The past 48 hours have been some of the most gut wrenching for me.

I grew up with a yoke hanging over our fireplace.  My Grandma grew up on a farm and, I guess, she kept it!  Somehow my dad ended up with it, and it became a decoration!  Sometimes my parents used interesting things to decorate with!

This morning I attended a men's prayer gathering at my church.  One of the men was asked to share a passage of scripture he has been studying lately.  He brought up a passage in Galatians 1 speaking about false gospels.

One of Bill's favorite words is found in 1 John 3.  if you have come to camp for a few years, I bet you have heard this word.  The workd is lavish.  Bill ilustrates this word by telling a story of how Lisa wanted to give Bill some ice cream.  

So, reading 1 John has me on a DC Talk kick...back in the mid 90's DC Talk put out a song called 'Love is a Verb.'  If you are like me, you have to remind yoruself every time you hear the word verb you ask, "what is a verb again?"  English was never my strong suit...

When I was growing up the number of good Christian bands was few.  I grew up listening to KTIS in the cities, playing Twila Paris, Sandy Patty, Michael W, and SCC.  That was about it.  Sometime in the mid 90's though a new band came on the scene: DC Talk.  They were AWESOME!  One of my favorite songs they sang was "In the Light."

My mother in law makes great apple pie.  Every year for her oldest son's birthday, we eat pie instead of cake!  And it is delicious!  In high school after every choir concert, we would go out to Baker's Square for pie!  I really like pie.  There is one pie that is a little bit harder to swallow though....Humble pie.

Becca has many nicknames for me.  Perhaps one of the best is "Cranky Butt."  This name described my attitude yesterday completely.  

When you grow up do you want to be a bum?  Do you want to make an annual salary of $0?  Do you want to look back on your life and see nothing?  If so, feel no need to read further!

Some of you have all your Christmas shopping done in October, I commend you.  Many of you however are like me, though, scouring the internet searching for that perfect gift for the loved ones in your life.  I have found myself trying to find a gift for my Father-in-Law.  He is a man who asks for nothing other than to spend time with his family.  Some may like that idea, but Becca and I try really hard every year to buy something for him that he will appreciate.  It can sometimes be really, really stressful!  Anyone else feel that at this time of year?

Many of you know I am enrolled in Seminary at Bethel.  This fall I am taking a class called Genesis to Ruth.  You guessed it, we are going through the first 8 books of the Bible.  Part of the assigned reading entails reading through each book in its entireity in one sitting.

The past few year I have released the next summer's theme at the end of the current summer.  Well, this year I did not exactly do that.  I left the summer with the theme a little up in the air.  I really wanted to make sure the theme was solid before it was revealed.  After months of prayer and study, here it is:

Today is my last day of the journey.  I have read a lot of passages in scripture, and I have been taught some pretty neat sutff.  This last passage though cut through me like a knife!
 

It has been a while since I wrote about the theme...so I am back to thinking about water, but first:

The past week has been so eventuful!

Lots have happened at Camp over the past 24 hours!

Minnesota has earth quakes?

I thought I would take a break from sailing for a bit and give some thoughts I have been having lately...

It is still a bit stormy at sea today.  If you read my post from yesterday I am still troubled by reading Almost Christian, by Kendra Creasy Dean.  

Welcome to Day 8 on this theme discovery journey!  Today I find myself in Psalms 69. 

Most companies have customer service departments.  Within these departments, there are whole divisions of employees set aside to handle complaints from customers.  These employees are trained in handling difficult phone calls and angry customers.  Usually, they are respectful and handle each call with grace and genunie concern for their customers.

Today we find ourselves at a river crossing.  This looks like something the generation before us went through, now we get to expereince it for ourselves.

If you are following the schedule I laid out, you may have gotten a bit lost.  I was too!

DAY 1:  I find myself in Genesis 1-2 reading a rather familiar story.  The sea is calm, but I am unable to make anything out, it is dark and cold.  Hopefully, these conditions will not last long!

Many of you are anxious to hear what the theme will be for next summer!