Extraordinary You

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."          Ephesians 2:10

Have you ever thought about the fact that each and every part of you was constructed by the great architect Jesus Christ?  Each part of you, from your fingers to your toes was created for a specific purpose.  You have a smile to brighten someones day.  You have hands to shake the lonely man in the back pew.  You have feet to walk and be a witness.  You have eyes to see the broken hearts and heavy-burdened.  You have ears to listen to the stories of your children.  You have a mind which was configured in just the way God wanted it. This mind can be used for Him. 


Each of your intricate details can be used to the glory of God - a light in the darkness.  Let God lead you.  He made you, so He knows that you are capable of extraordinary things!  

Rugged Spirituality...Rugged Awesome

The first Rugged Spirituality wilderness weekend was an incredible success. After all, firecraft, tent camping, paracords, cooking over an open fire, long hikes....it's pretty much every component of awesome. But don't just take our word for it! Here's some feedback from Jared, a super cool youth worker: "Thanks for the Rugged Spirituality weekend and the effort put into investing in the lives of youth.  Christ was clearly the focus of the weekend, and the survival techniques we learned from you and Ken from Survival Tek were great.  How wonderful to use the illustration of how to survive if lost in the woods and relating it to how we need to realize where we stand before God.  I've had some great conversations with my students since the weekend.  Thanks again!”

Check out this short video, and be watching for 2012 dates coming soon!

Make a video of your own at Animoto.

Daughters of the King...Sweet Reminder!

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Represent Jesus - by Joy Workman

I was looking at an article online of a lioness whose cub had slid off an embankment and was in danger. The lioness gathered other lions to try and get her baby, they were all looking over the bank and could see the little cub flailing and trying to get back to its mommy. It was hopeless for the little thing, but a mother took on danger and braved the descent to rescue her little one. She carried it back to safety in her jaws.

What a touching story....the character of motherhood, a mother's love, a mother's protection, a mother's sacrifice.

We, who are mothers would do the same thing. We would put ourselves in harm's way to defend and protect our little blessings...or would we?

I recently read of a baby with it's umbilical cord still attached, left at a dump site, being bitten and eaten by ants. I read the article about the newly named infant, Caleb Hope, who was found by workers, who is recovering and will, hopefully, be placed in a loving home.

How did we get to this place? How did we become less human than even the wild animals? How do we kill and throw away our children like yesterday's garbage?

My heart is overcome with grief for baby Caleb, for unwanted little babies, for humanity.

Our consciences have been seared by political rhetoric of what is right and what is wrong. Politicians have decided that the tiny, helpless life snuggled safe within it's mother's womb, that's moving and has a heartbeat, isn't really a person. It's a thing, a fetus.

What have we become? We are a people that have lost our humanity. We are a society of self. When we stop caring for the helpless, we cease to be human. It's very evident in today's headlines of what we have become.

The only hope our world has is what we represent...Jesus. We must represent Jesus at work by being trustworthy, by being honest and by working our hardest.

We must represent Jesus on our daily errands by being pleasant, by being thoughtful.

We must represent Jesus at home by being the first to say, "I'm sorry", by showing our children out of God's word how to behave, and by being courteous even to our spouses.

We have to be more Christlike. Sinners don't come to church as they used to, they don't hear about Jesus. They only see Jesus through us. Humanity depends on us. Our neighbors depend on us. Our family depends on us. We must show light to a darkened world. We must show Jesus.

Phillippians 2: 15,16 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.
20,21 For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the thing which are Jesus Christ's.

For more from Joy, check out her blog, The Meaning of Joy, at www.themeaningofjoy.blogspot.com.

Boot Camp 2012

Boot Camp will blow your mind. It's that awesome.

Our summer interns, aka Boot Campers, spend the summer on the campus of Uplands Reach and have the privilege of learning from great instructors, serving in the summer camps and events, participating in music and drama, and traveling with the Summer Team to various churches and rallys. And in between those things, we manage to squeeze in manifold adventures such as camping, biking, horseback riding, and much, much more.

I said all that to say this: Don't. Miss. Out. For more info, call our office (336.667.7177), go to our website (www.uplandsreach.org), or request membership in the Boot Camp 2012 group on facebook (http://www.facebook.com/groups/155604377847000/). Even if you're kinda interested but have questions or concerns, feel free to contact us to talk it out. Who knows...this just might be God's incredible plan for YOUR summer.

Fire Piston...Finally! by Matthew McNeil

It works!

What is this? I'm glad you asked. This is the wonderful, glowing fruit of an arduous trial and error process that resulted in a piece of wilderness equipment that I’ve sought after for a couple of years now—a fire piston! It’s a little tool made up of a piston and a cylinder that fit together to form an air tight seal, and as the name implies, it’s used for fire-starting. On the low end, they cost no less than $40 and can sometimes exceed $200 on the high end. What makes this one so great is the fact that, after watching a video online (and tweaking the design a bit), I made it! It works by compressing a quantity of air into a space too small to contain it when you hammer the piston down into the cylinder. When you do this, the air inside it rapidly heats up. Add a tiny piece of tinder to the mix—a piece of charred cotton fabric, or wood punk (you know, that dry, decayed wood you’ve seen in the woods that almost resembles a sponge)—and voila! You now have a glowing ember that can be deposited into a tinder bundle and blown into flame. You just need to try one out sometime! As a matter of fact, plan on being at the Rugged Spirituality event November 4-5! Then you could give it a try!

For more info, call our office at 336.667.7177 or check out our website (www.uplandsreach.org).

You can also like the official Uplands facebook page (www.facebook.com/UplandsReachConferenceCenter).

These Boots Weren't Made For Walking (Ouch)

I can't help it...I'm a boot fanatic. I love 'em. Always have, always will.

And today is no exception. My sweet husband took me to Watsonnatta in Boone to pick out a new pair for my birthday.

And what a blissful pair I found. Knee high, distressed leather, just the right amount of slouch. Just the right blend of country and chic. At the risk of looking like a pirate, you can even fold the tops down for added oomph. Anyway, they were the boots of my dreams, and I was delighted to wear them out of the store.

So, with my fabulous husband by my side, I walked those boots out the door, down the sidewalk, and into the local sandwich joint. I was feeling super cool.

In fact, I was feeling so cool that I wasn't watching my step. Instead, I was watching my reflection in the glass, making note of how fab those boots looked with my skinny jeans and long sweater.

And that's when those boots took on a mind of their own. They walked right out from underneath me, leaving me sitting on my rear end with several boothloads of people staring. And pointing. And laughing. And blowing soda out their noses.

You'd think I'd be mortified. I wasn't. Sadly, I've done far more humiliating things than that. But I sure was humbled. The first thing that came to mind was Proverbs 16:18: “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” Don't tell me the Bible isn't relevant! I experienced this passage first hand. Consider this lesson learned. (Ouch.)