Confirmation 2012

Last week three other sponsors and I took our confirmands on a week long hiking trip in the mountains of Colorado.  When I signed us up for this trip I had no idea how incredibly hard it would be.  When I was a kid my parents took us camping and for day hikes every summer, but this was my first experience backpacking.  There is no comparison in the two.  Backpacking is much more difficult than simply camping.

But in spite of the difficulty and labor that was exerted by all of us, we manged to have a fantastic time. Take time to look at these pictures and see these kids on the trip.

Here we are with the Great I AM.  This was the day before we headed out for our trip.

First day of backpacking.  "Our" mountain is the one on the right.

Mykaylee taking a short break.

Riley the trailblazer.

We finally made it into the national Forest.

Heading up the mountain.  Unfortunately, we missed our turn.  But it was gorgeous 

Chase resting up for the next leg of the journey.

Coach Josh Damron scouting ahead.  

Shannon enjoying the view.

Anyone who knows me is not surprised by a flower picture.

Alec and Sarah on break.

Alec and Sam enjoying a cool dip after hiking.

Chase and Vickie resting at lunch.

Cathy and Chase are up to something...

Abby and Mykaylee having fun after we got back.

A proud moment...we made it to a great look out.  It was incredible.

On July 8th, we will have our Confirmation service.  These young people will take their vows to the church and they will become full members of the UMC.  I cannot explain how much I learned from these kids and how much they mean to me.  On one of the evenings at camp, we talked about what we learned from Confirmation this year.  I learned to respect, care about, and love all eight of these youngsters.  I am so proud of them for everything they learned and accomplished these last few months.  It is my pleasure to have been their pastor through this process and I am so excited to see where God leads them over the coming years.

Here is "their" passage from 1 Timothy, "Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity."--4:12

A blessing for UMC Confirmation Class 2012
May the good Lord be with you 
Down every road you roam 
And may sunshine and happiness 
Surround you when you're far from home 
And may you grow to be proud 
Dignified and true 
And do unto others 
As you'd have done to you 
Be courageous and be brave 
And in my heart you'll always stay 
Forever young, forever young 
Forever young, forever young 

May good fortune be with you 
May your guiding light be strong 
Build a stairway to heaven 
With a prince or a vagabond 

And may you never love in vain 
And in my heart you'll always remain 
Forever young, forever young 
Forever young, forever young 
Forever young 
Forever young 

And when you finally fly away 
I'll be hoping that I served you well 
For all the wisdom of a lifetime 
No one can ever tell 

But whatever road you choose 
I'm right behind you, win or lose 
Forever young, forever young 
Forever young, forever young 
Forever young, forever young 
For, forever young, forever young




Proudly dedicated to Sam, Mykaylee, Alec, Abby, Riley, Sarah, Chase, and Vickie

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