniel asked me if I wanted to do COLTS; I said yes! I am so glad I did.
In just over a month, I have been learning to trust God in very real ways and to rejoice in Him (Philippians 4:4) when everything around me is miserable and wet and cold. He has been so present. I have also been so blessed to get to know my fellow COLTS. Our weird, little, isolated, camp bubble has really become a family. So much has happened, and so much is yet to happen, it is really hard to summarize. All I can think to say is that God is faithful and I know that He has plans for this summer.
The biggest thing I could use prayer for now is that all of us out here would place our trust in God fully, that He would guide our steps. That we would make our plans and that we would be ready and excited for Him to change them. For me personally, I want to prayerfully surrender to whatever God has planned for me this Summer. I know and have seen that, if I step back and let Him lead, He takes my weakness and inadequacy and makes Himself great through them. A good summary would be a verse that was recently brought up to me:
“Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
For whoever is reading this, I hope that I get to meet you (from a distance) at some point this summer. ~ Noah Tainsh