Camp devotionals

I loved the two morning devotionals, in both of which we received instruction on the Camp Theme from wonderful family presenters.

Friday devotional: “What is the Gospel of Jesus Christ?”
The word “Gospel” is an old English term whose meaning was originally “God story.” It was translated from a term that in the Greek means “Good news” or “Glad tidings.” The word Gospel is very near to the meaning of the Book of Mormon phrases “the plan of redemption”, “the plan of salvation”, or “the great plan of happiness.” Devotional talks followed the outline for the third missionary lesson, from the manual “Preach My Gospel.”


1. The atonement of Christ. Valerie taught that atonement was like a friend paying off our debt, providing mercy and at the same time meeting the demands of justice. In this case, of course, the debt come from our sins. The remaining talks described the steps we must follow to make the atonement applicable in our lives.
2. Faith. Paul
3. Repentance. Britain
4. Baptism. Andrew
5. The Gift of the Holy Ghost. Bruce
6. Enduring to the end. Daniel



















Saturday devotional: What does it mean to be grounded in the Gospel? (Ephesians 3:17; Colossians 1:23; 2:7, D&C 109:24)
The origin of the Lewis Family theme was from the writings of Elder Neal Maxwell. For simplicity’s sake the word grounded was used, but originally the statement included all of the following words. Speakers presented on the meaning of these metaphors pertaining to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
1. Grounded. Matthew spoke from the vantage of an electrician. He explained that grounding is creating a low-resistance pathway to the earth to protect against electrical faults. Proper grounding is also a protection from the effects of lightning strikes. Buildings catch fire and persons may be seriously injured or killed if they accidently become the conduits for electricity. In the same way that we protect buildings and people from electrical contact and shock, we needed to be spiritually grounded, so that the trials of life cannot hurt or destroy our faith.
2. Rooted. Angela, as a gardener, used the example of a Petunia plant which to maximize its blooms must first become well-rooted. Sometimes a gardener has to make the hard choice to remove early growth in a petunia’s top or even pick off the first buds in order to force the plant to spread and to grow a stronger root, so that there will be more and prettier blooms later in the season. The lesson for us in the Petunia is that we also must make sure our spiritual root system develops before the trials of life come and so we can eventually enjoy the full fruits of our faith.
3. Settled. Quin, using the understanding of a civil engineer, demonstrated the need for settled foundations for roads, bridges, buildings, etc., so that they will be able to stand and to guard against their cracking or falling. In the same way, we need a firm foundation for our faith so that we may not fall as the challenges and storms of life come upon us..
4. Established. Alison, from a landscaping point of view, compared the needs of bare-root plants and of established plants in the process of transplanting. She showed us examples of a bare root plant that has to be tended carefully every day so that it will not die, and also a plant with a root system already well-established in soil so as to be a able to easily acquire the water and nutrients it needs to sustain itself. Established plants can withstand lots of rough treatment and still thrive. Being established in our faith and testimony is an important protection for us as we face the trails of life.

When we are grounded in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we have responded to the "Good News"of the Restoration, we are firmly committed and faithful to the principles taught by the scriptures, the prophets, and current Church leaders, we have partaken of the basic ordinances of salvation, and we have received assurances of the Spirit that we are on the path to eternal life.