CSU @ SCIOTO HILLS CAMP day 1

We pulled out of the church parking lot with the church bus, van and trailer heading to Wilberforce and Central State University where there was a large coach bus with the coaches, trainers and players waiting for us to arrive. Without an inch to spare for luggage and equipment, all 110 of us began the journey to Scioto Hills Baptist Camp in Southern Ohio which is where I have brought hundreds of teens over the years as it is one of our wonderful church camps that has been instrumental in thousands of lives being spiritually changed.
After unloading and settling into their cabins lunch was just a short time away and the guys were ready to eat and the camp was ready to feed. Pulled BBQ pork sandwiches are a great way to start off any camping getaway and to put the body into motion. Just as the guys were getting ready to go up for seconds the coach reminded them they were about to practice and they should think about how much they wanted to eat because of the “side effects” while conditioning. It was one of the most pitiful looks you have ever seen as the guys stomachs said, “I would like more food – even though we had a lot,” but their minds were telling them, “don’t eat any more your dummy or you’ll soon be paying for it!” The minds won the moment and it was time to get serious.
Before they left for practice I had the opportunity to speak and turned to Hebrews 12 as it talks about believers “being surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith…” I went back to Hebrews 11 and looked at some of the great people of the faith but ended by looking at the martyrs and shared with them that this isn’t something that just happened back in the dark ages but these very things are happing in Iraq as we speak (that caught their attention). After speaking about sin that entangles us, the ground work has been laid for the coming days with tomorrow talking about our ‘Who is the Church Made of and How Can You be a Part’?