Tomorrow I am going to my church’s summer camp. It’s sorta a end of the summer type thing, even though seemingly we just entered summer a few weeks ago. I’ve got no specific duties, except for driving the church van going up there and taking pictures. (Although I don’t classify myself as the official camp photographer and I hope no one else sees me that way).
And I don’t know how tired I’ll be for DCI Friday. Scott really wants me to go. I hope I’ll be awake for it. Comes at an inconvienent time.
And there are alot of things that I could say right now. But I’ll keep them to myself. We’ll see how camp turns out….

Wow. I’m tired. Tired from all the fun at Short Mountain Bible camp on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. But not as tired as some people. Some people stayed up til 5:30AM this morning.
When i first arrived, I told Darrell to put me in a cabin where I could get some sleep. The easiest solution: the younger kids’ cabin, AKA “Flying Squirrel.” The Squirrels did sleep. Usually they went to bed at around 11:30 or midnight. Peaceful easy feeling. About the only problems these kids caused was rolling their towel up and snapping each other with it. “Rat tails” they called it. And I thought rat tails were those long strands of hair on the nape of your neck from the 80s.
Joseph was a talkative kid in the cabin. He was from Athens, GA, but wore a Tennessee hat. He was born in Tennessee, so I guess that’s his reasoning. The kid seemed to talk nonstop. Even knew that R.E.M. was a band from his hometown. Pretty good for a 10 year old, I guess. Oh yeah, he’s adopted. But I’m not sure what that has to do with anything. It’s just something he tells everybody. “Hey, I’m adopted.”
And there was a kid named Jeffery in the cabin. This is one of the few times which I’ve met a Jeffery significantly younger than myself. I think the name is old school. You just don’t hear of people naming their kid Jeff anymore. What a shame.
Darrell used that big 7 step ladder in his sermon Wednesday night. And yes, he did get to that 7th step when he was explaining 2 Peter 1:5-7. And that ladder will go back to whence it came. To the Gallatin Porter paint shop, as Darrell has no need for a 7 step ladder, unless he needs to explain that passage again.
I’m glad I went. I think my past experience there last year was just one part of the whole. The counselors do try to get to know the kids. They do care for them. At least that’s what I saw this week.
Tons of pictures. Not by me. But by the other counselors. Everybody and their brother had a digital camera up there. Some used theirs more than others. Enough to make 3 CDRs of them. Everything and everyone. Good thing we had a computer and a card reader which would read all the different types of media. We haven’t exactly reached a universal media option.
Darrell invited me to stay up there and go to a Mexican restaurant with the rest of the camp group. Prolonging the magic, I guess. But I decided to get back here. I figured the combination of the Mexican restaurant (not my first choice of food) coupled with being with a big group of people who I don’t know…gave me enough of a reason not to hang around.

They have somewhere around 230 kids at Short Mountain this week. And about 70 counselors/staff. Every bed is full and the facilities are being used to the max. They actually have a waiting list for campers and staff. The unusual situation is that they have other weeks of camp which they only have 75 kids.
When church camps become overloaded and they have to start turning down kids, I see that as a major injustice. If at all possible you shouldn’t turn down kids for camp. Unfortunately the problem stems from trying to be nice to everyone. Kids graduate from high school and want to come back as counselors. No one wants to turn them down if they want to be a counselor. So you become overloaded with counselors who’s beds could be used for campers instead.
Instead you should only pick enough counselors that you need. And pick only enough of the good counselors. We’re talking good Bible school teachers; good encouragers; hard workers. I’m not saying that there are poor Bible school teachers; poor encouragers, and lazy people. It’s just that some are better than others.
Camp is about the kids; not some kind of pseudo reunion for counselors.
Yet, having a full camp is a good problem to have. It means you’re getting the most for your dollars. It also means the staff is doing a good job at retaining campers and/or attracting new ones. I wish we had the same problem at MJ’s camp. We are getting to have full facilities. However not all kids within the camp age bracket are attending camp. If they were, we’d have somewhere closer to 150 rather than the 80 that we have right now. I’m still pushing camp in my Bible class. But some kids seem unenthusiastic about it. I just about have to beg them to come to camp.

