Unlike the weather for the fishing outing, God provided us with AMAZING weather for this event.  We started out with a picnic lunch followed by a short devotion.  The 10 boys were challenged by the story of the rich young ruler: Does God have first place in your life or is money, sports, video games, music…your “god”? 

Then on to the marina where Lee Butler (from Freeport) brought 4 kayaks for the boys to try out.  Some of the boys had done some kayaking before, others had not; but they all gave it a try and had fun paddling around Lake Le-Aqua-Na here in northern Illinois. Three of the boys brought their own kayaks so the remaining 7 boys had to share the four kayaks.  They did a pretty good job sharing, but it was hard for some of them to be self-less.  So - back to the Bible question: Does God have first place in your life — or do you?  The boys were each able to get 2 opportunities to try their skills at kayaking.

When not paddling, the boys broke into groups and did some hiking and just horsing around in the water.  Dead fish seemed to be a pretty exciting find, along with a snake (Hey! What if it’s a cottonmouth?).

When time came to load up the trailer, the boys all chipped in to help and gave Lee a round of applause for giving up his time and kayaks so we might have some fun.  Another lesson in selflessness. 

I had a chance to meet some of the moms when they dropped off their sons.  The Gospel message was shared with some of them and they were all thrilled at the opportunities CTO is bringing to their sons (& their son’s friends). They all — moms and boys — are excited to know about the next Jo Daviess County CTO adventure — and of course, so are we.  Please pray for the boys (and their moms) that the soil would be ready to receive the seed of truth as we move forward serving God through outdoor experiences!

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