My Legacy

The more I think about it, the overarching theme of this blog is to put in writing all the ways God has made it evident that I’m in the place that I’m meant to be. One of those ways is in the story of how I got here. As I look back and tell my story to others, I reflect on the dozens of elements that God had to bring together to put me here. If any one of those things had happened differently, then the whole chain would have been broken.

My story ultimately starts with my parents. Both came from “Christian” families, but weren’t raised to walk in a passionate, day-to-day walk with Christ. God brought them together, brought them to Himself, and led them on a journey. That journey would change their physical and spiritual lives forever, and by extension also changed mine. I was raised in a healthy, God-fearing home that taught me to love God and bend my life to serve Him. My parents weren’t perfect, but love and good raising was always present. When I was in junior-high my family started going to a church not far from our home in Stanley, Louisiana. The youth minister there was from Rosepine (a town not far from Dry Creek) and he had grown up going to the camp. His dad became pastor at our church, he became youth minister, and thus he entered my life. It was because of this one man that I first came to Dry Creek. He took the youth group to the week of AYC camp every summer, and changed my life forever.

I first set foot on Dry Creek Baptist Camp grounds during the summer of 2006. I continued to go the next two summers until 2008 when the next step of my journey occurred. In summer of ’08, I saw a girl from my youth group who was several years older than me working on camp staff. She was a counselor, and told me that she loved working there. “You could work here,” she said, “just apply, it’ll be easy.” I had loved going to camp, loved my counselors and the impact they’d had on my life, but I had never considered it as something that someone like me could do. “If she can do it, I can do it” was my next thought and boom, I was hooked. The next summer I applied and got hired as a staffer.

The staffer position is not so glamorous as counselors, but it was a great experience. I met some of my greatest life-long friends and mentors, worked hard for Jesus, and grew to understand my mission more. At the end of my first summer in ’09, my only thought was “I have to come back.” And I did. I kept coming back and kept coming back, summer after summer. I lost my heart to this camp somewhere around 2010. That same heart got stolen and broken in early 2011, but God wrestled it back for me in late 2011. He gave it back, with the instruction for me to leave it at the camp. And I agreed, gladly.

In 2012, the nail was put into the coffin. A friend and coworker who I looked up to a lot became my predecessor. He was hired as the yearly intern and it blew my mind. Someone, who was for most purposes my peer, got a full time job at the camp. It was possible. I could do it. So I did. I prayed, thought, searched, questioned, prayed some more, and it happened. Boom. I can’t explain how generous God is sometimes, but whenever I question it I remember where I am. In the near future, I will be the full time intern at Dry Creek Baptist Camp.

If my parents had not raised me with a love for God I never would have cared. If God hadn’t brought both my family and my youth minister to the same church, I never would have been a camper. If my friend hadn’t been a counselor and encouraged me to apply that first time then I never would have tried. And if someone my age hadn’t been hired as intern then I never would have dared. If any of these things had been different, I wouldn’t be here as a long term part of Dry Creek Baptist Camp. God worked His will in hundreds of ways, some I’m sure I don’t even know about, and it will always boggle my mind. He has blessed me in spite of me being a goober. That is my story. That is my legacy. Years from now I will be telling my story, with even more parts added to it, and this part will be only the beginning. 

Ethan Bossier. Remembering.

Burying my rock

Ethan Bossier. Dry Creek, Louisiana. Begin transmission.

I thought long and hard about writing this blog. I mostly worried about my ability to stay consistent, about my ability to stay discreet when necessary, and a bunch of other things. I’ve seen the impact that a blog can have, either for good or ill. In the end, I decided it was worth the risk. I hope to honor God with these writings, to bless people’s hearts, and occasionally to vent some of my own thoughts so that I can be a better Christian leader. That being said, ya’ll hang on, open up, and please enjoy this journey with me.

My name is Ethan Bossier. I am the firstborn son of a hard working heavy equipment operator and a mother who worked just as hard both in and outside the home. My parents are devout Christians, and they tried desperately to raise me right, though with little enough cooperation from me. I graduated from Louisiana College in May of 2013 with a psychology major and biblical studies minor. I am currently serving my fifth year on the summer staff at Dry Creek Baptist Camp. A few months ago I was blessed enough to be offered a job as the yearly intern at the camp, beginning this August. This has been a long held dream of mine, so I quickly accepted and immediately began making plans to begin my ministry. I plan on using my time here at the camp to trying to grow up, to start being a big boy, and to mature as much as possible. One of the ways I plan on putting that into practice is through personal and spiritual discipline, one aspect being this blog.

I took the name “Burying My Rock” from my dear, long time friend and roommate Sam R. Franklin. The phrase means coming home, finding where you belong, and putting down roots there. It gives the image of taking a rock from somewhere dear to you and carrying it with you until God leads you to the place He has without a doubt prepared you for. Sam took up his rock while on a mission trip in Mississippi. He took it as a token of the mountain top feeling that he felt on that trip, the feeling that comes with serving God and kept it as a reminder of that feeling while he walked in the valley. Years later, God led him to serve on another mission trip in Wales, and Sam knew that this was the place that he God was calling him. He chose to bury his rock on a hillside in Wales, knowing he was leaving his heart-of-hearts there in the process. I have not physically buried a rock yet, but I plan to. The gravel driveway that stretches a quarter mile through the pasture to my family’s house will soon be one rock short.

My story that ends at Dry Creek is a long one, and will be the subject of another post. All that needs to be said right now is that God has been the author and director from start to finish, and I understand that more and more as time goes on. I was made for this place, for this camp. I love the campgrounds, and the people here, and the opportunities that come with this type of ministry. I look forward to serving here as long as God allows me, but even if He takes me away, I will always return here, to where my heart belongs.

I talked with Sam just today. I messaged him on Facebook, because he is currently serving in Wales again. He told me that he visited the hillside where his rock was and I couldn’t help but rejoice with him. I plan on burying my rock at the prayer garden that lies deep in the woods here at the camp and I’ll go back from time to time to reflect and talk to God. I’ll use the physically buried rock as a way to remind me during the hard times that this is where I’m meant to be. I have buried my rock.

Ethan Bossier. Dry Creek, Louisiana. End transmission.