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.