River of God Kayak Kamp Day 5

Today was our last day of Kayak Kamp. We were missing two of our paddlers but had a great group of 6 youth and 2 adults. Pastor John began our mourning with devotions from Revelation 22: 1-6 about the river of the water of life that John saw flowing from the throne of God. This is a picture of God's new creation where there is no curse or sin. Jesus gave us a picture of this when he stood in the temple and invited all who were thirsty to come ot him and drink. He said if we do "streams of living water will flow from us." By this he meant the Holy Spirit. Not only can we paddle on rivers but rivers of the water of life can actually flow from us by God's Spirit. WOW

Today was our big paddle on the Delaware River. We traveled to the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and traveled north from the gap about 8 miles. Tayshawn's father, Mr. Charles Wilson came with us today to drive the van back down to where we would end up.This s a beautiful area between NJ & PA. Here is a MAP of the area so you can see where we were. We went from the Poxono Access at mile 26 to the Kittatianny Access at Mile 34. The current helped carry us along and we averaged 3.9 mph. We had some run rapids at a few places and especially near the end before we paddled under the Rt. 80 Bridge.

We paddled past the Shawnee Inn, a beautiful golf resort in the Pocono's . We stopped for lunch along the shore and Pastor Paul read some Scriptures Matt. 22:37-40, Luke 10:25-37 and 1 Cor. 6:19-20 about caring for each other and ourselves. There wasn't much trash to pick up on the Delaware where we were but we did what we could. We are thrilled to see how the kids are "seeing" how people destroy God's beautiful creation.

We ended the day swimming at the beach at the Gap and after our drive home gave awards for the youth who set up a recycling center in their homes. We also presented certificates of completion and pictures to all who participated. We are thankful for how God has met us in this week. Below are a few videos of us in action.

River of God Kayak Kamp Day 4

Today rain was predicted by 10:30 am so we decided not to kayak but to learn some more about the Passaic River, caring for God's creation and kayaking. We began the day walking to the bottom of the Passaic Falls to see what the river looked like right below the falls. This area is right below Hinchliffe Stadium and often known as the Valley of the Rocks. We were amazed at how fast the current was here and noone was sure that they would want to paddle it expect Pastor Paul. We also took a garbage bag to pick up alot of trash along the way as we cleaned up God's creation.

We walked through Overlook Park and enjoyed hanging out by the Great Falls for awhile. We're excited that this area is now designated as a National Park and look forward to it being a place where more visitors come. As we picked up trash we were struck by the fact that there were no trashcans in the park. We think we'll write a letter to the mayor. We then drove to the Meadowlands Enviormental Center and Richard DeKorte Park. We were able to take a 1/2 mile walk on the boardwalk and dockwalk through the marsh before it started raining and thunderstorming. We especially liked seeing the Snowy Egrets and Red Wing blackbirds. We also saw ratcoon tracks and a crab swimming in the water. Soon it started to rain and we explored the Science Center indoors. We returned back to church for lunch and a review of what we have been learning about kayaking. We spent the last hour playing in the Crossroads Gym. Looks like a good day for the Delaware River tomorrow before the hurricance comes up the coast on Saturday.

River of God Kayak Kamp Dav 3

Today we began with devotions from Psalm 46: 4-5 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day. Pastor John talked about how God created rivers to provide us with water (we drink the Passaic River, water for the earth, transportation and in Paterson the river provided the energy to power the factories. Paterson is where it is because of the Great Falls. The Passaic River brought joy and work to the city of Paterson. Today it can still bring beauty and re-creation. After devotions we visited DeJong Iron Works to meet the Mr. Jerry DeJong and their crew who custom built our kayak trailer for us. We thanked them again for a great trailer that can carry at least 11 kayaks.

We arrived at the Passaic River launch it Hawthorne. Thanks to Mr. Tom Henion who dropped his car and rode with us to return the Van to the Elmwood Park launch. We practiced forward and reverse strokes and noticed how the current was moving in the river. This would be different than a lake because it would help move us downstream. Pastor John quizzed us with a few math problems. If the current is flowing 1 mph and your paddling 2 mph how fast will you go. Actually once we got going we averaged abou 4 mph. Our plan was to paddle/float from Hawthorne to Elmwood Park. The current helped alot

Here we are approaching the Fair Lawn Ave. Bridge. We had just passed over the Passaic River Fish Wier that was constructed out of rocks by the Indians about 200 years ago. When the water was low the fish would get stuck there and they would spear them. Passaic is actually an Indian name. See if you can find out what it means.

While we paddle we notice trash and bottles in the river and picked up what we could.
Here we are approcahing the Broadway/ Rt. 4 Bridge.

Pastor Paul spoke to us lunchtime about caring for God's creation and especially for plants and soil. He read from Gen. 1:26 “over all the earth...” and Gen. 1:29 and Lev. 25:1-7. He taught us the the ground gives us plants and trees that give us food to eat and oxygen to breath. After we got back we went to chean out some of the storm drains on 11th & 10th Ave. The trash and bottles that go in the stormdrains in our neighborhood end up floating down the Passaic River. God wants us to take care of his world. A reminder to all to set up your recycling corner at home for paper and cans/glass/plastic. We ended the day with ice cream sunays at McDonalds.
Here are a few short videos to see us in acion.

