Category: Worship

SAIL Spring Campout - Pedernales Falls State Park

2/25/2014

The SAIL Pathfinders held their Spring campout this past weekend at Pedernales Falls State Park. After so many unusual freezing nights here in Central Texas, the weather turned out perfect for the weekend, giving us a chance to truly appreciate the joys of nature, to fellowship together, and to encounter God in the great outdoors.

The two units camped separately, the Senior Unit backpacking the 2.5 miles to the primitive camping area and the Junior unit setting up at base camp. Over the weekend, the activities varied. Both units spent time hiking, watching birds and visiting the falls. The Junior Unit also took a night hike, and practiced setting up and following trail markers, while the Senior Unit practiced camp cooking and basic land navigation with a compass.

On Sabbath morning, the Senior Unit hiked down out of their hilltop campsite to meet the Junior Unit on the gravel bar in the river for our morning service. The focus, as it has been all year, was water - looking at Peter and his actions in the story of the miraculous catch (John 21) and Jesus washing the disciples’ feet (John 13). Through this we discussed forgiveness, cleansing and the spirit of servitude. As part of this lesson, we washed one another’s feet right there in the river. It is not a glamorous thing to do, particularly with feet dirty from hiking, but it is a very concrete reminder of our need to be servant leaders, to fulfill the Pathfinder Pledge by being servants of God and friends to man.

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Overnight in Corpus Christi with the Titans of Christ

1/20/2014

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The SAIL Pathfinders just returned from a weekend visit to Corpus Christi, where we spent a wonderful few days with the Titans of Christ Pathfinder Club. After arriving in Corpus Christi Sabbath afternoon, we had our lunch and then held a worship service on the beach, led by the club chaplain. Drawing inspiration from the sand and sea, the birds and the breeze, the SAILs broke into small groups to build sculptures in the sand representing various aspects of God’s love and the spiritual waters. As we were finishing our worship service, the Titans joined us on the beach for an afternoon of fellowship, enjoyment of God’s creation, and the discovery of several different sea creatures. in the evening we joined the Titans for a vespers service and some camp cooking, complete with our signature pizza-tacos and s’mores (cooked over the gas stoves). The evening was spent in games and fellowship with our excellent hosts, the Titans. in the morning, it was up bright and early (well, it was still dark out, so should we call it dark and early?) for breakfast, packing up gear, a morning vespers, and off to the Texas State Aquarium (http://www.texasstateaquarium.org/), where we pet sharks, learned about dolphins, and saw a display of various birds. The trip also helped several of the Pathfinders complete work on their Marine Mammals honor, and begin work on the new Sharks honor. We were also treated to a show by wild dolphins swimming by in the waters outside the aquarium. Overall, it was a wonderful weekend, with great weather, new friends, and a chance to observe some of the wonders of God’s creation.

Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) [Captive]

Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)

Sand Tiger Shark (Carcharias taurus) [Captive]

Military Macaw (Ara militaris) [Captive]

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Weekend Overnight, Camp Sanitation, and First Aid

10/10/2013

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The SAIL Pathfinders held our weekend overnight out at the ranch, and once again it rained. It always rains when we camp at the ranch, though this time we only had half an hour of rain, the storm skirting south of us, with only a small spur skimming over out site. Overall the weather was beautiful, a perfect environment for fellowship together in God’s natural world.

We had quite a full agenda this weekend, learning about camp sanitation (and digging cat holes and slit trenches), evaporative camp refrigerators (we built a test model, and the temperature inside was nearly 20 degrees cooler than the temperature of the control), lashing, fire building, practicing various camp cooking methods (reflector ovens, dutch ovens and the traditional way - on sticks), and testing out our search and rescue and first aid techniques.

We are now gearing up for our annual October food drive to help stock the Austin South Food Pantry, and preparing for the November Central Texas Camporee.