Winter Wonderland

It’s definitely winter here in the mountains.  Most days this past week have been cold, cold, cold.  A mountain winter is going take some time for this North Texas girl to get used to.  One thing I love though is waking up to it snowing, and that didn’t happen too often back home!  So, I drove around camp today and took pictures of various places.  It was only a dusting, but even so, camp still looks pretty in white.  Hope y’all enjoy seeing these!

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Up go the walls

A lot has happened here at camp since the last post…which was less than a week ago!  The floors are finished, with the exception of one Choctaw cabin, and now the framing has started.  Right now, only two cabins have the walls up, but it seems that every time we blink something else gets completed.  Below you can see the progress of the new staff cabin on Chipp/Chick hill.  Even Oj is interested in the construction process.

Keep looking staff and you’ll get an inside view of what the new cabin looks like…literally.  You can see the spaces on either side of the cabin where the showers and toliets will be placed.  That’s right, plural.  There will be two showers and two toliets, with a nice vanity mirror in the middle.  We’re living the high life now!  You can also see the porch, which will be covered when all is said and done.

Here’s some pics of the framing going up on one of the new Choctaw cabins.

Before any of us know it, it’ll be summer and all you campers and staff will be here experiencing the cabins for yourselves.  But until then, keep checking back for new pictures.

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Reconciliation

Read This Passage: Colossians 1:15-20
For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross—whether things on earth or things in heaven.
—Colossians 1:19-20

From Genesis 3 onward, sin stands as a barrier between us and God. Sin enslaves us and devastates our relationship with God. Sin is deadly. It is the power of sin that we must grasp in order to fully value what Christ has done for us.

God took a look at this hopeless situation and created a plan through Jesus Christ. In Colossians 1, Paul said that God “was pleased” to reconcile all things to Himself with the work of the cross. That extraordinary act of God at Calvary was His deliberate choice because of His great love for us. It was His decision to start a process of reconciliation that would remove that barrier of sin and restore our relationships with Him.
In other words, because of Christ’s death and resurrection, sin can no longer stand as a fence between us and God. He’s taken care of our sin, once and for all.

But that’s not all. God has not only pardoned our sins; He wants us to live in relationship with Him. In our sin, we were helpless to restore our relationship with the Creator. God chose to reconcile that relationship through Christ’s blood. Jesus took on our sin and died so that we might live each day in relationship with His Father.

We don’t often like to recognize that we had any role in Christ’s death, but we did because of sin. God deliberately set up a plan to bring us back into full relationship with Him through Christ. Don’t miss that!

Real Choices
If God is convicting you of areas of sin in your life, find a quiet place to get alone with Him. Search the Scriptures for relevant verses and spend uninterrupted time in prayer. Humbly admit your sin to the Lord and watch as He once again reconciles you to Himself.

Digging Deeper
The English word reconciliation is from the Latin reconciliare: re means “again” and conciliare means “to bring together, to unite.” For further study on reconciliation, check out Ephesians 1:7-8.

Pray
Thank God for His deep love for us. Thank Jesus for His willingness to give His life for yours. Ask the Lord to reveal your sin. Confess it as He reveals it.

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Construction Update #5: More Floors!

The cabin floors are almost finished!  As of yesterday, they were half way done on the last Choctaw and new Cherokee cabin.  Due to the rain today, I’m sure they will finish tomorrow.  Abby and I took quite a few pictures, so bear with us!  If you would like to see the pictures full size, simply click on the picture!

You can see in the last picture what the hill looks like in the fall and that without the leaves you can see much farther.

The first picture of the new Cherokee cabin was taken from outside the old Cheyenne bath house which will be turned into a staff cabin.  The next picture was taken coming down the road to Cherokee hill.

Abby and I decided to take a nap in the new Chickasaw cabin to show all you Chickasaws where you may be sleeping this summer!  We also wanted to show you what the lake looks like in the fall.  As you can see, there is no water, but look how much you can see behind the trees.

We were finally able to upload a video!  Click HERE to check out Cheyenne and Choctaw hill and be sure to listen for the beautiful sound of hammering in the background!

We are hoping to have pictures posted next week as they start on the new Bear Trap.  Thanks for joining with us on this endeavor, please continue to pray for us as we continue to move forward!

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Construction Update #4: Floors

As you can see above, the crew is moving fast with the construction.  As of this afternoon, one cabin (the Chipp/Chick staff cabin) had the floor completely done and another (the Chick cabin) was well under way.  If it doesn’t rain the next few days (as is forcasted) then all the new cabins should have finished floors by the end of the week!

