Beach Camp 2010 Day 3

4:55 PM Day 3 began early for the Iron Indians again. They met on the beach at 6:00 AM and started running. They were pretty tired. The pictures of them running are followed by pictures of them all asleep after breakfast. We had a traditional egg and bacon breakfast. Jase had more grits, not the best thing in the world. He was trying to get everyone to try them. We had morning worship after that. The day looked really promising, cloudy and cool which is really nice for Florida. There was only one red flag flying this morning, so the plan for free time was part of them at the beach and part of them shopping in town. After small group time about 11:00, everyone went to the beach for the sand castle building contest. They had closed the beach and put up two red flags by the time we got there. Clouds began to look a little ominous. Our students had to serve the camp lunch today, and we had a really good number of volunteers. Our students have done a really good job of stepping up and helping out. The rain began to pour right before lunch, so the beach trip was cancelled. Most everyone opted for the bus ride into town. There were a few who wanted to hang out at the camp and swim in the pools. That was cut short by a few claps of thunder. I think everyone had a great time shopping town. I sure hope they saved a few bucks for breakfast Friday morning. Even though we can't swim, the ocean is beautiful and the waves are powerful as they crash ashore. The forecast for tomorrow is more of the same, so lets hope it lets up a little. The students would really like a little more time in the water. Jase is having everyone clean up a little right now, so it won't be so bad tomorrow.

9:11 PM Finally!! It has quit raining. The Students are in their small groups right now. We just finished worship. I just keep being amazed at the messages Matt preaches. We at FBC Seminole are truly blessed. Matt preached out Mark Chapter 3 tonight. He asked out students why we let the enemy make us feel worthless. He told them that their worth to God is not determined by how they look or what they can do. Many of us ask God why he made us the way He did. Why didn't he make us better looking or more popular. We cannot allow our identity to be shaped by they way we look or how people feel about us. Our identity and worth must come from who we are in Christ. Some of us allow ourselves to get so caught up in what's going on around us that we do not see those who need our help. Christ stands ready to forgive us and accept us no matter what. All we have to do is accept Him.

Beach Camp 2010 Day 2

Good morning from rainy Florida. The morning started off early for the Iron Indians in Florida. They were running on the beach at 6:00 AM. This was followed by an amazingly hard work out. You can see how hard they worked by looking at the Day 2 Pics. After they drug them selves back up to the house. They showered and we had pancakes for breakfast. After that, it was quiet time and what they are calling "giddy up." It is the morning worship time. While we were in there it decided to do some serious raining. As a matter of fact it is still raining. There was supposed to be a sand castle contest going on this morning, but I think that has been postponed. They are improvising in the worship center right now.

What promised to be a disappointing day, really changed quickly. God let the rain pass on by noon and one of the red flags came down shortly afterword, so after lunch all of the sponsors and students headed for the beach. The students had a great time getting shoved around by the waves, and Jase was out in the middle of them herding them back to our area of the beach. I think that the power of the ocean was an eye opening experience for our land locked students. We rested a little later in the afternoon. After a lasagna supper, we went to worship with Matt. I'm sure this will come as a surprise to everyone, but he really got after it again tonight. Tonight he preached from Acts, 2nd Corinthians, and Galatians. He taught on Paul and how he did not go in search of Jesus, but Jesus invaded his life, and he surrendered his life completely to God. When we have been saved, we no longer live for ourselves, but we live for Christ, and even on our worst days, we are covered by the sacrifice of Christ. The flesh will not go quietly away, and we will not always be perfect. We must go before God daily and ask Him to help us crucify the flesh. Matt used a great illustration here. We can nail one hand and our feet to the cross, but we would be unable to do the last hand. We must ask God to help us crucify the flesh. We cannot do it ourselves. He finished his sermon by talking about the incredible pressure our kids face today. Some of it comes from them, but some of it comes from the parents as well. We ask a lot of our kids when it comes to academics, athletics, and extracurricular activities. We often push them to do what we feel is best for them instead of asking God to point them direction He wants them to go. Whether it is in their relationships or their goals in life, they should put Christ first. If that means not playing in tournaments on Sunday, or not skipping church to work on assignments then so be it. Christ must come first. A point that was amazing was that who is it that gives them the athletic ability, or the ability to succeed in academics or other extracurricular activities. We need to trust God to help mold that ability, not rely on all the other ways, we as parents think we can make them better.

Everyone is enjoying a little free time right now before lights out at 11:30. Tomorrow we are planning on taking them to town to do a little souvenir shopping. Please pray for the sponsors.

There are a lot of new pictures on Day 1 and 2 thanks to Christy Hallum