Velocity - Day 4

Today has been a great day for me. I feel recharged and renewed. I got up early this morning to spend some time in Psalms and then savored the worship during the singing time. These things charged my tanks to help me fire on all cylinders throughout the day.

After our morning session, the junior high guys and I decided we should read through the book of John together, starting today. I agreed that if all four of us finished it by the end of the month, we'd all go to Lucky's together for video games.

After lunch, 12 of us went up to one of the nursing homes to spend to spend time with the residents. We setup a game room for them and hung out playing cards and dominos. Kasey, Allison and I played Euchre with a resident named Chet. He was a great guy and he had great stories. He'd served in WWII as a tail-gunner and was great to talk to about it.

The food has started to improve. I've heard it said that a rule of thumb in the food service industry is that people only remember the last three meals they've had, so we're hoping by Friday, the food should really start to pick up.

Tonight, in line with the theme of "Too Much", we did a toned down acoustic, candle-lit set where the kids entered in silence and left in silence.

This is something I'm a little embarrassed to admit, but there's always one kid at camp that I'm pretty sure that God can't get through. I pray for them through the week and hope for the best, but my expectations are often embarrassing low for that kid. Tonight, I was blown away. That kid, who has come right out and said that they were forced to come and wanted nothing to do with the God aspect of camp actually participate in the Labyrinth that I described last night - a time of reflective, prayerful thought. I saw another kid, only a couple steps removed from that one connect with God in a huge way during the session. This stuff is food for my soul. I sat there crying afterwards as I talked with one of our kids and she shared with me how God helped her forgive that night some pretty horrible abuse and wounds that she thought she could never get through, never forgive, never overcome. She shared with me that she feels like God has taken a burden off of her that she's been carrying around for many, many years. Seeing God work in these kind of ways is what makes camp worthwhile, makes giving up a week of vacation seem like a no-brainer. I love these kids, I love seeing God move in them in such powerful ways.

You can see the rest of the pictures from Day 4 here.