Spent the night at Short Mountain, helping them setup for camp. But there wasn’t that much setup time involved. Mostly it was helping Darrell setup the sound system and sitting in a meeting. During that meeting I did realize that this camp is perhaps one of the more conservative camps around.
Short Mountain has some slight improvements. The boy’s bathhouse has been redone, ever so slightly. Looks much better. However they did put in some kitchen sinks instead of the regular old bathroom sinks. I still can’t understand how all the boys share just 3 bathroom sinks. Could it be that they just don’t wash their hands?
And they spent some money on hunter green paint on the cabins and other buildings. Looks reasonable. The girls’ cabins have log siding placed on them.
Basically the guys’ staff cabin is a college dorm room in a shack. Josh has his computer setup in the staff cabin. Looks kinda out of place in the heap of junk. They use it to watch DVDs on a big screen tv.
Tracy spends an awful amount of time shifting around campers in cabins to make sure everyone is with their friend. She uses the excuse of trying to make everyone happy. I remember when I had the dream of trying to make everyone happy. It just can’t be done. Camp is a time for making new friends. Is it really that difficult to spend 5 days without being in the same cabin with your best friend? My solution is to put all of the same age into the same cabin. Makes it a whole lot easier. Otherwise you have the headache of shifting people around in order to accommodate everyone.
I did come back for church at Mt. Juliet. I would have rather stayed on the mountain and worshiped up there. But there was no guarantee of me getting a ride back to Mt. Juliet. So rather be safe than sorry, I rode back with Darrell and Tracy to MJ. Darrell wanted me to go to church with him, but I figured I’d better go to Mt. Juliet before people get upset at me again.

We stayed up late that last night at camp. We had 5 baptisms that last night. Probably more than that which I didn’t attend. One particular girl did not want anyone else when she was baptized. She didn’t like crowds. Whatever it takes.
Afterwards Tim gathered together a bunch of food for the guys in the cabin. We pretty much ate and stayed up late…maybe 1AM or 2AM. It’s hard to remember now. Sat around listening to classic rock from Daniel Williams’ CD collection. All of which was first published at least 10 years before he was born. Daniel is a good guitar player. He has a good repertoire…probably every Skynyrd song imaginable.
Tim has a good thing going. He’s gained the respect from the rest of camp. Campers affectionately call him “Toast.” Here’s how to win the hearts and minds of MCC campers: Beat on a toaster. That’s all. And during the most recent performance, the toaster fell over dead. The string holding it around Tim’s neck broke. The 2nd hand used toaster fell over dead after years of abuse. Plastic pieces had broken off from the toaster. Tim was injured ever so slightly on his hands from the performance. Heywood Banks would be proud.
Fireworks at the Sexton’s farm went well. My main concern on the 4th is getting good pictures of fireworks. This has turned into an obsession of mine, yet I’d rather not brave the crowds at Riverfront park. So it’s off to private gatherings with fireworks. I am amazed at the amature fireworks you can buy at those roadside tents these days.
I did have some problems getting the hang of my new camera. But once I found the good options, I was able to get some good shots. The problem is that my new camera sometimes takes a long time to write photos to the card. So basically I have one chance to capture the set of fireworks.

I think we had 15 or so baptisms at camp this past week. It was a very spiritual week. The theme was CSI: Christ Saves Individuals. Jerry Elder did a good job the last night of camp when he conducted a devotional which included a crime scene investigation of the cross.
Still, I’m torn between being genuinely happy for those converted and at the same time wondering if the conversions might have been slightly due to emotionalism. And if it is emotionalism, what happens when the emotionalism disappears after camp is overwith? I trust that whoever provided spiritual counseling to the now newly converted asked the right questions and said the right thing to them. The folks at Maury Christian Camp have been doing camp for a long time and could probably see the poor potential for any decision based soley on emotionalism instead of partially due to thorough study of God’s word and a genuine committment for excellence. Christianity isn’t something that should be based soley on emotionalism, although emotions can be the stepping stone to something greater. Committment to Jesus is forever.
I hope they’ll be at church this Sunday and every Sunday after that. Because church attendance is just as important as those first steps they made toward the baptistry. And if their committment is truely genuine, then there’s nothing to worry about. Sure, there will be road bumps in the way. But if they look toward Him for guidance, they should be just fine.
And I am happy for them. I don’t know them personally, but it didn’t stop me from attending the baptisms with the rest of the camp and taking some superb pictures. I just don’t hug them afterwards. Alkward moments. Ya know?
And it is Independence Day. Our nation declared independence from Great Britian. Similarily this week many young people at MCC declared their independence from sin.
The only downer toward the week was the lack of fireworks. I think there was some safety concerns last year…ie someone almost got burned…so they nixed it this year. I can understand. I was hoping to get some good shots with the digi camera. But that’ll have to wait til tonight.

