Summer in the Son

So, my family and I were on vacation for two weeks. We came home for a full 24-hours, before I left for the next six days to go the Summer in the Son, a church camp for Sr. High students at Kentucky Christian University. It has been one of the highlights of my summers for the last six years. We have been blessed with some awesome teenagers at our church, and I love to spend that time getting to know them in a much different way that seeing them for an hour or two each week. This year was a much different week of camp, though. We had a smaller group than usual, only 17 of us. We also just hired a new youth minister, and this week of camp was his first week to begin ministry at our church. We were all a bit nervous and anxious as we began to get to know each other, and see if we were going to make a good fit. As always, God proved His faithfulness, and provided us an amazing week of camp beyond my expectations. For the first time in many months, I can say that I am looking forward to the future that God has planned for our church and youth ministry.

I just had to include this picture of our senior ministry doing a dance to the game/song "Little Sally Walker." As he "bust a move" the other five people in the picture are laughing hysterically! That just typifies the theme of our week, laughter and fellowship!

R & R

I've been out of town for the last 3 weeks. I've heard some people say, "It's good to be back home!" upon their arrival. I can't quite say I feel that way. What I can say, is that I've discovered a passion to travel the United States and see new things. I am fascinated with God's marvelous creation. I love to daydream about what it would have looked like many, many years ago before people began to ruin it. The sight of a snow capped mountain or roaring river does wonders for my soul!

This vacation to Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico brought us the sights of many rocks, and the power of water. We loved Arches National Park and the brilliant red rock. The boys spent hours climbing the slick rock and conquering their mild fear of heights. Bryce Canyon brought new beauty and unbelievable panoramic views. The Grand Canyon made me stand in awe of it's vastness. What I saw from one particular point was just a dot on the map, but yet so impressive. Mesa Verde marveled us, and made us take a step back in time to think of the lives of the early inhabitants of that area. While all of that was beautiful beyond compare, Zion National Park captured all of us by its beauty and diversity. Of all we did at Zion, our hike to the top of Angels Landing stood out on top! We trekked 2 1/2 miles, up 1,500 feet to make it to the top of Angels Landing. Let me pause there for a moment. Just let me say, I'm used to hiking 2-3 miles back home on a semi-regular basis, but this wasn't my typical "walk in the woods." Once I saw our destination, I seriously doubted that I would ever make it. I'm not real fond of walking uphill to begin with, let alone 2 1/2 miles of straight uphill. We did too many switchbacks to count, stopped for numerous breathing breaks, teetered on more cliff edges that I wished to think about, used dozens of chains to aid our ascent, and drank a gallon of water before we made it to the top! It was glorious! The views were stunning, and I was beaming with a grand sense of accomplishment! After the feat it took to climb to the top of Angels Landing, we sat in awe for quite some time admiring the beauty. Needless to say, the 2 1/2 mile trek down seemed like a walk in the park. I'm still pondering the correlation that trek has to my own spiritual journey. More to follow on that thought later.

So, whether I like it or not, I'm back home again. Trying to adjust to life as "normal," whatever normal is. I'm grateful for another opportunity to see more of God's beautiful creation.

(The picture is a view of Angels Landing)