Dear Church,

This past week the youth ministry attended Blue Theology, which was held at Duke University Marine Labs in Beaufort, NC. We spent a week on the coast and did activities such as ocean cleanup, writing to our political leaders concerning problems facing the ocean, learning about ocean life, daily Bible study, and worship.

For me, Blue Theology was a time of coming closer with God through the ocean, and becoming more educated of the problems the ocean faces and what we can do to help. An impactful experience I had while in Beaufort was when we went to do ocean cleanup. We were loaded into boats with gloves and buckets, and ferried from the Duke labs to a nearby island, where we trudged around in a marsh for a few hours looking for plastic and any other out of place human product. The heat, smell, and deep mud made the work unpleasant, but I got to experience something I had never done before, and with it came a sense of accomplishment, that I had done something to help. Activities like this allowed me to have a closer view of the wild and its intricate nature, which made me feel a deeper connection with God and his creation.

The group also spent some time learning about issues the ocean is facing, which granted us a deeper understanding of how the ocean might be affected by global warming and other human consequences, and what we can do to help. Blue Theology was very impactful and I learned far more than I expected, and had experiences that brought me closer to God.

Owen Pearson

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