Dude Ranch

If this is supposed to be a journal, I'd better get busy because the jours are coming thick and fast.

Last Thursday evening I left a list of jobs for each boy, with orders to pack their suitcases, while I went out for a special treat. Compassion International, with whom we sponsor a girl in Uganda, asked if I would volunteer at a Rebecca St. James concert at a big church near us.

Rebecca also sponsors a child in Africa and encouraged sponsorship among the moms and daughters at the concert. Maybe 2-3000 were in attendance. At intermission the girls and moms swarmed around our tables full of photos of the little kids. Almost 100 children were connected with sponsors, who will pay Compassion $32 per month to Aee that the children receive food, clothing, education, and Sunday School classes.

Many children worldwide have been born again through this wonderful organization and lives are changed forever. The sweet letters we get are so worth it. Anyone who has the money can support a child this way. Anyone can do this great thing for Jesus. Just check www.compassion.com.

Friday after school we joined the other moms and dads and Rob's ninth grade class in a caravan up to a dude ranch for our end of the year field trip. We had fewer parent chaperones than we could have hoped for, but at the last minute God sent another dad, and the kids were well behaved and mingled nicely.

The boys who are already a tight knit group laughed a lot and the girls who didn't really know each other came back friends (this is saying a LOT for 15 year old girls) The place, www.triplenranchms.com was way in the boonies of Mississippi on 650 acres of rolling, green woods and pastureland with a large pond, horses for riding and canoes and fishing rods and boats there for the grabbing.

Some kids had never been in a canoe or on a horse. One canoe sank and two kids fell off horses, during the "Fear Factor" exercise two swallowed a worm and a bunch slid down a huge slip-n-slide into a conveniently muddy patch of ground at the bottom.

After a fish fry Friday evening we all sacked out in the big old ranch house and in the morning fried bacon and eggs for breakfast in the spacious kitchen. Topping it off was an excellent devotional time where the guys and girls were divided up with dads and moms to discuss some probing questions for young Christians to ponder.

After 24 hours together we felt we knew each other, and I feel certain God enjoyed Himself too.