The Planet Journey nature hike starts at the sun, located at the office. From there, you walk through a roughly 1/900,000,000 scale journey through the solar system. From Mercury, the smallest planet, to Neptune, the farthest, you discover how God has created Earth with the specific attributes necessary for life. Did you know that Venus spins backward so that the sun rises in the west and sets in the east? Did you know Mars has a “Grand Canyon” that stretches the length of the ENTIRE United States of America? We also learn how our planet was created to have an atmosphere that allows for liquid water. If there was less atmosphere, the boiling point of water would hit room temperature, and there would be no drinkable water. Planet Journey introduces us to the major concepts of how Earth was created as well as how our solar system works.

One of the places that many campers have heard of, but few have visited is The Observatory. The Observatory remains in the mythical outer sphere of camp buildings, that is, until Consider the Heavens comes around. The Observatory takes the front seat during Consider the Heavens, especially in the Great Lights program. As you discover more about the sun and moon, you learn how Christ is the only source of light in our lives and we, like the moon, were created to reflect that light to the rest of the world. Did you know that the corona (crown) of the sun can reach up to 2 million degrees? Or that the moon controls only two-thirds of the ocean’s tides while the sun controls the other third? God’s creation of the brightest of the heavenly spheres is truly amazing.

Consider the Heavens, the self-titled nature program featuring the seven days of creation, takes place in the Nature Center. Being the most informative of the Consider the Heavens nature programs, it can be a lot to digest all at once. From learning about our Milky Way Galaxy’s place in the universe to the different nebulas housing incredibly enormous amounts of gas, we see God’s hand throughout. Even though the program has a very universal (pun intended) focus on creation, we still learn about the heavenly bodies that directly affect the Earth. For example, the Sun emits more energy in one second than a billion human cities could use in an entire year. When we “Consider the Heavens”, we see the immense power of God and how He has created the universe to reflect that.

Water Rockets is an unusual program. Its close focus on the history of space travel makes it unusual in our Consider the Heavens discussion of the universe. From Yuri Gagarin’s space trip to the recent Space X launches and NASA’s Artemis program, we see how humans looked for other places to live in the universe, and how they, as of yet, have not found one that matches Earth’s ability to sustain life. After we have absorbed that information, the main event begins. Two-liter soda bottles, hot glue, cardboard, and water are all it takes to get a soda bottle space ship over 300 feet up in Water Rockets. God created the Earth in the perfect place for us, not only to sustain life but also to look out into the rest of the universe and explore his creation.

Weather Station, our final nature program of the year, goes through topics like weather cycles, the atmosphere, and an in-depth look at climate change. When we think of climate change, it is imperative to recognize the worldviews that drive each theory. Whereas some tend to lean on evolutionary theory, we can find much evidence that supports the Biblical idea that the Earth was created with balance. God created the Earth to sustain life, and our view on climate change should reflect a trust in his power over the weather. In Genesis 8:28, God says, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” We learn how to see God’s design in our planet’s weather. Besides all this, you get to make an awesome weather report video of the day’s weather for the whole camp to see (some videos are sillier than others)!