Final Youth Camp Update

Monday, Day 4 of camp, was just awesome. It was raining when we woke up but quickly cleared up to be an absolutely beautiful day. Adam Robinson, our camp speaker for the week, continued to teach God's Word effectively during morning celebration. We had indoor rec due to the rain and enjoyed a good lunch. Our free time was great because we got to play something called Bazooka Ball as a church family. It is basically nerf paintball. We had so much fun shooting and chasing one another! Shae Lynn and Madison shot me multiple times knocking me out of the games. I did get Madison back one time as I made her surrender after sneaking up on her only to shoot her in the end. (: It was so much fun! We also had a 4 person scooter race around a small race track in which Jacob, Coach Martin, Mr. David, and myself participated. After Mr. David wiped out twice, coach Martin once, and Jacob being disqualified I cruised through the finish line (see Facebook for photo). On a spiritual note, that night during our evening service many students and adults were convicted of "staying in the boat" as the disciples did unlike Peter. I always viewed Peter as a failure in that story when in all actuality he was the only disciple that really got it. Jesus wants us to do what Jesus does. Jesus was walking on water therefore Peter wanted to. Because Peter sank doesn't make him a failure. Often times I see myself as one of the other disciples. Yes I follow Jesus. Yes God uses me. But am I afraid to fail? And do I have the right view of success and failure? Success is following Jesus even if I don't win in the eyes of the world. It was a tough night for sure for me. Any time the Holy Spirit works it is tough. It is always good but tough. Another interesting spiritual moment was when three of our soon to be seniors came and asked for prayer. They are going to be great leaders this year but were afraid. They were afraid they would not measure up to some of our young ladies who graduated last year. It was a great teaching moment. God doesn't want them to be like last year's leaders. God wants them to be them. During church group time it was so great to hear how many of our students were able to share what God had taught them this week. Some spoke of developing leadership skills, another shared her calling to preach, still another to forgive her parents, others to be disciplined in the faith. God truly worked in the lives of our students! Tuesday we left camp at 10:30 am and drove for nearly 14 hours arriving in Buna at 1:00 am on Wednesday morning. Our students and adults travel so well together! They were truly a blessing to be with all week. Our students are definitely growing in faith in Jesus! Wednesday, I slept until 1:00 pm and then napped another hour. Bro. Gene Hardy preached Wednesday and Jordy Cagle led worship. Gene compared Judas and Peter in their response to sin in their lives and challenged us to follow Peter's example in showing immediate repentance in times when we recognize our sin. We remembered to pray for our upcoming VBS, our seniors at ETBE, our staffing trip to Tennessee, and our junior high youth campers, and Emily Jacobs as she attends Chrysalis tomorrow.