This morning, our elementary students filed into the gym dressed in red, white, pink and purple to celebrate Valentine’s Day! Our chapel leaders led the pledges, The Lord’s Prayer, O Canada and the Land Acknowledgement before launching into our first worship song – “My Lighthouse”. It was an energetic song, familiar to most of our students.
Next, the Chapel Leaders focused our attention on practical ways to apply this week’s theme – perseverance. This was done by reviewing what a leader with perseverance does and by walking through four different classroom scenarios. Students were given a choice between two possible answers for each of the scenarios. They had to choose the one that reflected a CRISP attitude. After the exercise, the Chapel Leaders led the reading of Romans 5:3-4.
We were honoured to have our Grade 2A class present their Bible Memory Verse, taken from Romans 5:3-5. After a brief introduction from several members of the class, the 2A students launched into reciting the verse and doing actions to go with it!
After the presentation, the Chapel Leaders led the singing of “Not be Shaken” before they welcomed Pastor Ian to give the message.
This week, Pastor Ian brought his eldest son, whose Willow Springs Camp name is “Sir Roddington”. Sir Roddington’s favourite activity is scootering. Through a series of questions and the corresponding responses from Sir Roddington, a few videos of Sir Roddington doing some amazing tricks on his scooter, and also through some videos of his failed attempts, Pastor Ian was able to impress upon the audience about what it means to persevere at something.
The students heard how Sir Roddington worked at achieving his most difficult trick, “Inward”, in which the scooter goes over the head of the athlete before he lands. Sir Roddington shared that when he was first learning to do this feat, he tried about 100 times per day for about a month. One of the greatest things that helped him was encouragement and tips from 5-6 older scooter athletes at the park. The final question that Pastor Ian asked his son was about how he uses his scootering to glorify God. Sir Roddington shared that he plays Christian music at the skatepark, helps younger kids with their scootering when he is at the park, and encourages them to keep going with their sport. To conclude, Pastor Ian shared his SPAT (Super Practical Application Time) advice to persevere.
- Ask God for help – including patience, diligence and joy (especially if what needs to be done is not particularly “fun”)
- Ask others for help – having others to encourage, mentor and support you are important
- Forrest Frank “Up and Down” – remember that God is with you and you can go to Him
Pastor Ian ended his message time with prayer, thanking God for Jesus – our greatest example, reminding us that we can ask God and others for help, and thanking Him for all that He has set before us to do.
To conclude the service, the Chapel Leaders and the audience recited our blessing and aspiration passage.
