Yesterday Clay Crosse and I served as judges for the big sand sculpture contest at Cannon Beach. It was tough picking a winner because we had so many excellent entries. We ended up giving prizes to all the teams after dinner last night. Here are a few pictures of the event.

Clay talking over the rules with summer staffers Bethany and Hannah.

A nifty-looking castle with a bridge over the moat.

Tony the Italian turtle.

This young man is putting sprinkles on a chocolate donut in honor of my favorite breakfast food.

The honorable judges–Clay and yours truly.

The grand prize winner: an F-16 Fighter Jet.

This team took a break for a picture.

Jericho after Joshua’s victory. Note the scarlet cord on Rahab’s house.

On a perfectly gorgeous afternoon in Cannon Beach, with bright sun and no clouds, Tim Greenidge and I judged the sand sculpture contest. We had over 20 entries. The winners will be announced at supper tonight. I want to give special attention to two sculptures based on sermons I’ve preached this week:

This boy is driving under the influence of the Spirit, based on my sermon this morning.

Last night I preached on Jesus washing the disciples’ feet so one enterprising crew built this replica of a foot in a basin.

In this close-up you see corns and bumps and even fungus between the toes, all facts I pointed out in my sermon last night.

The girl in orange is an angel who became a mermaid.

One team created a model of Cannon Beach Conference Center, complete with a Keep Believing wristband hung around the cross.

This ended up being an exquisite series of sea turtles complete with a tide pool, marshy reeds, and two baby turtles.

What started out as a lion ended up as a huge basset hound, sort of.

Here we see Shadrach and Meshach by the fiery furnace.

This sleepy child represents one of the guards who was consumed by the fire.

Tim Greenidge helped me choose the final winner, to be announced at supper tonight.