Monday - July 5 2010 Day 2 of Middler I and II

Another night in the books! It was a full day. This morning we started with the morning watch. This is a time that the campers are asked to pay attention to a particular theme for the day. Today the theme was “I will continue with the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers.” We first started the day with a story about how a man was stuck on an overturned boat asking for God to send help. As it turns out an older man arrived on a small boat and offered a ride. Nope, God is coming. Then another larger boat arrived and offered a ride and again the offer was declined. Finally a large boat arrived and they offered to pick the guy up, and again he declined. As it turns out the man drowned and he asked God why he didn’t arrive. The response from God was there were three boats. The point of the story was to pay attention to what is taking place.

With that in mind the nature hike we learned about taking care of creation and the 7 principles of leaving no trace behind. As we took the hike we learned about how to plan ahead and prepare. Then we understood about the importance of why to travel and camp on durable surfaces. We all asked to depose of waste properly. As we worked our way around toward the ridge over the camp, we talked about we are to leave what you find and take memories and pictures. We didn’t light any campfire, but if we did we would work hard to minimize the impact. We are all asked to respect wildlife and finally we are to be considerate of other visitors. With a bit of imagination one can see how this weaves into the theme of the day. These principles of leave no trace speaks toward teaching and fellowship of human beings.

This afternoon the rope course group learned about what it means to work together. At first it was difficult, but given some time they learned how to work together. Communication and team building was the key. That fits nicely with the fellowship. One counselor pointed out that she was impressed with how everybody listen to one another for ideas.

To end the day this is what the Sawmill put together for their prayers.
Almighty God we pray that continue to feed our hope of fun. We also ask that you continue to support us through your unfailing patience and energy. We also ask for your knowledge and peace of your love.

Holy Spirit, we have learned from you that friendships are for a lifetime, we ask that you be among us now as we make new friends. As we get to know one another, I ask that we be gracious with one another and not to get huffy.

Son of God, we pray that we all experience an excellent time and that we be patience with one another.

God, renew our hope of new friends and for us to slow down to enjoy our time together.

Creator of all that we see and know, we pray that those who have gathered here this week have the best camp experience of their lives and we also pray that we become blessings and source of support for one another.

God the Father, we pray for those who desire to return to this place of hope and peace will be heard and that we will be confident and courageous in our asking of this blessing.

God the Son, we pray that the camp be a place for others to return in the coming days and that we will be honored by this request.

God the Holy Spirit, we ask that the spirit of enjoy and laughter be among us this night and that we all return to our cabins sharing in your laughter and joy of life.

Collect for the Night

Almighty God, through our understanding of you we have come to find you in nature of this place, we know you as a force in our lives together, to be full of life giving energy, a presence of determination, the creator of this open space called Wyoming Wilderness which has given us a breath taking view, and a vision of a family held together in love that spans into eternity; we give you thanks for the spirit of athletic drive and focus, we welcome the baptism of the world in your blessing, we want to give you thanks for the abundance of your creation and we ask that we continue to be a source of protection and safety; we also ask that you use us to become a blessing for our new friends as that have become a blessing for us; be in our laughter, and protect us as we sleep; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Amen