I have driven that road from Scottsville to Mt. Juliet tons of times. Those endless street lines of 231 and 109. Now I’m coming back with more questions than answers. Camp meeting today in Portland. Then a visit to Scottsville for their PM services.
I think there might have been some personality clashes among others in a previous meeting. It’s all 3rd party stuff, not involving me. I’m not likely to stand back and let the clash continue to happen. I just want everyone to get along. And don’t worry. Everyone will get along…at least in lipservice. It’s little comments that are taken the wrong way which cause unnecessary friction. I’m trying to be everyone’s friend here. The peacmaker. Jimmy Carter. Switzerland. Gunning for the Nobel Peace Prize, ya know?
My church doesn’t participate in this particular camp. So I go on my own….either through inheritance or though legacy. That, my friend, is why I’m a guest here. So I realize guests don’t put their legs up on coffee table and do other stupid stuff which might make it difficult to be invited back over again. So I don’t do anything which would not let me come back.
Still I’m not good at reading people. On a totally different note, when someone tells me something, but deep down thinks the opposite, I stress about it. Mostly because I’m fearful of what others think of me. Have I said something wrong that made them think less of me? Eggshell walking here. Its not an easy thing. Still, I think I’m overstressing over it. Most people like me, or at least say they do. They keep me around for some strange reason. I am very much aware that I’m a guest here. And I try to keep a low profile. Not offering any strong opinions one way or another. Only when pressed, do I offer my opinion. At least to this group of people.
Anyways Brian did a good job on his short devo tonight. One year ago he probably wouldn’t have done it. Shelton has done a good job at trying to get all the young men involved in leading worship services publically.
Our next door neighbor was taken by ambulance last night to Summit Hospital. His wife couldn’t wake him. He’s pretty feeble. He is 86 years old and had a stroke not too long ago. They still can’t wake him. They took him off of life support today, but he kept breathing. So now he’s breathing without life support. Laying in a hospital bed. Can’t wake him. Explain that one to me.
I’m not stressing too much about it, since I don’t know him too well. But he has been one of the constants in my life. From when I was very little growing up, I remember him. He kept an immaculate garden and always kept his lawn mowed. Now other neighbors are chipping in to help make sure his lawn gets mowed.
I’m not really sure what will happen in this circumstance. Most people don’t live too long without life support. But they call that a coma, don’t they?

I was having a conversation with a friend of mine tonight. He was bummed out that he wasn’t going to Short Mountain for their usual retreat this year. I have tried to invite him on our retreat, but not surprisingly he doesn’t want to go since he doesn’t know anyone in our youth group.
Anyways I think there are just too few superior church camps out there. Short Mountain Bible Camp and Taylor Christian Camp both meet my expectations for having the best facilities. Taylor will always be my sentimental favorite, however Short Mountain is the crown jewell among Christian camps around here. I’ve been to others. Meribah? I’d like it better if there were more individual cabins instead of big giant cabins. Y.E.S. Camp? I think its a bit too rustic for me. Tear down a few of the cabins and rebuild and you’ll have something going there. And I haven’t been to Whispering Pines. It must be pretty decent since the ladies had their women’s retreat there once upon a time. And I think we’re going to Valley View Christian camp for our Fall Retreat. Never been there either. But Madison Church of Christ sponsors it, so it probably has reasonable facilities.
But who am I to nitpick and little measey things about camps. Plenty of churches in remote areas don’t have Christian camps to go to. I guess we are lucky to be blessed with a wide selection of locations to go to.
In any case I’m really looking forward to camp at TCC this June. We’re supposed to have some kind of new bigger better faster bionic slip-n-slide, which Mark Sexton and gang are building. Whatever new element they’ve discovered that will be as permanent as concrete, yet as slippery as plastic tarp, must have been the most significant scientific discovery since penicillin.
My first church retreat was when I was in 5th grade�.about 1984 or 1985. Since I was a big weenie and needed someone around to cling to, both my parents went along. Maybe for that reason, or just in general, I never got along with kids my age then. Usually it consisted of me being talked down to. Never letting me in on their reindeer games.
At this particular venue, we were all in one big building. Girls and boys on separate wings. Tall ceilings. Bunk beds. We pushed our bunk beds together to make it easier to talk to each other. Then the adults made us separate them apart. Community showers. Not surprisingly I didn�t shower at all that weekend.
So anyways there were these 2 kids which I didn�t get along with. There was a history there for some reason. They didn�t like me for one way or another. I remember being particularly upset about it, having a private conversation at a table with my mom�.and then one of them coming along and wanting to clean the table. Egging it on.
I survived it, but didn�t go on another one for a long time after that.

