We are on the downward slope of this mountain. All of us have returned home to wash the Yukon silt from our clothes, take a hot shower unaccompanied by blood-sucking pests and try to re-assume the patterns of life before camp. But that is harder than it sounds. In some ways this could be what Paul felt like upon leaving some of the churches he’d visited and mentored, undoubtedly saved yet still at the infancy stage. It has been sweet to watch the ways in which these few campers have grown in their faith; even over the course of a week…we are gladly aware of the spiritual gifts they are uniquely equipped with. On the same note, we are also aware of their peculiar temptations, much as we are of our own, and the fact that Satan already has his eye on those weak chinks. Helping them don their life vests and shoulder their bags, it’s hard to put away our forebodings. We may not be saying it out loud, but we’re all longing for God to activate some sort of Star-Wars type force field around them, strong enough to withstand all the assaults of the adversary. Will they cave in to peer pressure? Will their families abuse them into silence? Will the fleeting high become more alluring than eternal joy? But that is faithless. Have we forgotten that the Holy Spirit works with a supernatural power that is hardly reliant upon our human endeavors? Is the song we’ve been singing over and over “He who began a good work in you…” suddenly nothing more than a camp ditty? Roger and Joey have planted the seeds. We have watered them. And now we must prayerfully commit these souls to the God who alone can cause growth. We hope that you will too. “That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Eph. 3:17-21