Camp Slideshow: Sunday

Camp Slideshow: Saturday

Camp Slideshow: Friday

Camp, part 1

I lost my voice, injured my right hip and hamstring, got sunburned and lost my cell phone at Cedar Point.

But it was absolutely worth it!

Senior High Camp was an incredible experience for several reasons:

1. I saw God.

2. I met a bunch of new people.

3. I had tons of fun.

4. I received a specific call from God.

5. I truly worshiped God.

6. I spent time with and learned from some incredible leaders.

There's a lot of stuff I should share about camp, and I will. For now, though, I'm going to work on posting the photos I took. There's a ton of them, so I'm splitting them up into several slideshows and I'll post each of them separately. Enjoy!

My first time at camp

Growing up, I am only slightly ashamed to admit that I was a momma's boy. I'm thankful for the closeness I had to my mother but I can see now that I probably missed out on some great experiences because of my timidity and need to feel safe.

One experience I never had growing up was going to a summer camp. Almost all of my friends went to camps, whether it was a church camp, a sports camp or whatever. Not me. I played baseball and golf in the summer and spent lots of time in the swimming pool. As I got older I worked all summer.

In two days I am going to my first summer camp, albeit as a leader. I am attending Nappanee Missionary Church's Senior High Camp in Vermillion, Ohio. My wife and I will serve as leaders of 5-6 senior high students for five days and four nights.

I am really excited for this trip, but also a bit nervous. It's been a long time since I've worked with students in any way, let alone in a spiritually intense atmosphere like summer camp. I've become so wrapped up in the lives of my children (the way it should be) that I wonder if I've lost touch with today's senior high students.

So, if you've got time over the next 6 days and if you think about it, would you pray for me? Pray that I'll be a tool God uses to minister to students and that I won't get in the way of that. Pray for the students that they'll be able to see God through the efforts of myself and all the other leaders.

Thanks!

Raspberries

There are lots of reasons why I'm thankful for getting to live where we do. The lake, the space, the peace and quiet, the neighbors.

One more reason was discovered last night when the kids and I went berry picking right behind our house. We spent about a half hour trying not to get stuck with thorns and came up with this bowl full of wild raspberries. They were delicious. And spending time with the kids doing something new was the best part!

Fort-4-Fitness 4-Mile Training Log

I am planning to run the 4-mile race at this year's Fort-4-Fitness Festival in Fort Wayne on September 26. Last year my wife, Katie, and I joined our friends Craig & Jill in the Half-Marathon. None of us was willing to put the time in this summer to run the Half again, but we are all going to do the 4-mile race.

So, today was the first day of training for that race. I have no worries about finishing the race, like I did last year, but I do have a goal. I want to finish the race in less than 32 minutes. That's going to be a tough one for me to meet, but that's what I'm shooting for.

I'm going to update this Log each day that I do some training, so if it interests you check back often.

Day 1
Wednesday, July 1
2.25 miles - 20:42
This was not a fun run. I pushed myself harder than I normally would because I want to train myself to run at a faster pace than what I'm used to. It was pretty taxing, but I made it and I'm happy with that time. That's a 9:12/mile pace. I've go to get down to 8:00/mile to meet my goal. A long way to go, but a good start!

Day 2
Thursday, July 2
3 miles - 29:14
This was very much a grind-it-out run. I really didn't want to run. I almost used the weather as an excuse to not do it. There was a very, very fine mist, but nobody would call it rain. So I did it. I walked once at about the 2.5-mile mark for about 20 seconds. I'm glad I did it.

Day 3
Monday, July 6
2.25 miles - 20:28
After a long, tiring weekend, I didn't feel like getting up the 40 minutes early to run. But I did it anyway and it turned out to be a pretty good run. My pace was 9:05/mile, which is not bad for me. After lots of volleyball on Saturday and tubing Sunday, I am pretty sore. My knees were the most painful, but my feet and ankles also felt pretty bad. So, good run despite all the negatives working against me!