I woke up to bad weather today, but thankfully the storms moved out of the way and it turned out to be a really good day.
Phil, Todd, and I drove up to Taylor Christian Camp today. We’re having our Spring Retreat out there in May. Phil had never been out there before and wanted to check the place out.
We ate at the Colonial House in Scottsville for lunch. Unfortunately they had discontinued their all you can eat buffet, so we paid for each item individually. Mine came to $5.11….chicken leg, mac and cheese, and banana pudding. And Sunkist. Can never forget the Sunkist. I think its in cohoots with RC or something.
Anyways we made it out to camp. There were a couple of workmen out there putting the last of the $86,000 improvements to it. (Did I hear that right? That dollar figure seems a bit high). The basement part of the dining cabin has been completely redone. Still waiting to get them to put in the doors. Otherwise it is looking really good. The outside of the dining cabin was sandblasted or something. Made it look brand new. Excellent.
I also found out there’s gonna be a bigger and better waterslide at the top of the hill by the boys’ cabins. It’s gonna be permanent in nature. Should be ready by summer camp. I’m already looking forward to it.
There were still remnants of the old red stained cabins in the girls’ part. So they still haven’t replaced all of them yet. After 10 years they’re still around.
We did walk down to the creek. It was good we had walked or Phil’s car might have gotten stuck in the mud. Quite a muddy walk. I tried to stay in the non-muddy grassy knoll area. But it was no use with the thornbushes.
Anyways down at the creek Todd suddenly got the crazy notion to go swimming just to test out the water. Phil got the same crazy idea. Call it peer pressure.
It was later on when I noticed the big giant tree which held the rope had fell down (the tree, not the rope). So that’s a big bummer. Phil and Todd were there to offer comfort…send sympathy cards and all that. Anyways I’m sorta kinda wondering if I should make note of the problem, buy some extra strong rope from the Home Depot and put it up there. The only thing is that I’m not good at climbing trees and tying ropes. Plus I’d feel really bad if the rope broke and some kid was seriously injured by it. We’re looking into contengency plans. I really want that rope back.
All the while Phil kept copious notes on the small Kmart film receipt I had given to him. How many bunks per cabin…. How many showers…. How many times it took to flush the toliets…. Where to find plungers…. Stuff like that. Then there’s some graffiti left by David Fleming in cabin 6….etc. Plus I saw a bunch of pecular graffiti in one of the girls cabins. Friends, if you are going to vandalize church camp stuff, be sure to leave out what church you’re from on the written graffiti. My admiration for a certain church dropped significantly after seeing that. I feel like anonymously emailing pictures of it to people who’d care.
Anyways it was a good trip except for one little accident afterwards. But that’s just water under the bridge and we’re just not going to talk about that on here.
So the trip brings back great memories. It was sorta interesting to see Todd’s reaction to all of this. This was his first time back since his camp days of June 1995 when he was 12 or something. Todd said that going into the big girls cabin must have been the highlight of his trip. Could it be? Did he really think about girls way back in ’95? From being cleanest cabin judge for the camp, I had already been to all of the cabins before. So none of it was exactly earth shattering to me.
Then again the camp seemed a bit empty without everyone there. Maybe that’s what makes camp. The rest is just empty environments.
But the visit made me remember how good camp can be. So many souls have been touched. So many songs have been sung. So many pranks which were pulled. So many new friendships made. So many old friendships rekindled. Through that camp my circle of friends has grown so much. I know people from all over that area. And still keep in contact with many of them.

From working on the Short Mt. webpage, I feel as though I have been cheated by fate for being unlucky enough not to have any early camp memories. I wish I could have gone to church camp when I was growing up. We didn’t really have a youth minister until I was in high school. Even then we didn’t go to camp until I was a sophomore in high school, almost too old for camp. So many of my camp memories come from my recent adult years.
Luck of the draw I guess. Some people end up going to camp from the elementary years upward. Then they get burned out by it…and sometimes burned out on church…and then stop going to both altogether. Some people like me don’t get the chance to go during the childhood years and try to make up for it during the adult years. Even so, if I had been given the choice of going to church camp during my childhood years, I probably wouldn’t have wanted to go. I was a home body back then. Liked not having to sleep in a strange place….. I didn’t get along with other kids my own age. Maybe I liked to keep to myself. Maybe I didn’t want to get in trouble. Maybe my lack of interest in sports caused a lack of mutual interest.
I remember going on a week church retreat for the youth when I was in 5th grade. I had a hard time getting along with kids my own age during that weekend. Maybe they picked on me. Maybe I was anti-social. Who knows. That one bad experience kept me from going on any retreat for the next few years. I missed out.

