Justin Camp

3 min read ⭑

Around this time last year, I prayed three prayers. They were three distinct questions, actually. And they had a profound impact on my year. The first one was this: God, is there a word or phrase that might serve as a beacon for me for 2023? I then sat in silence for a few minutes. And sensed nothing.  

A few days later, as I was dashing out of the house, thinking about things that weren’t my prayer, I sensed a word — with. Having only a vague sense of what the word might mean for me and the year ahead, I knew that was it. With would be my word for 2023.

Then, I asked my second question: God, who are my people for the year? I wanted God’s input on my relationships — old and new. I wanted his wisdom about which ones I should lean into over the next twelve months. This time, already in possession of an answer to my first question, I had a bit of an easier time sensing his voice. When I closed my eyes in the silence, I saw my father’s face.

My dad is 87, and we’re pretty close. When Jenn and I got married, he was one of the two best men at our wedding. Then, he and I worked together for more than fifteen years, investing in Silicon Valley high-tech companies. That said, after I left venture capital and went into ministry, we gradually drifted. Jenn and I got busier running a family of five and a nonprofit ministry. That made seeing my dad face-to-face harder and harder — even though we live in the same Northern California town, text nearly every day and talk on the phone quite a bit.

With many commitments and a hard-to-change schedule, I had a follow-up question: God, how? I need your help here. How do you see me leaning into my relationship with my dad in this season? And what came to mind was lunch. A once-a-week lunch at a local place my dad likes — where he does all his meetings.

Before I mentioned anything to my dad, though, I asked my third question: God, what spiritual practice would you like to see me engage in more this year? This one didn’t take long, either. I knew almost immediately. It would be more silence. In my mind, I saw a picture. I saw myself getting up early and walking the quiet streets of my neighborhood in silence every day.

Fired up, I texted my dad and proposed we meet at Julie’s Place every Friday for lunch. He was thrilled by the idea, and we’ve been meeting for over a year. It’s been great — a reconnection of sorts. He and I will tend to go until our conversation across the booth loses momentum. We talk about our lives. He catches me up on the renovations he’s doing on his house. We talk about family, friends, and football — always football. NFL and college. Sometimes, we go for a long time until we run out of things to discuss. Sometimes, we call it after only forty-five minutes.

Like anything, these lunches aren’t always perfect. There are things he does that get on my nerves. I know I do and say things annoy him, too. But it’s good for our hearts to be together. With. With my dad.

It’s been good to be with God more, too. Here’s my favorite morning routine: I grab my phone, a set of earbuds, a small Field Notes notebook, and a pen. I queue up a short devotional to listen to as I walk to a local coffee shop and pick up a cup to-go. Then, I take out the earbuds and head off in whatever direction feels right in the moment.

This time allows me to be with God in a way that I love. I love walking. I love the cold. I love the quiet. And I love the thoughts that would come when I’m not filling my mind with information or distraction or working or praying or doing anything else. I have ideas about Rapt, our nonprofit, Gather Ministries, my marriage and my men’s group — and they are good. They tend to be ideas I’d never have had on my own. They came from one place. From my Father in heaven.

Now that it’s 2024, I’m anxious to ask these same questions for the new year. I haven’t done so yet, but I can’t wait to see what God has in store.

How about you?

If you want to do a similar exercise, I’ve got you covered. We created Embark: Your Personal Launch Kit for 2024. You can download it now, for free.

Justin Camp is the editor-in-chief of Rapt Interviews. He also created the WiRE for Men devotional and wrote the WiRE Series for Men. His writing has been featured and seen on Charisma, Moody Radio, Focus on the Family, GOD TV, The Christian Post, Crosswalk, Belief.net, LifeWay Men and other media outlets.