Surf City 2013 - Day 4

Another day has come and gone at Surf City and it didn't disappoint. We continued our morning routine with breakfast and seminars. After that, they gathered everybody together for a morning of field games to add to our already abundant point totals. We competed in all kinds of games like full-contact  rock-paper-scissors, crab soccer, building a human pyramid, and even constructing and acting out our favorite Kennywood ride. We decided to act-out the Pittsburgh Plunge with Timmy Gibson as the actual plunge car.... we even had a big splash at the end! The judges loved it and awarded us first place.  I refrained from celebrating too excessively because one of the teams consisted of students from Wisconsin who haven't a clue what Kennywood even is. Opps!

After lunch our crew ventured out to test our courage on the wave runners that have now been renamed "boater-cycles." I always love taking students out on the wave runners, especially if they've never been on one before. It can really be a terrifying and exciting experience. In order to get out to the beach the crew had to scale an Everest-like sand dune with a picturesque view that would take your breath away... mainly because you're out of shape... but it's beauty adds to the lack of oxygen too. Everyone loved flying around on the water at high speeds doing hairpin turns. The leaders had to do some serious convincing to get some of the kids out on the water but it was a blast. My favorite moment was hearing Megan, who's normally pretty quiet...screaming at the top of her lungs at the speed of the boater-cycle. 

We spent the remainder of the afternoon at the waterfront swimming and eating our snack bar bounty. After dinner was another installment of club. We all strained to sing with our exhausted vocal chords and laughed at the continuation of Rocky and Sprinkles the circus bears. Last night our speaker Jerry shared with the students the fact that no matter what, the only thing that can save us from the sin in our lives is the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. After the message, we have a camp tradition that we send the students out on their own for twenty minutes of silence. Students are instructed to go out on their own in silence, sit under the stars and maybe for the first time in their lives; make a decision to follow Jesus. It's powerful to see hundreds of students sitting by themselves and wrestling with the reality that regardless of where they've been or what they've done, the Creator of the world still cares and desires a personal relationship with them. I love this place.

That's it for day four. We only have one full day left and then we start our trek back home. I can't wait for your kids to share their stories and experiences with you. Keep praying for us.