Reflections on Camp... Liability... and Grilling Burgers.

So last week I promised some updates on camp. Here's one. Sometimes as a youth pastor one experiences moments of true delight that seem like "heaven on earth" and make all the crap of the job worth it. Many times they are super spiritual and sometimes their not. Last week I had the joy of once again running all the afternoon activities at camp. A camp favorite, and the most stressful for the activities director, is boating. We rent these little 4-6 seat outboard aluminum fishing boats and the campers get to drive them and go exploring on the lake for one hour. I ALWAYS tell them not to crash other boats, not to "fall" into the water, and not to come back late. After a decade of doing this I anticipate all of these things happening. So last week I sent out nine boats of campers and workers, ALL NINE CAME BACK ON TIME! Most of them were soaked from "falling" in and I know they were playing bumper boats but the fact that they all came back on time, just might be my crowning achievement in youth ministry... (plus, like my bro, I teach good, just not English). The only problem was I went three times to pick up the scenic chair lift hikers before I figured out they must be really lost. Everyone was safely back at camp by the end of dinner but losing three campers and two counselors really but a damper on my "having punctual boaters" celebration.

Earlier this year, we made a big change in our church policy. We decided to let 18 year olds attend the young adults class... even if they were still in high school. It always cracks me up when the church makes rules for adults to follow. Anyway, it has been very helpful for this group to come up with some appropriate guidelines for defining their group; 18-30, not married, no kids allowed. But somehow in this change, and in these definitions, there arose a huge misunderstanding about what to do with my seniors who just graduated from high school who happen to be 17 still. (It's the same fall birthday Kindergarten thing) To me, it seemed simple... let them go to young adults. However, me and the young adults leader did not see eye to eye right away. There was this huge question about liability and legal minors. (Here comes a rant) I know the folks at Guide One and Church Mutual probably hate me, but I send kids out on rented boats, I treat 17 year old graduates like adults, and while I'm at it... I let kids skate in the church parking lot. PEOPLE must come before POLICY. (ok, end of rant). In the end, everyone is doing things my way, but I still don't understand why it was a hard decision.

Today was the Summer Heat Volleyball tournament. I'm always nervous when there is a church sponsored event and I don't have a job assignment going into it. Today was fantastic though! I did very little except chill with my kids and watch some pretty exciting volleyball. Nothing quite like changin' diapers under an EZ-UP while sippin' on a diet mountain dew. I did end up spending much of the afternoon behind the grill, but that too is very relaxing to me. The smell of smoke, the burn in the eyes, and the sizzling sounds of grease dripping past the grill onto the coals; not a bad way to spend a sabbath, although technically, I'm pretty sure I was working.

Tomorrow should be great. Our church is hosting a group of kids from Los Osos, CA (four hours north) and another group from Gilbert, AZ (four hours east). They will be sleeping on our floor tomorrow night and heading up to camp with us on Monday morning. Sounds like fun!

Post Camp Sabbath...

...Sorta

This is my bed from camp. This is the dummy I made to scare the crap out of the "clean dorm" judges. See the resemblance?

Oh yeah, it did scare the judges.

Slept till almost 9AM today. Spent the morning chillin' at home catching up with the blog world. Cut my grass and raked my dirt. Hauled away a truckload of trash. Had Del Taco in the park with the wife, my three kids, one more, and uncle Danny. Played on the tunnels, slides, and poles at the playground. Checked out uncle Danny's new place, (a little bit of a fixer upper but has a trampoline, three bar bq's, a fire pit and several good spots for a dart board). It's on a huge lot and he actually has plans for a go kart track. Stopped at Rite Aid for some scoop ice cream before going to my least favorite place on the planet (Wal Mart). Got Superman Ice Cream all over three kids (the baby was asleep). Came home and had a good phone conversation with one Mr. G (To anyone else who was worried about me after reading this post, I'm doing fine) and had spagetthi dinner at the table as a family. Gave kids bathes in the sink and then spent some time at church putting away some camp leftovers and sorting through some photos for a slideshow in tomorrow morning's services. It's been nice to catch my breath today, but this week will be crazy.

Besides further camp and missions trip planning, a summer nights fellowship, Tuesday's Beach and Bibles outing, Thursday's missions team meeting, and all my normal stuff, I have to figure out why my van pukes when going up hill. It's like the mountain road makes it car sick...Get it?... CAR... Sick? It's a car. Never Mind. Looking forward to spending Monday morning at the dealer and the rest of the day vanless...NOT! Happy Lord's Day. Good Night!

Home from Camp

The wife and kids and I are home from our week at Sa Ha Le for this year's youth camp. It was a fabulous week. I think I'm getting too old for this stuff... I'm exhausted. Anyway. The wife is asleep. The boy is watching 'Doogal'. The baby is eating salad, (and sharing it with the dog). The big girl is being very quiet, I better check on that. She's drinking 7up. It's nice to be home.

On the way up the mountain my van puked transmission fluid all over the highway and the bus I was driving threw it's power steering belt. We left the van on the side of the mountain and I drove 55 campers + various staff + my family from the van, all the way to camp with no power steering. My forearms are very buff and I now have six grey hairs in my beard. We arrived to camp safely and close to on time. Like I said, camp was fabulous and I will try to post more later.

For now, a wall of gratitude moment. My dad and I have a fairly... uh... fair relationship. In general we like each other, but don't seem to make too much time for each other. We live in seemingly different worlds. I live in a fundy church culture he left, and he lives in a world of family chaos I never imagined would be mine even with a "step" in front of it. Just to complicate things he's hard of hearing to a point where phone conservations are difficult and frustrating to both of us. I sometimes think he must be totally embarrassed by what I do, even though he goes out of his way to say how proud of me he is.

So on Sunday night, with campers anxiously awaiting the first chapel, and the van still sitting in it's own vomit, I called my dad and step-mom. I just wanted them to try to get the van to their house, which at the time, I was thinking was very close to their home. They bought a cart load of ATF and safely drove the van down the mountain, then all the way to my driveway. It was a very "Christ-like" thing to do and a very meaningful demonstration of the love this set of folks have for my family. My dad, who rarely attends church anymore, enabled some real life changing youth ministry to happen. That night, many students invited Jesus into their lives for the first time. There was a real authenticity to the altar time. And the evening set a wonderful tone for the whole week. I am so thankful for the parents God gave me. There's not a day that goes by that I don't remember, "I'm a Wotherspoon Boy!" I love my disFUNctional family and I am so glad my dad is my dad.