River of God Kayak Kamp Day 2

Today we began our day with Pastor John telling us the Tale of Two Rivers. This Bible story comes from Genesis 1 & 2 where God gave Adam & Eve a perfect place to live in the Garden of Eden between two rivers. But Satan tempted them and they disobeyed God and ushered sin into the world. Their sin caused the animals to eat each other, people to fight with each other and sickness and disease to come into the world. We continue to sin because of what they did and we choose to do. God sent them out of the garden but came to save us from sin in Jesus. Jesus comes to make new now what is broken by sin. We experience this in part now and will experience it completely in heaven and when he returns to make all things new.

We paddled today in Lake Wawayanda which is in Wawayanda State Park.
This is a beautiful park where you can paddle, swim, hike or camp. It only costs $5.00 per car during the week and $10.00 on weekends. Who said there weren't still good deals. Everyone did excellent paddling today and grew so much from yesterday. We paddled across the lake.

There were lots of lilly pads in the lake and we even paddled on a lake of green. The yellow flowers you see here would turn white when they were fully bloomed. Watch the video below to see one in Al'lena's hand

We pulled up along shore and tied up the kayaks while we enjoyed our lunch. After lunch Pastor Paul read from Genesis 1: 26-30 and Psalm 8: 6-8 and taught us that people are called by God to care for the earth. He also challenged each one of us to set up a recycling corner at home for paper and cans, bottles and plastic. He gave everyone a Paterson Recycling Schedule and promised a prize for all who do this by Friday. After lunch everyone hiked around a bit and picked up any trash that others left. Imagine if every person in Paterson didn't throw any trash on the ground and everyone picked up one piece a day. How much prettier our city would be.

Here are two videos of our paddlers in action. We ended the day with everyone practicing flipping and a short swim on the beach. See you all tomorrow.




Watch and meet our Kayak Kampers

River of God Kayak Kamp

Day 1: Today was the first day of the River of God Kayak Kamp. Our camp attenders are, from left to right: Joey, Kah'sier, Dominick, Tayshawn, Pastor Paul, Al'lena, Breonna, Shyear and Dyron. The purpose of our camp is to help young people in Paterson experience and get to know God through His creation, develop an appreciation for creation and learn how to care for it, learn life skills and values through paddling, teamwork by working together and have a great time paddling local rivers, lakes & reservoirs. We begin each day with a Bible Lesson. Today was from Genesis 1 "In the beginningGod created the Heavens and the Earth." Romans 1: 20 also tells us ...."since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." God speaks to us in two books: The Bible and creation. This week we are studying both.

Today our kayaking lessons included reviewing the ground rules, showing a paddling video, teaching the kids the anatomy of a Kayak and how to adjust the foot pegs and seat. We also taught them how to put on and adjust their and their partners life vest and practicing floating in it in the Monksville Reservior. Everyone did fine and felt comfortable in the water. After lunch on the dock Pastor Paul lead a short Bible study about how Creation belongs to God.
He read from Psalm 24:1-2, Psalm 89:11, Col. 1:16 and Deut. 10:14. He challenged us to care for God's creation by picking up trash and litter that we see wherever we paddle on the water or where we launch.

Our first attempt at paddling was a little like "herding cats". Once everyone got the hang of it we spent about and hour paddling around the North beach area. We saw many birds, a great blue heron, a turtle and lots of dead trees that are still staning in the water from when the reservior was created. Everyone did well getting the feel of paddling.

Three of the boys with us had been paddling this sping and fall but for 5 of the group its the first time that they paddled. They did well and we are proud of them. We picked up loose litter around the parking area before we left as our way to practice care for God's creation. We arrived safely back at church a little after 3 pm. Tomorrow we will be going to Lake Wawayanda.

New York Harbor

Today I paddled with Peter Armstrong and Paul DeWeerd from Liberty State Park to the beaches of Staten Island just beyond the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge at the entrance to the New York Harbor. Peter was paddling my Pungo, Paul in a Perception Sport that is part of our River of God Kayak School and I was in the Redfish Spring Run. Peter is a church planter of a new plant in lower Manhattan called Dwell. They hope to officially launch publically on 911 this year. Paul is an intern from Calvin Theological Seminary working with us for 6 weeks at Madison Ave.

I was hoping we could ride the tide to the bridge, have lunch and ride it back but the tide in the harbor is very different from in the Hudson River further up We found many conflicting tidal areas that created alot of chop and waves. We paddled to the "Tear of Grief" at the Bayonne dock that was a gift from the Russian Government to the US in memory of 911. It is a powerful sculpture and seems in a bit of an out of the way place.

From there we had to cross the shipping channel into the Newark Harbor and managed to dodge a Freighter, Tanker and several huge barges being pushed by tugboats. I don't think they are to into stopping for slow kayaks. :)We paddled toward the Staten Island Ferry and waited right behind some idle ones for the 12:00 one to pull out. You feel pretty small next to such a big boat. We stopped for lunch at the Alice Austen House & Park which has a little beach and nice shadytrees for lunch. That was about 6 miles from Liberty. We paddled anoher mile to the Verizano Narrows Bridge while a few ships were also heading out to sea.

Around the bend are the beginning of a number of Staten Island beaches. We stopped for a refreshing swim and headed back. We were 7.5 miles out at the beach and faced stong head winds all the way home. It seemed that we had the tide helping us a bit but it was hard to tell.

All in all we had a wonderful paddle together enjoying the richness of God's creation, the amazing beauty of the NY skyline and the good companionship of each other.