The Best Part is...

Chapel. Hands down, no arguments. Chapel is the best part of Camp Dry Gulch.
This is our main event, so we treat it like a pretty big deal.

 Back in session five, I had a bunk of girls who were all new to Dry Gulch. Everyone was a first-timer.  A few of them had been to other camps before, and they were quickly excited by some advantages Dry Gulch presented, such as air conditioning (my goodness, Lord bless the counselors of other camps who do not have air conditioning!)

But above all else, they were blown away by our chapel services.

 Then this past week, in session six, I had a bunk with a few specific girls who largely influenced the rest into being very disrespectful. For the first time this summer I had to do some benching and I had to take one girl to the office. That was a shame.
It stinks to discipline kids when you only get to see them for a week. It can be hard to really move past it all and have a good time again. Therefore, I felt like this week ended a bit awkwardly.
But the good news is that I am a seed planter. Even though I do not get to see the fruit of my labor within the small week these girls are here, I trust that the seeds I planted will grow into something good.
And the even better news, that is how chapels work, too.  In every chapel hundreds of seeds are thrown out, and we hardly get to see their results while the kids are still here. Only heaven will be able to reveal its impact!

 So now then, I just wanted to share with you a brief synopsis of each chapel, so you can be in on the magic, too.

Here's what you need to know about chapels before we begin:
Camp Theme: “I am a Child of God”
Camp Memory Verse: “Come close to God and He will come close to you.” (James 4:8)
Chapel Phrase: Each night there is a different phrase used to sum up the lesson for the night. The kids must remember this phrase, and they also get a wristband that says the phrase as they leave chapel.

 Night One:
Chapel Phrase: “I have a new Spirit”
Main Point: This is salvation night. We are teaching the kids the very first step of coming close to God and becoming his child, which would be asking him into our hearts.
Illustration:  We bring out a friend of all the kids named Andrew. He’s in his 20’s but he portrays the mind of a child. Andrew invents things that usually do not work. This time, he has invented teleportation and he believes the only way to come close to God is to be physically close to God, therefore, he tries to teleport to heaven. At the end of chapel, Andrew returns from the opposite of heaven (“Arkansas”) and learns that the way we come close to God is with our spirit.

 Night Two:
Chapel Phrase: “I Will Win the Battle”
Main Point: We can do the right thing even when we do not feel like doing it. Our new spirit knows the right thing to do, but sometimes our feelings try to take control of us and make us do the wrong thing. Therefore, our feelings and our spirit are in a battle, and we want our spirit to win.
Illustration: This is what we all call “Ultimate Fight Night.” You see, the stage is consumed by a boxing ring, in which two actual fighters take their marks. The lights go down and get crazy, and actual announcers boom through the room. One fighter represents our “Feelings” and the other one represents our (new) “Spirit.”
They fight two rounds before the message, where Spirit wins once and Feelings win once. Then after the message, round three commences, and of course, Spirit wins.

 Night Three:
Chapel Phrase: “I make my Spirit Strong”
Main Point: To win the battle over our feelings, we need to have a strong spirit. Just like we feed our bodies every day, we should feed our spirit everyday to make it strong.
Illustration:
Three trays of food sit covered up on the stage. Each plate represents a way we can feed our spirit. Plate one has a big slice of pizza-and this represents how we can feed our spirit by talking (or praying) to God. Then we have a big hamburger under plate two, this represents thinking about God. Such as when we read our Bibles or go to church. And then the third is a big bowl or ice cream, (except it is really Crisco because ice cream would totally melt if it was left on stage) which represents thanking God and worshipping him.


Night Four:
Chapel Phrase:” I Will Win the Race”
Main Point: When we sin or mess up in life, we have to confess it and let it go so we can keep getting closer to God. If we hold onto it, it will weigh us down.
Illustration: We have this enormous backpack like thing with all these other ridiculous things connected to it. It looks really cumbersome and heavy, so it represents our sin. Pastor Gabe wears it around to represent how sin put a weight on us, and it is not as easy to run close to God with the weight. Then at the end he drops the weight, and this represents how we drop our sin, confess it to God, and keep running.

Well, that is everything my friends. Now I’m off to work with a church group I have happily kept in my bunk for the past three years. I’m so excited to see them!

Melody