Many of you know I spent 7 years on full-time staff at a Christian summer camp called Pine Cove (and 11 summers counting my college years). If you were a fly on the wall during orientation where summer college staff get trained, one of the things you’d hear often is “it’s not about you.” As wide-eyed 18 to 20 year-olds join the mission of Pine Cove, they need to see themselves as servants. That it’s not about them. And the reason staff need to hear that message is because they tend to believe the opposite – that it IS, in fact, about ME… and so do we.

The truth is, though I’ve heard “it’s not about you” more times than I can remember and even taught it to staff at Pine Cove for years, I don’t always believe it or live it out.

It’s why I need to be continually confronted by the counter-cultural example of Jesus. To a power-hungry, egocentric, squabbling group of disciples, Jesus said, “I am among you as one who serves,” and then put his words into action with an act that must have taken their breath away…

“(Jesus) got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.” – John 13:4-5