River of Life - Photos

Here are some pictures from our week at River of Life.

15 of us spent the week with about 30 amazing kids.

 We played

We made crafts 

We Ate

(but some of us didn't eat our green beans...[have you ever met a "vegetarian" who won't eat his vegetables?])

We served

We swam 

 We made special little friends

Some of whom made an extra special impression on us 

 We made great memories

We shared the most important things we know.

And found a little time to kick back and relax in the evening 

It brought out the kid in all of us. 

Yes, we may have been just a bit tired and silly by the end of the week, but it was worth it.

Our memory verse for the week came from 2 Peter 1:3 "God's power has given us everything we need to lead a Godly life." 

We went to River of Life to serve, but we also went to learn.  We believe the words of Ephesians 2:10 "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared beforehand that we would walk in them".  Each of us has to discover what those good works are, what unique thing God made just us to do.  This quest for discovery was the catalyst for our trip.

This week we learned that our own strength is not enough.  We get tired, we get grumpy, we don't like clean bathrooms after a long hot day, and it is hard to be patient with the child who had 4 pee accidents before lunch time. (one teen commented that a week working with 5-8 year olds was better motivation for abstinence than any sermon or lecture from a parent)  Lesson number one was clear: On our own, we just can't do it.  But God's power is sufficient.

Our big idea for the week, was that we need to be "Zapped" by God's power.  And as we read the next few verses in 2nd Peter during our devotions we learned that believing in Jesus is just the beginning.  "We must be diligent to add to our faith moral excellence, to moral excellence knowledge, to knowledge self control, to self control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love." 

All of us were challenged by one of the steps found in these verses, for some it was a process of asking why would I even want moral excellence, others took big steps toward self control.  Some found the conviction that comes with Godliness, and sought forgiveness for wrongs done to others, and some learned first hand about spiritual warfare.  We all got a dose of what perseverance looks like, and found unconditional love from some amazing kids.

We needed sunlight for an activity that would reinforce what we were trying to teach the kids about God.  The day was cloudy, and more clouds and rain were in the forecast, but we saw God roll the clouds away at just the right time for our lesson.  This was one of many miracles we experienced over the week...

As we come back to real life, tired and missing our new little friends, I pray we will take the lessons with us.  That we will be honest, and transparent, about the joys and difficulties involved in walking the narrow road that leads to life.