We Have Come Here to MOVE - Day 1 (Lucy Moore)

We arrived in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina around 5:30 (in the afternoon, of course) and checked into our hotel around 5:40. After many bus parties by Kenneth Anthony Marshall (Ken), our team was worn out by the time we arrived at the hotel. After we all settled in with our roommates (I was lucky to have Chelsea Williams, Rachel Brown, and Sherri Dill!), we went to dinner at Fudruckers. I got the chicken. Mmm… After a quick but yummy dinner, we headed off to our first session of the week. It was really exciting for me, being a senior now (woop woop!), to see the freshmen and newcomers going to their first session. They grow up so fast, don’t they? We started off with some great music from the worship band, Aaron Pelsue (the back-up singer is AMAZING!). We sang songs like “I am Free” and “Dance in the River.” Next we had a funny video about the guidelines. You know, no alcohol, drugs, boys in girls’ rooms, girls in boys’ rooms, the usual. They then got serious about it and let us know how important it is to follow the rules. You know me- (or maybe you don’t) I’m such a rule breaker. After prayer, we heard more from the Aaron Pelsue Band with songs like “Mighty to Save” (one of my favorites) and “All we need is You.”

We then saw a very eye-opening video on what Christians think about Christianity. Boy, did they get it wrong! A pretty cool speaker came out next to talk about what Christianity (at least from his perspective) is really about. His name was Eric. Eric talked about getting as close to God as you can. So close you touch him. He talked about how we tend to look down on others to make ourselves feel better. He talked about finding out what things make you closer to God. Hold onto those things! Embrace them! After one more set of songs from Aaron Pelsue including “Jesus Paid it All”, “At the Cross” and “Marvelous Light”, (sin has lost it’s power!) we wrapped up the session. Ahh, it was good. I didn’t cry though! That’s impressive for me. Actually maybe I did cry... Anywho, next we had our big group time. I guess that’s what it’s called. We just all got together in a quiet hallway and sang a few songs with Brian Furdon on guitar. We talked about highlights and things we were excited about for the upcoming week here at CIY: Move.

To carry on the tradition of crowning a Party Princess (uh, it’s a CIY thing,) we crowned Ken Marshall as the official PP (haha.) We added a new embarrassing costume by crowning Emily Ross as Jack Sparrow. ArrrGUH! I do have to say, they did a great job (they even called Ken on stage!.. to eat sardines..) Taylor Williams closed our Youth Group time with a prayer, and we all went off to bed. A great first day, or should I say half-day, at CIY!

- Lucy