Good morning from beautiful Shakamak State Park, home of MSC! Everyone has just finished up eating a delicious breakfast and is getting ready to start the various morning activities. Today is day two of camp — the routines really get going and camp is nonstop moving from here on out. Yesterday was a pretty … interesting day to say the least.
Around 2 o’ clock yesterday afternoon, in the middle of team activities, the power went out over the entire campground. Some reports even said that Jasonville was without electricity too. It got HOT. It’s amazing how much you can appreciate the comforts of air conditioning when you don’t have it on a sunny, 97-degree day. As one might imagine, the kitchen staff went into survival mode to make sure that the refrigerators and freezers full of our weekly food provisions didn’t go bad. One of the mantras of making things happen at MSC is adaptation, and yesterday was a fine showing of that. Our wonderful cook Belinda fired up all of the gas appliances and still got a great pulled pork and macaroni and cheese dinner out for 163 campers and all of the staff.
All of the teams met yesterday after check-in, and after lunch, they got going on their crafts along with volleyball, canoeing, softball, and lipsync practice. Camp sports always have some interesting moments, but yesterday’s softball game provided a play that would have made the ESPN Sportscenter Top Plays. Damion Spears, age 12, of team silver turned a double-play by catching a line drive at second base and tossing the ball to first to finish the play.
With the camp theme being “Life Under the Sun,” each day has a central idea to guide the minds and growth of everyone here at camp. Last night, Todd Walker led us in a Bible study focused around how Christians are to plan for the future. It was a good lesson for everyone to hear because there is always room for one to grow in his/her current relationship with Christ. Today’s topic of choice is about choosing friends and the people that we socialize with.
For the first time, MSC held a Singing Bee where the team captains finished singing the lyrics of popular songs. David and Jessica McGaughey, the green captains, were victorious. A few new favorite traditions were also continued last night: Greg and Stacey King sang everyone a rewritten song just for MSC, and even though they aren’t here, the Hathaways sent us a poem by Kyla Doughty.
Life Under the Sun
In Ecclesiates Chapter 3 we learn there is a time for everything;
Even the seasons of summer fall winter and spring!
All we have to do is read the Bible to know the source;
Who determines these time? God does of course!
Also listed are killing, weeping, mourning, hating, and fighting.
And many more things He tells us in his writing!
These are not things we wuld not choose if given an opinion poll;
It is just a reminder that we are not in control.
Yes, bad things happen under the sun;
But we must remember back when it all begun!
God created everything and it was good;
We must blame ourselves if we misunderstood.
The Lord grants us time under the sun, so be joyful and live a productive life,
Do not waste it being discontent and causing strife!
No matter where we choose to roam;
We must remember this life on Earth is a temporary home!
Yes, God gave us life under the sun and wants us to enjoy it too;
But more importantly, he wants us to obey his word; yes even me and you!
The beauty and enjoyment on this Earth cannot be compared
To the riches in heaven as God has declared!
Unity with Christ is the only way we will enjoy these pleasures;
So live the life He wants us to and someday, we will enjoy the unknown treasures!
For anyone reading, there is a group of five of us with eyes and ears all around who are running this blog, so we’ll be posting our own little tidbits throughout each day. The power outage yesterday made everything wonky and hectic, but we’re up and running! Check back for more blogs, photos, and maybe even a couple of videos throughout the week.
Thanks for reading and GO MSC!
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Forming lifetime friendships!
This is such a great idea! Thanks for keeping us up to date, Tyler! 🙂
Great to hear such efforts of the MSC team with the power out. Such is life under the sun. I know the kids are having a great time together with activities and Bible study.