Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Suit Up - Day 3

Today was such an exciting and jam-packed day. We began the morning with eggs and waffles (yum!), going right into chapel afterwards where Chris continued his teaching on the Armor of God and the story of Jayden. This morning's talk focused on the shoes (or boots) for feet fitted with readiness that comes with the Gospel of peace. He told the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego -three young Jewish men who had been captured and hauled away to live in Babylon. One day, a law was passed that forced everyone to bow down to a huge statue of the king or be thrown in a fiery furnace. These three made their stand to obey God and refused to follow the king's rule. They made this stand because their feet were secure in the knowledge of God and His truth. So strong was their stand and determination to follow God, that although knew God had the power to save the from the flame, they were prepared to face death despite the king's warnings. Of course we know that God delivered the three completely from harm -even though they were cast into the fire, they were not burned nor did their clothes even smell of smoke. And although there were three who went into the fiery furnace, a fourth (who "looked like a son of a god") appeared with them. Chris also continued the story of his unborn daughter and how after he and Jenn had received the terrible news that Jayden might die, people from around the world began to lift them up in prayer, helping them to "stand firm" as well.

After chapel, we had our Walk The Talk breakout sessions which reinforced the the concepts of the Armor making us ready to move and being ready to trust. Then we went to our various unit activities held before lunch -either the pool, crafts or games on the field. After lunch, we took our camp picture (I'll post it tomorrow.) and had a fun-filled afternoon.

Tonight at chapel, Karla led an excellent time of musical worship and Miss Carol continued her missionary story about Ringu, the boy who lived in fear of evil spirits. Yet, as good as all this was, Chris's story about Jayden's birth and his lesson on the Shield of Faith were definitely the highlights of the day. He talked about the time that Jesus came walking on the water out to meet the disciples who were out on the Sea of Galilee in a boat. When Peter saw Jesus, he wanted to come out on the water to him. He climbed out and began to walk towards Jesus, but when he saw the waves, took his eyes off Jesus, he began to sink. Jesus rescued him but questioned why Peter had lost his faith and doubted. In the story of Jayden, there were lots of reasons for Chris and Jenn to doubt God. Even Jayden's birth was a very anxiety filled time with wonder if she would ever take her first breath. At the moment of her birth, Chris and Jenn, surrounded both inside and outside the hospital  by the prayers of friends and family, had to rely on their faith in God for Him to perform a miracle. GOD DID! Jayden was born and let out a cry which the doctors never expected to happen. They predicted that she would be in the the hospital, on oxygen for six months. It turned out that she was only there for three weeks before she went home with her parents, breathing without the aid of oxygen assistance. The doctors could only remark that there was Someone definitely watching over their child. God is watching over her, but he also watches over us, giving us the Shield of Faith to go  up against our Enemy's fiery darts. Chris closed with a video showing their journey and leaving us with Jeremiah 29:11. (I'll let  you look it up and read it yourself).
Well that wraps up Wednesday. We played our night adventure game tonight after chapel and I'm tired from chasing the campers around in the dark with a flashlight. I'll post more tomorrow.

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