Day Four - Celebration

 Today’s object lesson was about the Jonah, who had divinely position by God to speak to the people in the city of Ninevah.  His mission was letting them know that God was not pleased with how they were living their lives.  But because of Jonah’s bias against those people, he chose to head in the opposite direction and not warn them of God’s displeasure.  God uses nature, a storm at sea to bring Jonah to his senses and return to God’s plan, but Jonah prefers to be thrown in the sea than speak to the people of Nineveh.  

Camper plays Jonah with Pastor Sue 

The story doesn’t end there, God provides a large fish to scoop up Jonah, keep him safe, and returns him to land. Once back on land Jonah relents and decides to obey God by taking God’s message to the people of Nineveh.  Jonah preaches God’s message of repentance to the city state of Nineveh and the people heed his warning by repenting of their sinful ways.  Starting with the king of Nineveh, the 120,000 people of Nineveh heard God’s warning, turn towards God and are saved. 

We learn from this event that God loves us and wants us to turn towards him, no matter how much we don’t deserve his love and grace. 

Cast from left to right Cracker, Ma, Bilge, Riffraff, Scum, Captain Hookinbak, Captain Smiley

In Act Three, we find the crew of the Drifter and Captain Smiley at sea, continuing to sail in the direction of W or as Ma stated, Write. An easterly wind has picked up and Ma’s decided it is a good day to do laundry.  Captain Smiley appears topside and points out, it looks like a storm is brewing.  The crew let it slip that they don’t know how to sail in a storm, and in fact, they’ve not left the dock before.  Captain Hookinbak sweeps these comments aside and states he’s experience in sailing in storms. Captain Hookinbak is still intent on finding the treasure, at all cost. The storm increases and the wave are throwing the ship’s occupants around the deck. Captain Smiley yells lighten the load, look for something heavy, and Captain Hookinbak panics, at one point suggesting they throw Scum overboard, but he settles for grabbing the anchor and tossing it over.  Without that anchor, they are lost, without anything to hold them while they ride out the storm. Captain Hookinbak’s panic increases, not know where to turn. Captain Smiley tells him Jesus can help us find peace in the storm, but Captain Smiley does not understand, mocking him for his trust in Jesus. The scene ends with the ship and the crew lost at sea.

Today’ waterfront activities included swimming Kayaking, sandcastle building and ski boat rides. Campers and staff took turns flying cross the waves of the lake, all with excited smiles on their faces. After their time on the water, it was off to dinner. 

Our Day Four evening was reserved for award night. This year’s theme was “Celebrating You.”  Each camper got an award and some of their titles were very creative. Some of the titles were, Sandcastle Builder, Ping Pong Champion, High Heel Runner, Spin Art Master, Specialist in Dragon Drawing, and Best Pushups in the Water, to name a few.

Our camp is target for children between the ages of
6 through 11. During the awards night campers who are 11 are acknowledge and given a medal, certificate, and a new Bible. At our camp it’s never good-bye, rather it’s until we see you again.