Day 4 -Wise Up!

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." As much as we like to learn wise sayings or principles to guide us in life, wise living begins when we place our trust in Christ. His Spirit then lives inside us, guiding us, teaching us, and enabling to make wise choices in the face of a world hostile to godly wisdom. The campers are learning these truths through song, through teaching in chapel and in their Walk the Talk sessions. Today, we talked about what makes a good friend - a friend who is not leading you astray but one who encourages you as you make wise choices. Our speaker Jim Woolard has lots of stories that help show the importance of having this wisdom in our lives. We are looking forward to hearing the end of the story he told this morning; he left us another cliffhanger to go along with Carol's missionary story one.

Last night was the carnival. Throughout the years at Lightseekers Camp, we have had several different fun midweek activities: movie nights, talent shows, night games to name a few. But, as far as I know, this was the first time we planned a carnival with a bouncy house and an inflatable giant slide. They also played ring toss, shooting arrows through rings, milk bottle toss, ping pong ball games and much more. Each station awarded prizes to the campers and it was a fabulous, although exhausting time.

Tonight is our last night of camp and will be a night of decisions. Some kids will be deciding to ask Jesus to be their Savior while others will seek to walk more closely with Him. There might be tears of confession and squeals of delight as students experience God's love in a new or fresh way. Please pray for us this evening. It is for God's glory that we do Lightseekers Camp, not just because it's fun or that the kids get to be away from home. No, we work all year preparing so that children will encounter God, some for the first time, more deeply than ever. Pray that God would stir little hearts to respond to the invitations.

End of Day 3/ Start of Day 4

Well, the Internet was down again last night so I didn't get to post about the CARNIVAL we had with fun games, a bouncy house and a giant inflatable slide. The kids had a blast just running around being kids. Everyone had lots of very safe fun and when it was all over, the campers went back to their cabins and slept quite soundly.

Oh my, the bell just rang for breakfast. Today is our last full day so I will be posting more later...

Day 3 of Wise Up!

Throughout this week we are learning how to make wise choices - choices to do the right thing, to resist peer pressure which might lead us to hurt others or ourselves, to listen to and obey our leaders, parents and God. We can see, as our speaker Jim has shared during our chapel time, that unwise choices can lead to disaster. Last night, Jim shared from the book of Philemon about how the slave Onesimus had made bad choices that caused him to end up in prison where he met the apostle Paul. Paul introduced Onesimus to Jesus and taught him to look to Jesus to help him make wise choices.

Also in chapel, Carol has been sharing her cliffhanger missionary stories - this week she's sharing about John Patton and his adventures in bringing the Gospel to he New Hebrides islands. He faced cannibals and witchdoctors who sought to kill him for suggesting that their idols were false and that only the One True God had the power over life and death.

Of course you know that our chapel worship time is fantastic! Karla and her band (with members from four different churches) are doing a great job leading the kids in singing praise. Some new songs are mixed in with our old favorites (what would camp be without Pharoah, Pharoah, or the The Fruit Song?) Some of the Missionary Kids from TFB are leading the kids in hand motions to go along with the singing so if you see pictures with their bodies in weird poses, just realize that's part of a song.

Tonight we are going to have a special event which I will post about later.

Day 2 Redux

Sorry, internet was down all afternoon and evening. I will post after chapel this morning.

Wise Up! - Day 2

Our Theme Verse, Proverbs 1:5 talks about the importance of being wise. This morning we talked about making wise choices and resisting the pressure from others who might try to pressure us in to making wrong decisions. Other people try to mold us like clay to get us to follow them. Some are bullies who like to push others around. Other times, they will suggest that doing something bad is more fun than doing what is right or what pleases God. Following God's truth instead  is helpful because He alone knows what is best for our lives. He has given us His word, the Bible, to give us the way to go. Because of His guidance, we can say "no" to the voices that would tempt us away from following God.

Right now, all the campers are at free time having loads of fun! I have posted the first pictures for you to see. Follow the Flickr badge and see for yourself.

Post Lights Out -Day One

Your campers are all asleep now; the only sound I hear is the sound of crickets chirping, water running in the brook and the frogs croaking. I am outside braving the mosquitoes and the night air trying to maintain internet signal (we really got spoiled by our last camp). I've spent the last hour downloading emails so I can print them tomorrow and yes, we have been receiving them by the dozen. Your children are all having a great time. Our first chapel was a big hit. The kids just love to sing praise and worship songs. We also got a taste from our camp speaker, Jim Woolard. Ask your camper about making pancakes - Jim used making pancakes as an illustration of being wise. Tomorrow morning is our camp picture. The campers all received their camp t-shirts and we will post it as soon as it becomes available. Well, I had better get to bed myself; it wouldn't be wise to stay up much longer. Stay tuned for more adventures!

Wise Up! Lightseekers 2013

We we are here again at Oak Glen Christian Conference Center. Things are a little hectic around camp and so we are behind on e mail and blogging. Part of that is due to wifi being limited to a certain area of camp (remember from previous Lightseekers Camps Ann's  Cybercafe?) No pictures posted yet, but that's only because everyone is having too much fun to hand over their camera memory cards. Email is up and running so you can send your camper a message. I'll post tonight again after chapel.