Camp After-Thoughts

2014 BLBA Camp was amazing this year! It was my first time to experience the whole week of camp and I was able to spend quality time with both the elementary kids and teenagers. My position was the recreation leader for the week; aka, I was the games guy!

Best memories of the week:

Hanging out with the campers. They were amazing! I met many new teens and kids; and was able to see others that I had met last year. Also I got to spend time with 7 teens and 4 kids that came from Graceway!

Getting slimed was a huge highlight of the week. The elementary cabin with the most points for attitude, participation, and bringing water bottles was able to turn me into a human pancake! The Chicks cabin won and I had pancake batter, melted butter, and maple syrup poured on me. The teenagers turned me into human sushi; each of the six cabins counselors picked their best behaved camper from the week. I then had soy sauce, rice, and sardines thrown on me. It was a smelly memory; but definitely a great memory as I looked out and watched the campers having a blast!

Being chased by a bear, well, not really chased...(refer to the camp night intruder two blogs before)
Nothing like walking down a path and running into a black bear on it's back two feet. Especially, when it could have had two cubs with her...

Having my wife being part of camp this year! She came up on Wednesday night; and we were able to walk around the camp and see a beautiful sunset on the lake!

Then a lots of small things: like losing my car key and walking back and forth from the rec field to the mess hall, only to find them at the rec field table...or getting injured playing kickball. Swollen ankle and lots of limping, but Brad did a great job of wrapping my ankle and I was able to push through the week...or crazy game challenges like elephant games, air zooka, and campers shooting blow darts at a cup on my head...

Best games of the week:

By far the teenagers would say Glow in the dark capture the flag! I loved it too! Nothing like watching two teams charge at each other with glow sticks around their wrists only to watch them stop at the center line; and act like a bunch of girls and boys at middle school dance...Both nights we played it; the game was a success!

Another game that the teenagers liked was Awesome Ball. It is a combination of handball, ultimate frisbee, and basketball ideas. As we played, I made more rules and added soccer ideas to the mix. The game looked pretty violent for the most part; we had many collisions and people laying on the ground. Though, amazingly we had no injuries. It was requested to be played again, so I know for sure it was a "new" game hit with the teenagers.

The elementary kids played a variety of games. Their favorites were the human blob and sharks and minnows. Changing it up everyday and having new games; the elementary kids enjoyed rec time.

I am sure in the weeks to come, I will look back and realize so much more happened! These are just a few that I have thought about over the weekend; and I believe that they are great life stories!

My second appearance on radio

I made my second appearance on radio! Getting better, and totally have respect for people on radio. This time on Hope Net Radio; we discussed Romans 12:1-2 and what it means to not to conform to the world. How mentoring is so important and how you should find people to mentor you and mentor others. Check out the full show on radio tab below!

Camp night intruder...

It was close to eleven o'clock, and I was planning on filling water balloons up for the next day. I decided to head back to my cabin to grab my earphones so I could listen to music while I filled the water balloons. Half way back to my cabin, I heard noise coming from the woods. I looked over and noticed it was coming from the road path area that went to the high school cabins. I listened for awhile and thought it was just teenagers messing around. I thought about continuing to my cabin, but I knew I was the adult and needed to send the youth back to their cabins. 

I shined my mag light down the path and continued to make my way in that direction. About 20 yards down the path my light fell on a black figure. He was about my height and I made eye contact with him. At first, I thought it was a teen in a mask; but then reality kicked in. I was staring at black bear on it's hind feet, staring back at me red eyes (reflection of my mag light). I slowly backed up, and then took off running. I stopped in the camp lights with my light shining at the woods. I grabbed my phone to call our camp director to make sure staff did not come from the kitchen area and to alert the camp we had a bear on campus. I heard growls and movement in the leaves, and took off running thinking that the bear was coming my direction. I stopped again to see that the bear never left the woods and I should be okay. I called Joe and we made sure all staff were in buildings and safe, all campers were already in their cabins. Phil, the owner of the camp, came down and met me asking questions of what I saw and heard. I told him it sounded like a few teenagers in the woods, and then. I saw just one bear. He told me that there had been sightings of a small mama black bear with two cubs. I never saw cubs, but with all the noise, I think I might have saw mama bear and the cubs were close by...awesome life story from camp on how I almost got into a tangle with a black bear

Take your Sabbath

I picked up one thing this week, that added to my understanding of the Sabbath and the importance of rest. I spent some time thinking in context of the commandment "Thou shall keep the Sabbath." If we were to read in Exodus 20, we would see the example that God worked six days and rested on the seventh. I cross-referenced this with the ten commandments passage in Deuteronomy, funny, it doesn't use this illustration and uses a totally different illustration.

"Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do. 15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day. Deuteronomy 5:12-15

The illustration used is that of the Israelites in Egypt as slaves! Wow, this is perspective! The Israelites had just came out of 400 years of bondage; where they most likely worked ever day as slaves. Then in all reality this commandment would have been a blessing to them, when Moses read God's commands. They could work six days and then they could rest a day.

Many times we look at God's commandments and see them as just a bunch of rules. When in all reality they help us with our relationship with God and our relationships with others! The Israelites needed these commands, because they had just came out of 400 years of slavery where they were not allowed to have free choice in obeying laws. Over time, we would see legalism soak into God's commands. Once a command that would give rest to people, the Sabbath would become a yoke of slavery of what you could or not do on the Sabbath.

Man has always been good at that; God says one thing and we add to it...Even in the Garden of Eden we see this! God said to man that he should not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil or you will die. What does Eve say to the serpent? We are not allowed to touch the tree or we will die. So Sabbath has been debated back and forth with questions like: what day is the Sabbath? Should we not work on the Sabbath? If I am off on my Sabbath, why don't others take off?

My Sabbath falls on a Monday! It is a day that I can take for rest. It is guarded as a day for me; a day to refill me. Everyone needs a day of rest, God intended for man to take a day of rest. Make sure you find your day of rest!

I remember the devotion of your youth

The Word of the Lord came to me, saying, "Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem," Thus sayeth the Lord, "I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of his harvest. All who ate of it incurred guilt; disaster came upon them," declares the Lord (Jeremiah 2:1-3)

My reading for tonight's youth group had 22 chapters from all over the Old Testament! When I read these verses, I had to stop and process and think of my life! How much am I like this???

I feel called to proclaim the Words of God! I feel his calling in my life! I feel the need to persevere through hard times! I desire to follow full-hearted! BUT I feel like I have settled...

I had devotion in my youth! I jumped in a car and headed in the direction God called me. I went to lands I had never been. Security was not in wealth and possessions; it was in God's direction! My love for God's calling drove me to talk to people I wouldn't have, invested in people I would normally have looked the other way, it moved me in directions of unsafe and unknown territories, it gave me life and love. Where has my devotion gone? The love of God's calling to reach people? The call to make a difference and not to settle...