From the Children’s Ministry….

Another year of Passport Kids Camp is in the books.  I can honestly say that I have enjoyed each camp I have attended with the Parkway children.  I believe that the theme this year is my personal favorite, “Fearless”.  

During our worship experiences, Bible studies and missions activities, we have learned that being fearless in our faith means staying awake, standing firm in our faith, being brave and strong, and loving always.  On the first day of camp we learned how important it is to “stay awake” to the people and events that are happening around us. We were shown a picture of a cute little lamb being fed by bottle. While cute, the picture was nothing special until the whole picture revealed a dog holding the bottle in his mouth while feeding the little lamb.  How often do we turn away from seeing loneliness and suffering around us? Some things may make us uncomfortable, but God commands us to stay awake and not turn away.

On the second day of camp, we worked on building a strong foundation. Just as buildings need strong foundations, so does our faith. We looked at the things that help us to stand firm when we feel shaky or unsteady. In worship, we listened to the story of Ruby Bridges and how difficult it was for her to walk into school as the first African American student to do so.

All week, we watched videos of refugees in Uganda.  It was good to see Shelah Acker on the screen talking about Refuge and Hope International. The Ackers were the first CBF missionaries we learned about this summer.  The refugees interviewed had to be both brave and strong to leave their homeland, not knowing the fate of their families, to begin a new life in Uganda. The Night Market gave us a glimpse of what it is like to be a refugee being ministered to by Refuge and Hope.  During the Mission’s Offering on Saturday night, our children gave $100 to Refuge and Hope.

Before leaving camp on Sunday, we were inspired by a four-year-old boy to love always. If you did not see the CBS special report on the four year old superhero called “President Austin”, you can find it here on YouTube.  After giving out chicken sandwiches and drinks to the homeless, Austin tells them, “Don’t forget to show love!”  At the conclusion of our last camp worship service, we dropped stones into tins of water to see how one action can cause a ripple effect.  That is what showing love does.

Now that we are home, the challenge is to take the inspiration and growth we experienced at camp and turn it into action.  Hopefully, we will all be more fearless in our faith, staying awake, standing firm, being brave and strong, and showing love always.