Tomorrow is Maury Christian Camp. Actually its been going on since Sunday, but the party won’t start until I actually get there. Sure, they’ve probably had ten funerals for dented ping pong balls already. (Inside jokes, folks)
MCC is steeped in tradition. Year after year they have the reoccuring skits. From getting the kids to do the “stare” while some hard rock music is played….Spiderman’s “Hero” was played last year. Tim McHenry will do his toast song again. It is interesting that Tim has become his own superstar at this particular camp. Since he was camp director, he had to play bad cop at TCC. But now everyone seems to like him.
I expect pre-4th of July fireworks one night. Taking my digital camera just in case. I figure a slow shutter speed plus a tripod equals good pictures of fireworks.
Anyways I’m looking forward to it. The Maury folks have been nothing but nice to me. Very friendly people.

The kids are asking me if I am going to summer camp. So its kinda good to matter to someone. As if my presence at camp is actually pondered by the average kid at church.
When I do get to camp, my main motivation for being there is to make sure the kids have a good time. My first question to myself is whether or not the kids I’m dealing with are Christians. If they are, then the second question is how involved are they at church. I try to get them more involved in church activities. Ultimately camp is about building social…and within the religious world….spiritual relationships. Both of these building can be done at a “good” camp.
I have been at camps before where those in charge were more concerned about enforcing the rules rather than trying to get to know the kids. They tend to forget the reason why we are there in the first place. It is about the kids and not because we are looking for some type of vacation. Although it is somewhat of a secondary vacation to me, because I enjoy it.
So I’m looking forward to Maury Christian Camp, which is coming up in a few weeks. The people there have always been very genuine toward me. Never had any problem with any of them. And I usually get some good pics of the fireworks they do on and around the 4th of July.
This morning I could tell my voice was weak from all that screaming on the coasters and water slides Thursday. It is tradition to scream like a little kid on those water slides. I guess for some reason it makes it more fun.

I’ve been sleeping alot lately. I don’t know if it is being tired from camp or slight depression. Probably a little of both.
The depression that sets in after camp is inevitable. It’s like my old youth minister, Bill Speight, has always said: I wish you could bottle up that energy you have at camp and take it home with you. Energy. Positive attitudes. We all need that.
So it wasn’t the setbacks that I’ll remember. Those setbacks like the water problems; the disfunctionality of the waterslide after heavy rains; and the absence of the carnival slide on Thursday night. I’m pretty sure the kids would have had a good time even if it had rained for 5 days straight.
From being at camp I have come to the conclusion that there are alot more important things to worry about than whether or not someone agrees with my opinions on this webpage. The world is a much bigger place than whatever I could write on this webpage.
So I choose to worry about things greater than this. Much of the time I worry about things that are beyond my control. My concern is overshadowed by my frustration that I am far beyond the means of trying to make a difference at this time. Then again, instead of real worry, it’s more concern and hoping for the best.
Worship at Cross Plains was good last night. It’s a small church. The preacher was very welcoming toward me. I guess they don’t get visitors very much. It reminds me that many times the kids that come from these small country churches to this youth camp aren’t used to being around so many Christians in one setting. At camp we had about 125 people there all week. Some of these churches only have about 100 during Sunday morning worship services. So it’s a positive force.
I was thinking about this last night. Here are some verses that echo in my mind about the whole camp phenomenon:

“But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.”
Luke 18:16
“Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 18:4

Meanwhile the job search marches on. I might make some phone calls today. Try to see about getting a job. Then again I don’t want to be stuck at a job that I am unhappy with.

It is difficult for me to return back to Mt. Juliet right after this camp. Being the only Mt. Juliet person to attend this particular camp, I have no one nearby to share unique experiences with. Therefore when I get back to church on Sunday morning everyone will be talking about the stateside mission trip they just completed. This is all fine and I’m happy for the success of the trip. I just wish there were other people nearby who could share experiences with me.
I did use 2 rolls of black and white film. It’s a novelty. Got them developed last night at the Kroger 1 hour photo. Some of pictures turned out really good. Although the output of the film is kinda depressing…considering the reality of the situation. Reality is that most everyone had fun. The film shows some kinda of drab world with no color. Still, the film provides a unique perspective on things.
As far as film goes, I took the one time use camera – which provided some blurry pictures. Remind me never to use those again. It just isn’t worth it. I’d imagine the 110 camera will do some of the same things. Providing pictures not up to par with the Samsung I have.
So I think I did make a difference. “Building a relationship with God” was the theme to church camp. I felt like I built better relationships with friends there. Made some new friends and strengthened the friendships I already have.
It is depressing to get back home. I miss the comradery at camp. The friendly attitude from people who I’ve only met a few years ago. The acceptance and general friendliness is very fulfilling for me. I look forward to camp every year because of it.