When I think about a school trip, I think about a group of people going to have fun for a summer and only focused on how the trip benefits them. However, where boot camp is different is that it is focused on gaining control or power over your flesh and the individualistic life that so many of us live. It helps us reorient our minds to the reality that this trip is not just about us, but rather the people we are going to serve and give our time and energy to. It is helping us become fit for the race that we have.
When Paul the Apostle uses an example of an athlete, there is an emphasis on the training and the preparation that takes place. If the athlete is to perform at his highest capable capacity, then he must be in shape. Boot camp is a way in which we get in shape. The race we have is to serve Jesus, but we have to be ready for that.
Boot camp is calling me to both look inward and outward. Inward because I want to see the impurities or the things that need to be pruned so as to serve effectively, or perform at my highest capacity like the athlete. Outward because I want to see the team and this body that God has placed me into. I want to be humble and make consideration for the team.
Additionally, boot camp can help by giving us a place in which we can speak up and consider one another’s perspective and thoughts/feelings. It allows us to develop deeper relationships with the whole and receive reflection/correction. You see, boot camp is a way in which we prepare our humility and become aware of the whole, rather than the individual. This is what God commands us to do…to consider one another’s interests and bear each other’s burdens. An acquisition of unity among this body I am serving in will culminate in effective service.
In order to serve Jesus, we need to be ready and take on the expectations he has upon us. We need to be unified and aware of ourselves so that we know what we need to deny about our flesh. But this comes by being prepared inwardly and acquiring that self-awareness, but also outwardly and recognizing that we have a need to serve the body and serve in the body, and the body of Christ functions when a group of being choose to humble themselves and consider each others needs.