Pirate's Cove

Dylan has been having an exciting week!  He is attending a one week camp experience called Pirate's Cove from 9-12 at our church, Lake Forest.  Dylan loves going to church, and as we all know he has a big love of all things pirates.  So how great is it to combine his passion for pirates while doing something that will help build his soul and character! 

Dylan has his friend, William, (my friend Meg's son) attending Pirate's Cove with him.  Dylan has been excited to have William come and the boys are so cute walking in together.  Each kid has received a special Pirate's Cove t- shirt to wear.  Dylan, being the smallest kid in his class, is swallowed by his shirt, but it doesn't seem to phase him.

Each day the kids are learning Bible age appropriate stories and building character.  Yesterday Dylan came home telling me about a game they played about Peter and the angels.  While I didn't quite understand the game as he described, it was obvious that he had spent some time that day learning about the life of Peter from the Bible.  I asked Dylan to tell me what he knew about Peter.  I wasn't expecting him to tell me much, but I was quite surprised by his answers.  He told me that Peter was a fisherman and that he saw angels.  He told me that a mean man put Peter in jail, but he escaped.  And he also told me that Jesus loved Peter.  I was quite taken aback at my little son, the sponge. 

Peter is perhaps one of my favorite people in the Bible.  It's no wonder St Peter's Basillica was my favorite place we visited in Europe.  There's so much I can relate to in Peter with his passion.  Jesus gave this fisherman, Simon, the name Peter.  Peter in Greek is petra which means rock.  Peter is the rock that Jesus built his church upon.  He was a great leader among the 12 disciples and I have learned much from his leadership.  Peter was put in prison by King Herod.  The night before Peter was to go on trial the next day, he was asleep in his cell bound in chains, and an angel gave Peter his clothes and sandals and told him to follow him.  Miraculously Peter followed his angel right out of the prison.  While this is the story that Dylan learned, my favorite story about Peter is how Peter boasted that he would never deny Jesus and yet he did three times.  It's one of my favorite stories because it shows me how fallable we all are and how pride can get the best of us.  I know if I would have been in Peter's shoes, I would have regretfully done the same thing.  While I try to live my life each day as Christ-like as I can, I fail in some way every day and often I fail in the ways I would least expect to just as Peter did. But despite all of this, the love of Christ transcends all understanding and that's great for Peter and me.  So we can put our passion to great use and show God's love to others and live out our part in God's story in the way He would have us to do so.  Yes, there is a lot my little guy can learn about character, leadership, pride and love while he learns about Simon Peter. 

While I knew he'd have a great time at camp, I'm grateful that he is learning some important stories and lessons from the Bible that will help us build strong character and a solid foundation in our little boy.