Ah... finally a moment of quiet to work on some blogging. Many of you know now that there were three of us that left Colorado Springs, Katie, myself, and Luke. The latest addition to our traveling trio spent the majority of his time with our cousins, and had a very fun time.
Katie and I left with the others for Camp Ray Bird after church on the Sunday the 17th, and our team reached South Bend later that afternoon. Sunday night, we had the chance to get to know the full time summer staff, and for the first timers, tour some of the camp. Already, we could tell that it was going to be a hot week, and swimming in the lake that night felt really good!
Monday was Purple day, about which I'll explain here. At Ray Bird, the week is themed mainly from the wordless book colors. There were also verses of the day (I'll give those as well). Purple used to be a color that exclusively represented royalty, and so the kids learned of the Kingdom of God and His creation. Psalm 47:2 "How wonderful is the Lord Most High! He is the great King over the whole earth."
Tuesday brought bad news, as on Dark day, the focus is our sin, and how we as humans ruined our relationship with God, and caused death to enter the world. We were then separated from our Creator, with no hope of living with him after this life, because all have sinned. Sin (anything that we do to go our own way rather than God's way) that we have done makes us deserve eternal life in Hell, away from God. Isaiah 53:6a "All of us are like sheep. We have wandered away from God. All of us have turned to our own way."
Good news came on Wednesday, the Red and White day. Jesus, God's Son, came to earth to take our just punishment for sin, and died in our place after living a perfect life. He shed His blood for us, and allowed us to be free from our sin; our hearts would be cleansed from our sin, becoming white as snow.
Matthew 9:35 "Jesus went through all the towns and villages. He taught in their synagogues. He preached the good news of the kingdom. And He healed every illness and sickness."
Hope of our eternal life with God after this earthly one was shared on Thursday, Gold day. If we have given our life over to God, one day, we will walk the golden streets of Heaven. We can be assured of our eternal life if we accept Jesus' free gift of Salvation.
Romans 10:9 "Say with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, then you will be saved."
Friday, Purple and Dark day, had a very serious theme. Every person will make a choice to either follow God's Kingdom or Satan's kingdom, there is no middle ground. If we just try to go our own way, that is going against God, which puts us in Satan's kingdom. Some people will think that by doing good things we can earn our Salvation, but only through Jesus can we be saved.
Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord! Lord!', will enter the kingdom of Heaven. Only those who do what My Father in Heaven wants will enter."
Our last day at camp, Saturday, was Blue day. It was a sad time, knowing many of us would not see one another again, but that all those in God's kingdom will be together again one day. It is also sobering to think of the many that will not choose to follow God, as the Bible says it will be. It is a hard path on this earth to follow Him, and very easy to do our own thing. But we must enter through the only way to God: Jesus.
Matthew 7:13 "Enter God's kingdom through the narrow gate. The gate is large and the road is wide that leads to death and hell. Many people will go that way."
Ok, this is a long post, so I'll continue in at least one (maybe two) more.
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