We got tye-dyed t-shirts at the retreat. These were done professionally, so all the colors were bright and the shirts looked good. I got a basic blue one. We had a very colorful worship service Sunday morning when everyone wore their shirts. We had blues, yellows, oranges and rainbows. It reminded me of this quote:

“…they see past your color, they see your soul… once you see someone’s soul, it’s like a rainbow, you see different colors.”
-Teck, Real World Hawaii

Yeah it’s a lame quote from a lame TV show. But somehow those shirts mimicked how we are….we are all different in our own special way. I’ll have to post a group picture to show you the bright colors of the t-shirts that I’m talking about.
I must say ever since Phil took over the youth ministry at church, the quality of the retreat and camp shirts has improved greatly. These tye-dyed shirts are probably the best I’ve seen. Definitely stands out in the crowd.

Back to the land of the living. I would have liked the retreat to last longer considering the world I have to return to.
The showers were out on the boys’ bathhouse, so all 35+ of the guys had to share a lone shower in one of the boy’s cabin. God blessed me with a warm shower each day in that particular shower. Some of the boys gave up in waiting in line for the shower and didn’t have one all weekend. Is it my job as a counselor to make sure the kids get at least one shower? Not necessarily. I usually try to mention it in passing, but I don’t loose sleep over it.
We did have alot of boys who liked to play with fire. They had a few little fires going outside. Initually they were keeping it safe….building rocks around the the fire as an enclosure. At first I tried to stay by and make sure they weren’t buring down the camp. But then one of them got out the WD-40 and started a flamethrower. So I had to step in and make the world safe again by putting out the fires.
The food at the retreat was good. Almost too good. We had hamburgers, barbeque chicken, and spaghetti during the weekend. My only recommendation is that they should have had sandwiches as an option just in case some picky eaters didn’t care for the menu of choice. The barbeque chicken was good, although I could have filled up more on a couple of sandwiches that night.

Tired from the retreat. We got back at around 2:30PM this afternoon. I had to take the Portland kids back, so I ended up staying for church at Corinth. Since my Beetle didn’t have room for everyone’s luggage, I borrowed the church van to take them back. I was slightly worried that they might be one van short should there be any activities being done after church at MJ tonight. I tried calling Phil, our youth minister’s phone several times, but got no answer. In any case I’m not worried about it. The worst thing that could have happened is some people might have been inconvenienced had might have had to drive their cars somewhere. I doubt as though the van was being used. Sometimes it’s easier to beg forgiveness than ask permssion.
The kids from Portland seemed to have a good time. I’m not sure how well they meshed with the other MJ and Lebanon Road people. Although some of the kids seemed to be friendly toward them. The capture the flag game Friday night was a good ice-breaker for everyone.
We did play that string game Saturday night. Everyone sits around in a circle and passes a string from one end to another. While doing so, they say a good reason why they are passing their string to this person. It was meant to be a bonding experience. What it turned out was that no one could hear what other people were saying. Much of it was predictable. Best friends passed it to each other, while lesser knowns were left to fend for themselves until the very end when someone felt sorry for them and sent them the string. It’s better to play in a smaller group….and with less predictable outcomes.
I’ll be the first one to admit that I don’t know the high schoolers all that well. I was never really good friends with them. It’s also hard to determine if the attitude they show is sometimes just for show or if they really feel that way. The way that I feel as though I am making a difference is getting to know these middle-schoolers. They are a good group of kids. I have forgotten what is like to have fun without having the worries of work and everyday stress to bring you down. These kids taught me that, without even knowing they were teaching me. It is amazing how it makes me feel to know that there are people out there who think I’m good at what I do – which is a complement I would never be able to tell myself.
I am trying to put together a computer slideshow of the 300+ digital pictures I took. I can put background music to it. I was thinking about using “Why Can’t We Be Friends.” However there is a lyric in the song that says “I remember when you drank my wine.” So I think I will have to edit out that part before anyone at church is offended by it. Otherwise it works really well in the slideshow.
I don’t have much to look forward to during the coming months. These retreats that I went on were the highlight of the fall. Otherwise there isn’t much to do, except back to the grind of trying to find a job.

Well the retreat was fun. Mark Sexton’s devotional Saturday morning seemed to hit home with me. He spoke on renewing the individual. Depression was brought up. In times past and lately I have become depressed….primarily due to the job situation. Mark’s main point was to take the “De” and “I” out of depression and “press on.” I’m really trying. Sometimes it is hard to let God take over with our lives. I thought about saying something positive to Mark about his devotional, but I never got a chance to. Mark is a really good guy for letting me come along on the retreat. I know I am an outsider. Apparently everyone likes me well enough to keep me around. I feels good to be liked.
I am sorta surprised that these kids seem to think I’m the most popular person around. And I haven’t even done anything to make them think highly of me. If it means just spending time with them and talking to them, then that’s all it takes. Give a kid the time of day and talk to them like a real person, then they will think highly of you.
Funniest time this weekend….seeing Spenser Sexton getting held down and fed dirt by his dad. Picture of it are hilarious. The flour war was fun too. They cut up some pantyhose, tied them together, and put flour in them. The object of the game was to throw them at other people and not get hit yourself. You knew when you got hit because the flour left a mark. I spent my time filming and didn’t get hit much.