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Redeemer

Read This Passage: Revelation 5:8-10
“And they sang a new song: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals; because You were slaughtered, and You redeemed people for God by Your blood from every tribe and language and people and nation.’” —Revelation 5:9

Can you imagine being a fly on the wall in this worship service? John takes us into the throne room of heaven. Christ, through His humiliating death and victorious resurrection, has gone into heaven after redeeming His people from the bondage of sin. He is welcomed by a new song because of His worthiness to be our king, because of what He did on the cross. What words can more fully declare the greatness of Christ than the lyrics of this song? He literally purchased people from every people group in the world, a price tag that cost Him His own life.

It is Christ’s work on the cross that gives us victory. It is the work of the cross that gives life. He has fixed our sin problem, taking what was destroyed by sin and restoring us through His sacrifice.
Picture yourself attending this worship service. (If you are a follower of Christ, you will be there.) Christ is your Redeemer. He gives you freedom to live life to its fullest.

Pray
Be excited that Christ loved you all the way to the cross. Praise Him for the freedom His sacrifice brings to you.

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Concrete, Concrete and more Concrete!

The cabins are definitely coming along fast.  This morning the concrete truck arrived once again.  The columns have been finished on all the cabins and now it’s time to have more concrete poured into them.  We’re adding as much stability as possible because we know all the crazy antics that go on inside the cabins!  Here you can see the concete being poured into the Chipp/Chick cabin:

And here’s what it looks like on the other two hills:

Next week, the framing of the cabins should begin.  I wish everyone could be here to see it happening in person.  Since that isn’t the case though, keep checking back for updates.  We’re doing our best here at camp to document as much as possible!

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Worthy

Read This Passage: Revelation 5:1-7
Then one of the elders said to me, “Stop crying. Look! The Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has been victorious so that He may open the scroll and its seven seals.” —Revelation 5:5

Today’s passage opens with John watching events unfold in the throne room of heaven. God is seated on His throne, holding a scroll no one seems worthy to open and read.

John’s weeping is evidence of the importance of that scroll. Notice the difference between what is announced (“The Lion from the tribe of Judah”) and what actually appears (“a slaughtered lamb”). The triumphant Lion is the slaughtered Lamb. The supreme King is the crucified Savior. One, and only one, is found worthy. No created being—not an angel, not Billy Graham, not your counselor from camp this summer – no one but Jesus is worthy.

Christ alone, because of His humility on the cross, can unveil the will of God for the world found in the scroll. Envision Jesus as both the Lion and the Lamb. If we want to see the Lion as our Savior rather than our judge, we must first find Him in the Lamb, the very substitute for our sin on the cross. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:18, we can’t know Christ’s saving power without knowing the humility of His crucifixion.

Pray
Read Philippians 2:5-11 as a prayer. Praise Jesus for being both the Lion and the Lamb.

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A Snowy Day at Camp

We had our first snowfall this morning and it’s only October 28th!  We are hoping this is a sign that we’ll have a cold, snowy winter.  Well, it started snowing (in Swannanoa) around 10PM last night.  Then I awoke to a blanket of snow covering the ground.  As I was driving to work, I had my ipod on shuffle and a Christmas song came on.  There’s something you should know about me.  I love the Christmas season, cold weather and especially listening to Christmas music.  When the song came on, I was like a little kid again because the snow and music reminded me that Christmas is almost here!  Anyways, the snow continued till about 11AM.  Abby and I went over to Crestridge to take pictures so you can see what camp looks like with snow.

Abby was getting a little too crazy with the snow!  As you can see, the snow didn’t accumulate to much, but we still enjoyed it!  When we get more snow, we’ll be sure to take good pictures for you.  Check out the Ridgecrest blog to see pictures at boys camp!

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Construction Update #3: Footers and Columns

The ground has been cleared, footer holes dug and now in goes the concrete. Below are pictures of the staff cabin on Chipp/Chick hill with finished footers poured!                      

After seeing how well things were going at this cabin, we walked on over to Cheyenne/Choctaw hill to see if we could witness the concrete actually being poured.  We were in luck, and the construction crew even let Sharon get in on the action!  Here is Sharon’s ready stance:

          Wait for it…here comes the concrete:  

Good job Sharon!  Now she can add construction work to the list of her many talents!

Columns have also begun to pop up.  Only one cabin has them so far, but by the end of the week, weather permitting, all of the block columns should be in place.  Here is a picture of the staff cabin with a few columns.

          Abby got a closer look for inspection.

I hope you’re as excited as we are to see the progress.  Keep checking back to see all the action!

Posted in News | Tagged Camp Crestridge, Crestridge construction, Footers, New Cabins, Ridgecrest Summer Camps | Leave a reply