Elk. Nuff said.

I have no idea if this pic will come through or not. It's a 360 degree panorama of a meadow about 300 yards up from the camp. Beautiful place.

Buddy Mills took Sherri and I up the mountain today in his honkin big truck. We traveled roads that looked as if they haven't been driven on since last year at least. We saw some beautiful sights.

At one point, we came around a corner and ran up on a herd of at least 60 elk. There were no bulls in the packs, but I'm sure they were hanging back and watching.

The herd ran up the side of the mountain and we parked and watched. This massive herd was about 1/3 younglings (what do you call a baby elk?). As we sat and watched, the air was filled with the sound of all these elk calling out for their babies in a massive group effort to connect. It was slightly reminiscent of a dock full of gulls in Corpus Christi, magnified greatly and an octave lower. It was truly an awe inspiring moment.

Two days left, and then back to the real world.

Holy is He

This has been a good week for me, even though I have been weakened by some sort of bug that has kept me chained to the cabin. I am currently at Pine Springs Youth Camp which sits at about 9000 feet in the Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico. I have been serving as the worship leader and food server (when it was safe for me to do so).

Our evening worship services have been punctuated by heavy thunderstorms. At points it was so loud it was hard to hear the evening speaker even through the sound system. It has led to a different outlook on corporate worship for all of us. It's hard to sing Awesome God while the thunder rolls all around you and not be moved.

The second night of worship, Monday evening, I wanted to focus on the holiness of God. We talked about the four living creatures of the book of Revelation and how they continually chanted "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." We spent several minutes chanting this phrase as a group, and we repeated it after every song. I went to bed that night with the sound of 150+ youth chanting the holiness of God ringing through my head.

As the week has continued, I have been amazed at how often this theme has repeated itself in the songs we have sung. It's like God is using the weather and the recurring theme of His holiness to drive home the point to these kids. At least he has to me.

As I sit here preparing for tonight's service, the sun is shining across the pines from one side of camp, while the other end is covered in heavy clouds with flashes of lightning and roils of thunder. And tonight we are singing Keri Jobe's Revelation Song.

I get it, God.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.

Pine Springs Youth Camp

Last night was the first evening of camp here at Pine Springs. You can see the panorama shot of the worship service. Josh made the pic twice.

It was a beautiful evening. We had a strong thunderstorm right in the middle of worship. We were singing How Great is Our God while thunder and lighting were all around us. What a great way to sing that song. Next time we sing it at Broadway, maybe God will provide and light things up for us.