Random thought of the day

I was recently thinking about the wonderful invention of sunglasses. I broke a pair right before my trip to Colorado and spent most of the trip squinting. It made me appreciate sunglasses more. I was thinking yesterday as I was driving about the Israelites wandering in the desert- with no sunglasses. It's just one of the numerous modern conveniences that I am grateful for.

Colorado Challenge

From June 21-29 I was leading a trip of 11 high school students to Woodland Park, Colorado. We participated in all sorts of 'challenge' activities such as high ropes, rapelling, rock climbing, white water rafting, and paintball. We also went horseback riding, fly fishing, did a low ropes element, went to the hot springs and drove up Pikes Peak. It was an amazing trip for those experiences alone. Then you add to it the spiritual challenges on the trip and it got even better! We had a terrific speaker and worship band who led us each evening as we went on a journey with the Israelites from captivity into the wilderness and then the promised land. It was probably the only time that I've heard a speaker on a trip like this use the Old Testament a majority of the time. It was fantastic! There is so much depth and richness to the OT scriptures that we often neglect, especially in youth ministry. We want to use the Pauline letters and the gospels because we wrongly assume they are more 'relevant' to the youth in our groups.

Anyhow, it was a terrific week despite having to leave Marc & Isaac at home, having to pump all week and the camp bear that terrorized us periodically. Seriously this bear was on the porch to our cabin - not 10 feet from our bedroom window. Another evening we were all spread out around the chapel having some quiet prayer time when one of my students thought she heard something, turned around & the bear was less than 10 feet from her. Thankfully she did not panic, but got up and moved slowly away. It was a cub (maybe 2 years old) but we always wondered if mother bear was lurking nearby.