First Day of School

Well I am getting old...of course I dont know it yet, but the fact that my first born son has started kindergarten must mean I am entering into the realm of the elderly. Teehee :).

All joking aside, this day was about Nathan. He has an awesome Christian teacher in the public school (Summerfield Elementary). Her name is Mrs Rutherford and her husband is lead pastor at The View Church ( a church plant in Riverview). He was super excited to start school and in typical Rice fashion he was the loud, social one in the class, asking the other kids their names as they sat sheepishly in their seats.

Nathan is ahead in letters, numbers, and time. We thought that if Mommy was going to be in school, so should Nathan. So here he goes, growing up right before our eyes!

What a Gift!

God is so good! I got to do a baptism at camp this year. This was such a God thing and it was totally dropped right on my lap.

I got to meet a new friend in the process. His name is Forest and he was a former staffer here at Camp Baldwin. As most of out lives go, especially after high school, Forest was not satisfied with the choices he made in the last few years and months and really felt that their were some unanswered questions about his relationship with God.

Forest was excited to have me at camp and about Wednesday he pulled me aside to share his story with me and to get my perspective. I share with him God's love and God's desire to be his Father and for Forest to be adopted as God's Son. We made the connection with Jesus that that was who Jesus was (Son) because that is what God wants of us, sons and daughters.

So Wednesday night after some thought and prayer Forest sought out the "way" to nail down this relationship, and he believed and confessed his desired relationship with God through Christ. I baptised him Thursday night August 14th at the Lake Hanel waterfront of the Camp Baldwin Boy Scout Reservation.

What an honor it was to share this time with Forest and to be used by God in a powerful way. Thanks Forest for seeking out answers, being a 20 something and wrestling with your faith is not an easy thing to do. Please pray for Forest as he returns to Oregon State University this fall and that he would find a good church and jump head first into God's Word.

We also took advantage of the LARGE group of friends that Forest had supporting him and had the Lord's Supper (communion) directly following the Baptism. 20+ staffers joined us for the Lords Supper and I got again to share the Gospel as we walked through the elements and took it together. What a victorious night!

Extreme....yeah right!

Yeah, I just jumped off the side of a cliff. What a rush!

This was tame compared to the stuff that the climing guy Josh has done. One step at a time I guess. i am really digging this rappeling stuff. And If I can find a mountain in florida I am totally going to climb it! HA HA

I am back

Yes I am back...back online (blogging) and back at Camp Baldwin. I spent the last week here and missed the opportunities to update my blog. But I am here, alone.

No kids, no wife. Please pray for me! I got 2 more weeks and a total of 21 days away from my family. This is a great time to focus (me and Jesus time) but it is lonely too.

I had lots of participants this week in my program. But only 1 actually completed all the requirements. I made some great headway with some of the Staffers and I hung out with some old friends from last years camp that visited this year.