This past Saturday, I had the privilege of exploring the Delaware Water Gap national recreational area with my good friend David. He and I set out around 7am Saturday morning and were able to hit the trails by nine. We started on the Appalachian trail and branched off onto other ancillary trails that spread out from there. By the end of the day, we had hiked about 15 good miles. I’ll add some pictures and maps of the hiking onto this post when I have the opportunity. I’d love to share more of it with you.

On Sunday, a group of young adults from my Princeton area home church, Hope Presbyterian, went to Ocean Grove beach on the Jersey Shore. We had a blast in and out of the water. Three guys and I played spikeball on the beach for hours. Tons of fun. I’ll add more information about that too as I’m able.

Today, I had the opportunity to be the character Jonah from the Bible at Hope Presbyterian’s Vacation Bible School. I was draped in a dappled grey-green robe and wrapped in seaweed. The lesson I taught centered around Jonah’s prayer from the belly of the fish (chapter 2) and extracted lesson points of God’s omnipresence and omnipotence (yes, the lesson plan had me use those words with the kids). It was a lot of fun, and I pray that the Word impacted the hearts and minds of the kids present.

This afternoon I did a little bit of drone flying at a local meat farm. With the drone we intend to measure NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) which is basically a measure of plant health, and VARI (Visible Atmospheric Resistance Index) which fulfills a similar function. I’ll definitely write more on these things later because they’re pretty central to what I’m doing more generally this summer.

I bought some 🥕 and 🥬 at a local farm while out and about this afternoon. They’re currently strung up in my bedroom because there’s no room for them in our fridge.

After returning to campus, I gave myself a buzz-cut (just the hair, not the beard) and played soccer with some friends for a few hours. Then a Princeton Faith and Action minister hosted interfellowship Bible study, and after that I went to a local hoagie place with a friend for dinner. By the time all of that was said and done, it was 11:00 and I decided to just punch out this blog post before hitting the hay. I’ll circle back and fill in the gaps in the next few days. There are a lot more details, especially about the hiking and beach trips, that I’d love to fill you in on.

👋 Closing

Thanks for reading! May the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you always.