Live Original (Sadie Robertson) Read Online Free PDF Page B

place all my family loves. We’ve made lots of incredible memories there, and in fact, my parents first met there when they were in the third grade—and Mom’s parents met there years earlier. People keep asking me if I am going to carry on the family tradition and marry someone I meet at camp. Who knows? That will be another story for another time.
    Survivor Day works like this: we never know when it’s going to happen, but when it does, it is intense . For several years, one of my secret wishes has been to participate in the television show Survivor , but so far I haven’t been invited, so Survivor Day at camp is asclose as I can get. Most people moan and groan when the staff surprises us with Survivor Day, but I’m thinking, Bring it on . It’s a very hard day physically and mentally, but when it’s over, we always discover that the whole experience has been designed to teach us a powerful spiritual lesson.
    A couple of years ago, Survivor Day happened on the very first day of camp. Now, that was a shock to everybody. We were all sleeping peacefully in our wooden cabins, having sweet dreams in our bunks, when suddenly someone burst into our room at about four o’clock in the morning, screaming, “You better run! You better run! It’s Survivor Day!” We had to get up very quickly and start running as fast as we could.
    We all met at a central place in the middle of camp and divided into teams of about ten people each, which is what we always do. We had to come up with a team name, design a flag, and wear the team bandanas that were given to us. My team’s bandana that year was orange—and I’m not a big fan of orange. I already had a bad feeling about that day.
    Each team chose a leader, and my team decided to make the most athletic person in our group the leader. There were a couple of football players and big, strong guys on our team, but the guys didn’t want to lead, so they chose me. I am pretty athletic, and I am good at sports and games, but I am not as athletic as a football player, and some of our contests required brute strength. I decided to rise to the challenge of being the leader because the group seemed to want me and because I was also the person who had been going to camp longer than everyone else. So I felt some responsibility to lead the others.
    On Survivor Day, we have to do all kinds of really hard, seriouslygrueling things, and the team leader usually ends up doing the hardest things of all. We can’t eat until we win a snack or a meal in one of the contests. My team was trying so hard that day, but we were not winning, so we were really hungry, and I ended up passing out. At that point, I wanted to quit and just go take a shower and a nap. I found myself thinking, This is only a bunch of games, and my team is losing, so why should I keep wearing myself out?
    Let me just give a little background here. No matter where I go, if Two-Mama is around when I leave the house (and she’s around a lot), she always tells me, “Be a good example and a good leader.” In my mind at that moment, I could hear her saying those words to me, and I knew she was right. I could not just say I was tired and give up. Everybody was exhausted. They needed a leader who would rise up, not one who folded under the pressure. I had to round up all my energy and have a positive attitude so I could help everyone on my team finish well, with their best effort, even if we were not going to win. So I didn’t go take a shower and a nap. I got back in the game and encouraged my teammates to give the rest of the competition everything they could give it.
    After a completely exhausting day, I finally got to go to our campfire at about ten thirty that night. At last, I could relax! At least that’s what I thought. But I was wrong. We had one more challenge—and on top of that, I and my team had not eaten anything all day.
    For the last challenge, each team leader had to carry each teammate—one at a time, from one