Family Camp 2005

Beverly and I went to Trinity’s Family Camp this last weekend.  I wasn’t sure how good it was going to be, but I had a fun time.  On Saturday Beverly was in charge of the hobby hut (craft area).  It was a big success.  There were a lot of kids there, and they all seemed to enjoy themselves.  During that time I had my solar telescope out, and I saw a lot of great solar flares.  I was supposed to host a night time telescope experience, but it was cloudy.  Instead I hooked my laptop up to a projector and used Starry Night Pro to show everyone there the night sky.  It seemed to go just fine.  The next night it was clear, and I got the telescope out, and about 25 people came to look through it.  We looked at the Lagoon Nebula, a few globular and open clusters, the Andromeda Galaxy, Neptune, Uranus, and the Dumbbell Nebula, and that was a success as well (To see images of these objects go to the search page on the Astronomy Picture of the Day website).  God’s creation is incredible, and seeing these objects in all their splendor is just another reminder that God loves me (and others) so much that He created all of the universe for me (and others) to look at.

The speaker for the weekend was Pastor Don Engram.  The overall theme was The Great Race, and the second session was my favorite.  He drew from the book of Joshua chapter 1, verses 6-9.  He talked about Joshua taking over for Moses before going into the Promise Land.  God promised to bless Joshua (and all who believe) in three ways.  Verse 6 mentions blessings from doing nothing other than just believing.  All we have to do is believe in God, and He will bless us.  This is a great promise of comfort.  In verses 7 and 8 God talks about blessings from obeying.   There are a lot of Christians who believe in God, but don’t obey what He has asked us to do.  How can we show our love to God is we don’t obey what He has asked us to do?  We can’t.  As Christians we are constantly being bombarded with disobedience.  It is very easy to not do what God wants us to do.  I struggle with it daily as everyone does.  We just need to focus our hearts and minds on God, and He will help us.  Ask yourself: Are the things I’m doing obeying the Lord?  Finally, verse 9 talks of blessings from resting.  This seems odd right?  Why would God bless us by resting.  Just keep in mind that He is with us always and we can trust that He will help us through all our troubles, and we can find rest in that comfort.  The others sessions were just as good.