SX19 Gwinnett: Day Three

So here we are on the final day of Summer Xtreme, at least for Madison this year.  In fact, this is her last one as a student, so there's a bit of bittersweet here.  The girls above are Gainesville kids, all going to the Gwinnett Summer Xtreme this year, all good friends of Madison.  And look who they are holding on to?  Daddy brought along some Toy Story friends, because today, everyone was off to the movie theater to watch "Toy Story 4."

Daddy is over there to the left.  And there's Mary Shannon, Isaac, and Parker from our Spartanburg campus.  We go down the street to Sugarloaf Mills, where there is this pretty large AMC theater.

Daddy got there early with the others, and we prepped all the seats with popcorn and drinks, and then sat down to watch the movie together in two different auditoriums.  The one auditorium was really large, but it still couldn't fit all our kids.  That's how many we had, plus a few others...

As for the movie itself, it was a definite step down from the previous three, but still a good movie.  Daddy got to sit with Madison and her friends, along with a ginormous bucket of popcorn and a drink  container that was considerably bigger than the size of a human-sized bladder.  By the way, the very first movie that Madison saw in theaters... was "Toy Story 3," way back on July 1, 2010.  Here's Madison and her friends, ready to watch "Toy Story 4."

Still, the bathroom trips for everyone were limited, because all eyes were on the screen.  No one wanted to miss a thing.  We planned bathroom trips extensively before the movie so we would avoid those constant interruptions.  Between that, and everyone wanting to watch the movie, things went smoothly.

Getting back for the final day was great.  It was more relaxed, and the worship extended quite a bit, which is always great to hear.  Daddy and the others did our "KidPak Singers" skit, which was pretty huge.  I'll never forget all the kids in the audience chanting, "Here's your coffee, here's your tea and here's your paper bag - bleh!"

The message was just as good as it was last week - all the messages and speakers were the same this week as they were last, so there was a bit of a repeat for Madison, and anyone else who was joining us again.

The change of plans was for the Tribe Wars, of course, which just goes to show you how amazing last week's Raptor victory was.  None of this is staged or rigged - the evidence of this is that Madison's grade level had not won in any year leading up to this last week.  Today, the Sabretooth Tribe won, and that Shark tribe?  They didn't even place this week, this after both Raptors and Sharks tied for first place on Wednesday.  The Raptors placed in third, and that wasn't a huge letdown for Madison, who was still feeling high from last week's triumph.

The big thing today was the service itself, the messages, the friendships, the positive impact on all these kids' lives.  These camps were a huge success, from start to finish.  This was one of the smoothest years we've ever had.  And although we are exhausted from late hours and lots of work, the stress level was remarkably lower this year, because things just fell into place in such a wonderful way.  This is not to say there weren't hiccups:  there was a bus that wasn't working this morning, and there was a rainstorm yesterday, and there were a few teenage volunteers the first week that needed correction.  But beyond that, things went so very well that we can all hang our heads high.  Of course, that's not entirely on us:  God Himself was making this camp a huge success.  There were so many kids in the altars, and there were some that were making first-time decisions to live for Jesus.  That's what it's all about, and that's exactly what happened.  It's what we as parents care most about, more than excursions or Tribe Wars.  It's what the week is all about, and that is one of the biggest reasons why we can say that these past two weeks have been Summer Xtreme's best ever.