This morning in Underground, right before Matt came to give his message, Laura did a song that was a request from Hope to finish off the Worship time. “I’ve got a river of life.” You’ve probably heard it. And to do it Camp style, there are actions and sound effects that make it super catchy and hard to shake out of your head. I’m not sure if Hope requested it knowing what Matt was about to speak on, or if it was a work of the Holy Spirit making things work together, but it was very fitting.
Matt started by asking the kids if there was anything great going on this week that they wanted to praise God for. One camper said she ran 4.6 km this week! One climbed the wall with the weighted backpack on, and yet another was excited because he got to run as fast as he wanted during the camp-wide games.
Matt then looked at John 4 with the kids ~ the story of the Samaritan Woman meeting Jesus at the Well. Matt told the kids that he loves this passage because there are so many hidden things throughout the passage that if you’re looking for them can really shed more light on the topic, and I thought that was interesting. Apparently “Easter Eggs” is a video game term, so I hadn’t heard it before, but it’s great that it can relate to some of our campers as well.
There are a few things about Jesus talking to the woman at the well that just ordinarily would not have happened in that time. Jesus, a man, was talking to a woman. But not only that, a Jewish man was talking to a Samaritan woman, and that just didn’t happen. Jesus asks the woman at the well for a drink, and she comments that he has nothing to go get the water with. He has no bucket, and no rope, which would have been common place in that time. He tells her “if you knew who was asking for a drink, you would be asking ME for living water instead.” Living Water would have meant different things to Jesus though than it did for the Samaritan Woman. She would have interpreted that as clean, pure water that wasn’t standing still or sitting in a swamp. It wouldn’t have been brackish or salty, and it would have tasted good. Jesus meant it as the Holy Spirit coming to live within us. The water Jesus was offering was a metaphor for being cleansed, refreshed, and given a new start by the Holy Spirit living within us.
It would give her Abundant Life! Just like the song “River of Life.”
Spring up O well
Within my Soul
Spring up O Well
and make me whole
Spring up O Well
and give to me
That life abundantly
Jesus says “Whoever drinks this will become a spring of water welling up into eternal life.” He also tells her that a time is coming where it won’t matter who she is, who anyone is, or where they are for them to Worship. They’ll be able to praise God and Worship wherever they are. For us, that means that at School, at Home, at Camp ~ wherever! We can talk to God, pray, and praise Him for all He does for us.
She tells Jesus that she knows a Messiah is coming. He blows her mind by telling her it’s Him. She drops everything she had and runs into town, telling everyone she encounters to come and see a man who knew everything she had ever done. Could this be the Christ? Could this be the Messiah? Many believed in Jesus because of her testimony, and then after coming to Jesus and hearing Him speak, even more believed because of who He was.
Why should this appeal to us? God is not distant, and not far off. He’s ever present, and knows us. Knows all about us. And yet still chooses to love us and chase after us. It sure makes me smile! The kids were sent to their small groups asked to think about and discuss why this should appeal to them, and why it would have appealed to the Samaritan woman.
Could it be for the same reason?
As yesterday was my day off, there were no pictures taken yesterday. BUT since I didn’t write a blog yesterday, I have plenty of pictures leftover from Monday to share, so please enjoy your kids’ first day of Summit/Outdoor Pursuits! The Outdoor Pursuits kids are headed across the road for a camp-out in the bush tonight. I’ll try to make my way into the bush this afternoon to get some shots of them building their shelters and their fire, setting up their camp.
Here’s Hope, who sees me with a camera and yells “PUT ME IN THE BLOG!” So she’s in the blog with her sister this time 🙂

Because these are Monday’s pictures, the Rock Climbing Major pictures are of the kids learning to tie their knots and properly secure their harnesses. They would have spent their first day on the climbing wall yesterday, and will be headed up there again today.


Gaga Ball has become a beloved Kahquah sport!

The Outdoor Pursuits kids caught a few fish first thing Monday morning, and they wanted to show off their catch. I didn’t want to get anywhere near the fish, but I suppose that’s why I never would have signed up for an outdoorsy type camp! These kids look like they’re very much enjoying showing off their catch!

The kayaking majors had to start Monday morning by learning the proper way to complete their strokes so that once they were out in the water, they knew how to steer. The best way to teach those skills is to try them out on land first, so that you know what you’re doing before you get into a boat. Here’s Kenny instructing on proper stroke technique. He was teaching the C Stroke here.

At the Beach, there’s always sand buildings, and kids playing in the water. With the addition of the older kids though, it’s nice to see friends just relaxing on the beach, and one even drawing while she chats with her friends.

At Crafts, kids spent some time making bracelets. The Craft activity in the afternoon was to sew on a felt owl and monster appliqué to a burlap bag with darning needles. The girls were all getting the hang of it quite nicely, and I’m sure some of your kids will have nifty craft creations to bring home with them.

At Beauty Inside and Out, they focused on hair on Monday. This activity goes through a devotional, helping girls to see what God really thinks of them and to discover their inner beauty, and then they do hair, makeup, nails, and other fun beauty activities to go along with it. I’m supposed to assure you that the pot is there to amplify the sound of the worship music coming from Brooklyn’s phone. At first I thought maybe Taylor wasn’t feeling well, but I was assured that that’s not the case. Apparently if you put the phone in a pot, the sound comes out much louder!

At Water Sports, even though it was the first day, many of these kids have been here in years prior, so they know a lot of the skills they need to be successful without spending their whole first day learning skills on the dock. The second group managed to spend most of the activity period in the water, which is great!

At Boot Camp, kids who are interested in fitness are going through a week of fitness activities. It’s likely that the girl who was thrilled that she ran 4.6 km was part of the group! Here they are running up the stairs and hill toward the lodge with all their might! Good for them!

Here we have a couple of girls at Archery.

At Rock Climbing, there were only two participants signed up, which would be great for them! It means they don’t have to take turns or wait, they can just keep climbing. Paige scales quickly to the top. I remember her from last year and how speedy she is on the wall. She rapidly made her way to the top, scaled down, and then asked for the weighted backpack. Ben also made it to the top quite happily 🙂

At Low Ropes, here we can see kids working together and supporting each other, as well as patiently waiting while the others finished up the activity. Since I arrived near the end of the period, a few of the girls were already finished. But they seemed to be enjoying getting to know each other better while they hung out on the tire swings.
