Hey....we had a camp out this weekend, but it rained, and everyone was soaked...we still put up the tents, but the girls ended up sleeping in the van....I never thought I'd be one to sell out like that, but it was fun, anyway! There were four girls and four 'leaders', so a small group, and waking up and packing up in the rain wasn't all that fun. We played a game called "urban myth" that was pretty cool. There's a whole stack of cards with crazy factoids on them, and everyone has to vote whether the stories are 'true' or 'myth'. If you vote right, and your marker is on the same category square as the card that was read, you get the card which has a letter on the back. The winner of the game has to spell either "true" or "myth" with the cards they collect, and be the first one to do it. It turned out to be pretty cool!

As for my rations, I've been going through the book of Ezekiel. It seems God is pretty tough on idolatry, much more than we generally give Him credit for. We spend a lot of time on God's love and forgiveness, but not a whole lot on the seriousness of sin, or on living at a holy standard...There's been a lot of words for Bangor corps, about a revival coming AFTER the people return to the LORD and repent, but as for what specifically needs to happen or how, no one seems to have that piece. I think it has to do with seeing eachother as God sees us, and not weighing ourselves against who we think we should be, or what the media tells us we should be.

Major Frank Kirk preached last Sunday here, to send off his son and daughter-in-law to training college. He gave us scripture from 1 Samuel 17:3-11, 16, 52 from the story of David and Goliath, and was preaching on 'a soldier's responsibility'...the end point being that battles aren't won from the hilltops, but in engaging with the enemy. Oh man, what a good point, yeah?

The Philistines and the Isrealites were at war, and for 40 days, they stood on opposite sides of the battlefield while Goliath shouted over taunts at the Isrealites. Nothing happened until one kid stood up and took the challenge of the fight, conquered the giant, and the end of the story shows the entire Isrealite army chasing down the Philistines and plundering their camp. Again, the major point? "Battles aren't won by calling names from the hilltops, but in engaging with the enemy"

oh yeah....that's good stuff!