Just got back from the camp reunion at Corinth in Portland. Franklin did a great job putting together a video with the home video and digital pictures I took at camp. I am going to have to figure out how to do that type of video editing.
More than anything else I’d like to find a job and have enough vacation time to do camp this summer. Ideally I need to find a job now in order to build up enough time to take off. Who knows, maybe I’ll have a flexible schedule to where I’ll be able to go…or borrow against my vacation time. Argh! It is stressing me out. I need to not worry about it. God is going to take care of me. However I am the type of person to have my entire year planned out. Not knowing what I’ll be doing next month or next week is wearing on my nerves.

Quote from “Living in the Blog-osphere” from Newsweek.

“…when you blog, your words reach not just your trusted cluster, but anyone with a Web browser. With search engines and Internet archives, a bright beam can illuminate the deepest corners of the Net�and intimate thoughts suddenly come to the attention of unwanted readers.”

I have the same concerns. Sometimes people will come up to me out of the blue and make comments that make me wonder if they visited this site. I don’t usually try to be brutally critical of people, however when I’m having a bad day, then I do write about it in this weblog.
Let’s recap….pictures taken this summer….

• MJ’s Church Camp
• Taylor Christian Camp
• Maury Christian Camp

What’s missing? Short Mountain Bible Camp. I don’t really maintain a webpage for any of those folks. Darrell hasn’t ever asked me to do a webpage for Center Chapel.
Just some thoughts about SMBC in general…. I didn’t really have time to post this immediately after camp. But I feel there is a time for everything. What brought this on was a recent conversation I had with someone in regards to this.
Darrell and Tracy seem overly concerned with tradition…probably Darrell more than Tracy. Even Darrell was concerned about driving the church group to camp…taking the exact same route that had been taken before. Not even taking into consideration that there might be a shorter route to camp.
Traditions are ok, but if it is hindering progress and common sense then they need to step out of the way.
This whole Screamer thing. At SMBC, they publish a daily one page newspaper (called the “Screamer”) of what’s going on at camp. The problem is that I think they put too much time into it vs. what it is worth. They must spend hours on this publication…staying up late hours into the night. Do the campers read it? Maybe. But if suddenly it wasn’t published one week then the younger kids would probably not even miss it. The problem is that I think that those who are doing the Screamer are doing it for themselves because they are caught up in tradition. For my time, there’s much more better things that could be done with my time. For example, the night they were writing the Screamer, I stayed in the cabin playing cards with a half dozen kids. It gained me new friends for the rest of the week….One kid even told me I was their “favorite counselor.” Would the kids have gotten the same attention if I had helped with the Screamer? Nope. We need to remind ourselves that we are here for the kids, not to continue empty traditions.
And please note, I’m not trying to bash the authors of the Screamer. I’m just trying to get people to look at the big picture. Is it really worth it? I mean we are here at camp to teach the Bible and to build friendships. Does the Screamer cover this? I don’t know. Maybe it is universally loved among everyone at camp. Maybe the world would end if suddenly it wasn’t published. But I just don’t see it.
There are 230 kids at this particular camp. Every bunk is used. The kitchen and other facilities at camp are strained to the max. This can’t be good for everyone involved. So many kids…makes you feel lost in this whole vast mass of people. There’s a time to feel like an insignificant statistic in a vast crowd of people. It’s called college. At camp more than any other time in your life, you’re supposed to be counted…you’re significant…you matter. At times I just didn’t see it happening at this camp. Campers were getting lost in the shuffle. Kids were starving for attention. Some kids need one-on-one attention….seemlingly some of them aren’t getting the attention they need here. Or maybe I’m just biased because I am used to camps with less than 100 people.
One of these larger churches needs to break away to a different week of camp. Why turn away kids from camp because they signed up late? Have enough room at camp where you have room for everyone.
I observed some of the counselors seemlingly hating every minute of camp. Screaming at the kids for not having spotless cabins. Yelling at them for not being lined up for supper. Folks, this is camp. There’s a time when we should all push things aside and let kids be kids. If you don’t like it at camp, then why go? There are plenty of other people waiting in line to be a counselor.
Please note. I’m not here to bash SMBC. I’m sure there are some VERY good things going on there. While I was there some people did ask for prayers while another one was baptized. When I see ways to improve, I let people know.
Time to end this epic post.