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.