By Cathy, After a week of cold, rainy days, the sun was shining brightly in a clear blue sky as the South Austin Inner Lights (SAIL) Pathfinders loaded into vehicles and started on the 4 hr drive to the Mineral Wells Fossil Park in Mineral Wells, TX. Each car had been given a list of questions and Bible verses to discuss creation and how fossils fit with it. The interesting conversation helped to fill the time on the long ride there. Finally the last, "are we there yet?" had been asked, and we stopped at the end of a dirt road overlooking a big gully in the middle of nowhere. The SAILs were soon joined by the Joshua Wildcats Pathfinder club, and the fun began. Each Pathfinder was given an Altoid box to collect their fossils, and boxes began to fill with crinoids, brachiopods, and trilobites. The gravel seemed to be made up of these tiny fossils. When every box was filled, everyone piled back into their vehicles and headed to the Joshua SDA church school. Both clubs enjoyed a fun evening of worship, pizza tacos, and games in the gym. One group of Pathfinders worked on their baking honor by making several varieties of fruit breads. The delicious smells made it hard for the guys sleeping outside the kitchen doors to resist the temptation to sample their work. The next morning, Pathfinders packed their sleeping bags and sack lunches, ate their breakfast, and headed out once again. This time it was a short trip to the Ft. Worth zoo to observe endangered animals from around the world. Pathfinders eagerly spread out to see meerkats, giraffes, tigers, and many others. One exhibit, in particular, drew a lot of attention. The MOLA, or Museum of Living Art, housed an amazing number of reptiles and amphibians from all corners of the globe. The zoo held more creatures than there was time to see, and all too soon it was time for the long trip home. The SAILs are looking forward to the day when we can enjoy all the plants and animals we studied this weekend without the hindrances of cages, glass and fossil remains to block the wonders of God's creation. |
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The SAIL Pathfinders were out in force this past Sunday, taking part in the 18th annual Lake Travis Underwater Cleanup, along with more than 1000 other volunteers. The SAIL Pathfinders or their parent club, the Austin Knights, have taken part in the lake cleanup for nearly a decade, only missing last year when the Senior Unit was out helping with the collection, organization and distribution of supplies as part of the relief effort for the Bastrop fires. This was the first time in three years the SAIL club was back out on the boats for the clean-up, and we worked Starnes Island both above and below the shoreline. More than two dozen SAIL Pathfinders and staff worked their way over the island, picking up a years worth of trash and leaving the natural environment much the better for it. Below the water, two other staff members made their way along the bottom of the lake, collecting cans, bottles, cups, sun glasses, and the hood off a riding mower (the rest the mower was stuck too deep in the muck to budge). We concluded the cleanup with a dip in the lake, and a lunch and raffle for all the volunteers. This was another successful service project, and a good opportunity for the members of the club to work together. Thank you to all who participated (and to the parents who had to get up so early to bring their youth to the meeting points). Psalms 24:1 reminds us, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” We are here on a planet created by God, a home made for us by God. It is our privilege to live here, and thus our responsibility to care for the earth around us. One of the commitments of the SAIL Pathfinder Club is a commitment to service; to “be a servant of God and a friend to man.” Service is a part of what it means to be a Pathfinder, and service to God relates to more than traditional outreach and mission work (in which the SAIL Club also participates), but also the respect and care of God’s creation, from the earth around us to our own minds and bodies. “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” (Genesis 1:31) |
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