"Who are you, Lord?" This was the big question of the night as we wrapped up the first day of HumeSD 2014.

Taken from Acts 9:5 and deals directly with the turmoil Saul, soon to become Paul, was confronted with on the road to Damascus. He was on his way to hunt more Christians, to imprison, torture, or worse when Christ appeared and knocked him flat on his back! It is also the question our teens will be asking all week, as it relates to their own views of who God is, and what they'll do with the answer. Please be praying for them as they wrestle with, and potentially make life changing decisions this week.
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Summary of the rest of Day 1

The day started early, and was for the most part uneventful. Getting 102 people to show up at 6:30am for an 8 hour trip is no easy task. But everyone made it!

With just about all of the paperwork completed already, in the weeks leading up to camp, we only had to finish our health screening form and load the buses. We did shoot a quick "Welcome to Horizons" video for the main service, and hopefully, if you were there, it turned out great :)  The buses were off at 7:40am without incident. A HUGE "Thank You!" for getting your kids there on time!

With a couple of stops (Gila Bend for snacks, Yuma for lunch), and NO BUS BREAKDOWNS, everyone arrived at camp just a little after 2:00pm. We offloaded all the luggage, and were near the very front of the line for check-in when it opened at 3:00pm. By 4:00 everyone was in their dorms, and had a chance for a quick rest before dinner at 5:30. Students are signed up for their activities, rooms assigned, and settled in :) At dinner, I had my first two bites of Ice-Cream cones, see my instagram/facebook/twitter photo of my first victim :)

Following dinner it was time for "The Opener", where they set up the week's theme. We'll be walking through the book of Acts, and Paul's mission to tell the world of Jesus whom he encountered on the road to Damascus.

Our speaker (Chris) spoke of an incredibly huge and powerful God, that most of us probably have too small of a view of. He led us through a detailed account of God's power from Exodus 19. The Lord challenged the people to come to the mountain, but not step foot on it for three days, or they would be die instantly. More on that as the week unfolds.

I made a quick trip to the airport to retrieve one student who flew in about 10:15pm, (one more to pick up Tuesday night) and then went to meet w/ all of our guys for a brief time of recap and challenge. This has grown to be one of my favorite parts of camp, and is a unique thing that we do as a church. Our guys speak highly of this nightly gathering, and it's a time of bonding for the whole group.

Something I saved for last....

I simply would not be able to do all of this without the help of a number of people, not the least of which is Colette, our amazing Admin. Her work to help each of you get all of the details taken care of has saved me literally hundreds of hours! Thanks Colette!!!

Until the next post,

His Servant,

TN

God RULZ!

What does "winning" look like to you?

Winning is so much more than the final score on a stat sheet....and last night, before, during, and after a Padres' "loss" against the D-Backs...my son WON, and so did some special Players for the Padres! Here's a letter I wrote to the Padres' front office this morning...

 To Bud Black, Nick Hundley, Jedd Gyorko, Logan Forsythe, Anthony Bass, Yonder Alonso, Mark Kotsay, and Phil Plantier. I wanted to say thank you for giving my son one of the best nights of his life!

 A little background: My son Caleb is 16 and has Cerebral Palsy. We were sitting in the front row, right by the on-deck circle at last night's (Tues, Aug 27) game. While you guys battled hard, and the game was amazing to watch, unfortunately the scoreboard says you lost.

 I want to tell you though, you did no such thing. You won! You won hope and dreams before we ever stepped in the ballpark when you personally responded to a tweet about the upcoming game. You won the unending smiles that were put on my son's face when you signed a ball, and came over and took a picture w/ him before the game. You won the awestruck shock and amazement that you would take even a quick peek and wave at him or smile at him, or even tossing him a foul ball during a major league baseball game while you were on deck and preparing to compete at the highest level of your sport. You won the gratitude of a father who loves his son more than life itself, because you showed my son there is more to life than winning and losing on a scoreboard, and that you valued his life, even for a moment, more than the glamour that comes w/ being a major league baseball player.

 For Caleb the night was topped off when Mark Kotsay came over DURING THE GAME and gave Caleb one of his "gamer" bats. Who does that?! In the midst of an epic late inning rally and with the game on the line, he took the time to think of a young fan w/ a disability. Thank you SO MUCH Mr Kotsay!

 We will ALWAYS be Padre fans, but more importantly, we will always be fans of the men who were such an example of what the human spirit should be all about. YOU WON!

 A grateful dad, Troy Norling (and Caleb)