Joshua 22:5
5 But be very careful to obey all the commands and the instructions that Moses gave to you. Love the Lord your God, walk in all his ways, obey his commands, hold firmly to him, and serve him with all your heart and all your soul.”
After a full session of having MOG nearly every day, you are headed back home to your “normal” lives. While it’s true that you won’t have Roundup or MOG or Cabin Time written into your schedule every day, we hope you’ll find ways to maintain a healthy rhythm of listening to and following Christ. That’s why we’ve created a two-week schedule for your time after camp. We challenge you to spend the next two weeks continuing the discipline of seeking God every day. We hope this helps you develop good habits and practices in your faith.
Below you will find a 2 week schedule with a MOG Virtue and a Scripture reference for each day.
We hope you’ll make time each week day to practice Lectio Divina or Quiet Time in Nature or a combination of the two. Review the introduction to these practices in this MOG Journal if you need a refresher. If time is a factor, don’t imagine that this has to take as long as it did at camp—five or ten minutes is not too short. Afterward, you may want to use your journal to write out any thoughts, questions, or prayers. Journaling can help you solidify your thoughts.
We want to also acknowledge that these practices are not the only way to interact with God or exercise your spirituality. After these two weeks you may find other methods of prayer, meditation, contemplating God or scripture, or deepening your faith to be more beneficial. This is simply a challenge that we encourage you to take on together for at least these next two weeks.
1st Monday — Boldness — Joshua 1: 6-9
1st Tuesday — Character — Romans 5:3-5
1st Wednesday — Charity — Proverbs 19:17
1st Thursday — Courage — Psalm 56:3-4
1st Friday — Discernment — Philippians 1:9-10
2nd Monday — Endurance — Hebrews 10:36
2nd Tuesday — Kindness — Ephesians 4:32
2nd Wednesday — Love — 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
2nd Thursday — Maturity — 1 Corinthians 14:20
2nd Friday — Restoration — Revelation 21:5
Hey fellas,
We had an amazing time with you this summer and thoroughly enjoyed sharing the incredible ways the Lord has been working in our lives. We hope your experience at camp with your counselors was enriching, filled with learning and positivity. We trust you had the opportunity to deepen your relationship with the Lord and gained significant insights from MOG, Roundup, and Cabin Time, as well as from conversations with your counselors and each other.
We hope you will keep our MOG verse, Joshua 22:5, in mind this year. It emphasizes the importance of being clinging to the Lord in all we do. In a world full of distractions, this verse serves as a reminder to stay true to God and His ways. We challenge you to uphold these principles.
We are excited for you to seek out new opportunities to strengthen your relationship with the Lord. Whether you are exploring nature with friends, delving deeply into the Word, or spending personal time with God, any effort you invest will be immensely rewarding. As camp has concluded and you return to your daily routines, we encourage you to take the next couple of weeks to meditate on the after-camp MOG scriptures. We hope they impact you as profoundly as they did us.
These past two weeks have been a wonderful experience, and we eagerly look forward to seeing you again next summer.
With love,
Andrew and Andy
MOG stands for Men of God, and we believe that every young man may wear this title. We are all “of God.” We are all God’s handiwork (Eph. 2:10), created in God’s image (Gen. 1:26). At MOG each young man gains wisdom for how to seek God and learn to be secure in who God has created him to be. MOG is a time where we celebrate manliness in all its forms. We laugh, we play or compete, we acknowledge our similarities and differences, and we engage in spiritual learning and discussion as well as quiet time. We often wrestle with the challenges of being male as well as discuss positive masculine traits we might all strive for. We look to Jesus as an example and tell stories from scripture and our lives that demonstrate admirable living. We strive to create a culture that challenges young men to love God, love others, live well, and be their fullest selves.
Each summer we select a short passage of scripture to be our focus for the summer. Everyone is encouraged to memorize it. We put the reference for that passage on a MOG bracelet, which every guy will receive. Each year’s bracelet reminds campers what they discussed in MOG that summer and the truth that they, like all men, are beloved sons of God.
What is a Virtue?
A good or admirable quality or property; uprightness; rectitude.
A particular moral excellence
Since the introduction of MOG at LLYC, young men have been discussing and striving to embody the virtues demonstrated and taught by the man, Jesus Christ, the prime example for all of humanity. Over the years, we’ve compiled a list of virtues, and we believe each virtue is consistent with the character of Christ. We believe the spirit of Christ calls all people to follow and imitate Jesus.
However, no one can imitate Christ perfectly. In fact, we all fall dreadfully short. In Romans 3:10-23, the apostle Paul wrote that in this life no one has been or will be able to be righteous (or perfectly like Christ). However, God’s spirit lives inside us and calls us to look at Christ as our example, to act like Christ, to follow in his ways. We believe that when we do these things we will see beautiful transformation in our lives and in the world.
As we talk about some of these virtues during MOG, it is critical to keep in mind that we do not earn God’s love or acceptance by striving for these things. God already loves and accepts us. Christ already entered the world and died and rose for all of humanity. These virtues are simply qualities toward which a loving God is drawing us. When we strive for and aspire to these virtues—out of love, out of freedom, out of joy—we will live a more fulfilled life, others will benefit, the Kingdom of God will grow, and the world will look more like it should.
Men of God at LLYC, let’s strive together to emulate Christ. God’s ways are good. Jesus is worth following. Let’s challenge each other to build our lives on these virtues of Christ, our rock, our firm foundation.
A loving God draws us toward these things:
Boldness, Character, Charity, Courage, Discernment, Empathy, Endurance, Faithfulness, Fellowship, Forgiveness, Generosity, Gentleness, Goodness, Grace, Gratitude, Honesty, Hope, Humility, Integrity, Joy, Kindness, Long-suffering, Love, Maturity, Meekness, Obedience, Patience, Peace, Perseverance, Prayerfulness, Purity, Restoration, Sacrifice, Self-Control, Selflessness, Service, Wisdom
