"Apart from me, you can do nothing."

Have you ever been reminded of something cool that happened to you and you just want to tell someone about it? That's what this blog post is.
One thing that was life-changing for me last summer working CentriKid is that it was the first time (well, first several times) that I ever recognized when God spoke to me. Sometimes it could be through other staffer's encouragement, verses, and even one time I heard him prepare me to meet a kid coming down for the invitation one night. Actually being able to recognize that God was speaking to me was a big deal.  I want to share one of those times.
It was July 17 on a Sunday night.  We had been doing camp about seven weeks at this point. I'll admit, as a team, we were really good at camp. As a staffer, I had gotten pretty good at leading Bible study in an interesting way, I had my actor's lines completely memorized, and I could even get the kids pumped for recreation.  In other words, all that reliance of God that I had been doing to achieve those things at the beginning of the summer had now turned to auto-pilot. For a week or two before that, I don't know if I asked God for guidance or strength one time.
Then that night, we had a staff worship like we did every Sunday night.  We had a guest speaker, Brandon Hembree (who just also happens to be an MC Alum and a former Shawreth president...instant bffs).  His message to our staff was one of the hardest things I have ever listened to in my life. God used it to speak to me right where I was weakest at the moment. I have it written in my notes that Brandon said "You can do good camp without the Holy Spirit...(but) your relationship with God affects your ability to bring kids to Christ."
Woah baby. Ever felt like God drops a grand piano on your head? I did then.  We each could have chosen to leave staff worship that night and continue camp the next day or as normal, but Brandon challenged our team to make things right with God that night.
I walked out the back of the auditorium in Maryland to our recreation field that was right behind it.  The open field was lined by a forest on two sides.  I went out to the very middle, and just sat down. I started telling God what I wanted and eventually just felt like I needed to shut up and ask him to speak to me.  So I said it, "God, speak to me. Tell me what you want."
That very second, a massive doe and her fawn came barreling out of one side of the woods within feet of where I was sitting and into the trees on the other side. I haven't had many near-death experiences, but I felt like that was one of them.
Now I don't have any cool illustration on how the charging deer relate to faith or anything, but I know without a doubt that those deer were God speaking to me. I understood that night one thing He had been teaching me all summer.
He gives each of us talents, abilities, and skills to use for His glory.  But unless he is in it and we allow Him to be in control of it, it's kind of useless. There is no point in running "good camp". or a "good business", or a "good club" unless you are constantly asking God to lead and be in everything you say and do.
Our team's verse for the entire summer was Exodus 33:15 where Moses tells God, "If your presence will not go with us, do not bring us up from here."  Basically, if you're not gonna go with us, we don't wanna go!
In John 15:5, Jesus tells us "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, apart from me you can do nothing."
So there. We can do nothing unless we are abiding in God through Christ.
When is the last time you allowed God to be in control? When is the last time you stopped whatever you were doing and truly checked if God was in it?  If we do nothing without first seeking God's leadership and presence, I think our lives would look completely different.