My Epic Journey

ORANGE.  Where Faith and Family intersect.

Activity:  Nature Watch

The other day my son and I were out sitting in the woods.  I know it is cold out side, but with the leaves off the trees, you can see so much more of nature. 

As we entered the woods everything got quiet as the animals scurried toward safety.  It only took 15-20 after we found our spot and sat still before the animals soon reappeared from their safety.  It was amazing to sit there and watch my son’s eyes and see the expression on his face as squirrels and birds came within feet of him.

After we got back into the car, my son was full of questions about God, creation, and nature.  For the entire ride home we talked about how amazing God is to have created all the different things He did.

Application:  Take your student away for 1-2 hours to just sit in nature.  Alum Creek, Delaware State Park or Highbanks are great areas.  Just be still and watch as God’s creation comes alive around you.

Afterwards, find a place to talk.  I prefer on the ride home or better yet in a coffee shop.  Ask the following questions:

1.  What was your favorite thing about sitting in nature?

2.  What surprised you the most?

3.  What does nature say about who God is?  (i.e. creative, powerful, detailed, etc).

4.  What stood out the most from this experience?

Don’t let God moments pass by with out point them out and talking about them with your student.

I thought I would take a moment and give you a glimpse into the world of the Middle School side of camp.  Between chapels, nature hikes, the flying squirrel and fizz wars, the middle schools are seen hanging around and getting to know new friends.

Chapels are great.  The middle school speaker is Tim Vine.  He is going through the New Testament using the Walk Thru the Bible curriculum.  It is a really good program that teaches students the Bible through catchy phrases and hand motions.

And by the way, our high schoolers had a talent show last night that Anna taped.  Look for that video to come out soon!

We are a family of sleep-walkers.  I won’t always remember it but my wife says I will talk and sit-up in my sleep.  She will talk and has been known to pet invisible dogs in her sleep.  But our middle child is probably the worst.  Noah will carry on a conversation and will also walk aimlessly around the house–all while being dead asleep.  Speaking of aimlessly–we have caught him a couple of times using the restroom while asleep.  The problem is he doesn’t aim for the toilet but the trash can!!!!  Makes for fun clean-up.  We usually have a lot of fun with him.

But sleepwalking can be dangerous.  Here are signs of sleepwalking:

• eyes open during sleep
• may have blank facial expression
• may sit up and appear awake during sleep
• walking during sleep
• other detailed activity during sleep, any sort
• no recall of the event upon awaking
• confusion, disorientation on awakening
• sleep talking is incomprehensible and non-purposeful

Spiritually speaking, there are also sleepwalkers.  People who walk through life as if they are spiritually alive and yet are still spiritually asleep.

Here are the signs to look for to see if you are a SPIRITUAL sleepwalker:

• you HEAR the Word but don’t DO what is says. (James 1.22-24)
• you sit in church service yet never look engaged to what is going on.
• you come to worship service hoping to be fed because you haven’t fed yourself any time during the week.
• you don’t recall any spiritually impacting moment in your life.
• when it comes to spiritual things, you are confused and disoriented.
• your spiritual life is incomprehensible and non-purposeful.
• your spiritual talk is incoherent and doesn’t match your lifestyle

As you read down this list does any of them point to you?  If so, you need to take a spiritual inventory of your life and ask the question, “Am I a spiritual sleepwalker?”