As I type this from my hotel room, I can hear the faint, yet distinguishable sounds of a thumping subwoofer. This can only mean that the annual Fun in the Son LUAU is under way. It’s kind of an “opening party” for the kids. I use the time to unwind and, as you can tell, blog.

Today started off with a 7:30am wakeup. James, Katie and I had our morning counselor’s breakfast (or, actually, we just had coffee), and the kids decided to forgoe breakfast in lieu of sleep. Go figure.

We headed out for our morning program about 9:30am, and what a morning it was. After some warmup dance moves (yep) and brief worship time, we got introduced to Christian illusionist Brock Gill. After some pretty impressive “cards from mid-air” tricks, he then did an amazing act involving three volunteers, their chosen cards, a bow and arrow, and a blindfold. I won’t spoil it, in case you get to see it sometime.

After his illusion set, Brock spoke for a bit. His topic was sin. With a very familiar verse from Romans, we explored what it meant to really “fall short” of God’s glory, and how all our lives we’re “missing the target” (think archery here). Brock finished his talk by introducing the idea of repentance.

After the morning session, we came back for lunch, then had free time for the entire afternoon. Since none of our team’s sports were scheduled for today, we simply relaxed and enjoyed the opportunity to just be here. It was very refreshing, and I for one look forward to more of it this week.

After dinner, we moved back to the Convention Center for small groups. I was/am a leader of a group of about 22 students from as far South as Florida and as far North as Maryland. I had never met any of these kids, and vice versa. That being said, it was strangely easy to interact with them. I think it was because we were all blank slates. No one knew what baggage the others were carrying. No one knew the things others were going through. And they all realized that the chances were slim that we’d ever be together again after this week.

In our first small group, we reflected back on Brock’s talk for the morning. We talked about what it means to be crucified with Christ, and dead to sin. We looked at how imperfect the world is, and the fact that we can’t fix it by ourselves.

Once small groups were done, we headed into the auditorium for our big group meeting. Treb Praytor was back, and we got to learn the origin of his first name – it’s his dad’s name spelled backwards (Bert). Treb talked tonight about the often-preached-on story of Peter getting out of the boat, his eyes locked on Jesus. We focused not on Peter sinking, but on him actually getting out of the boat while the others sat and watched. Treb ended tonight’s talk with a challenge for all of us to realize that we are broken, that we’ve sunken, that we’ve taken our eyes off of Jesus and we need to cry out with all our might, “Rescue me!”

After that powerful talk, we went to family time, where discussion took flight! I really only did a little talking, and the youth made the conversation go. We’re starting to get a glimpse into why we’re here this week, and it’s so exciting to see what culminates on Thursday night.

So that was our day. The weather was, and still is, beautiful. There’s a cool breeze coming off the ocean, and God is working in the lives of our students.

Please continue to pray for us. We love all of you!