Sunday, June 28, 2009

It's really good idea to jump off cliffs, but is it really a good idea to throw turtles around? I think not, especially the snapping ones because they look like a prehistoric menace that shrank and is mad because it had no purpose in life. What is their purpose, I've been wondering. We found the big guy in a pool next to the spot where we were jumping off cliffs into. I was nervous because I thought he'd show up again when I'd be frantically swimming back to the cliff to climb back up. Fortunately, no one else saw his sorry face anymore this afternoon.

I had a really good week this last week counseling a cabin of rambunctious junior high boys. They were a handful but a lot of fun. Two were hyper-active, one of which had anger problems and I'm pretty sure was a hypochondriac who would dream up every possible form of ailment and claim he needed to be hospitalized for it. First there was the Tuesday evening y nose bath in our cabin while I was trying to lead devotions. Then there was the extreme sunburn which turned into an issue of massive proportions! He got over it and really surprised me by the end part of the week when he was the first kid to get up at the campfire and tell what God had been doing in his life this week. It blew me away because it was at that moment that I decided that there would be no need to throw him into the lake that night. He was searching and God was meeting him here.

The first few meals at my table involved spilled milk and lots of sloppy slop campers! I decided to institute a friendly who-could-have-the-cleanest-place setting competition and...it worked. I gave out t-shirt prizes (It was easier than stopping by the Good Will drop box plus they love my old llbc camp tees) and I think I gave away some false teeth too. I had my friend come over and inspect very meticulously each place setting at the end of every meal and they were in to it!

One of my campers prayed and asked Jesus to come into his heart which was really cool. That's what I was really excited about happening this week and it's what I had been praying would happen for a long time. I guess God really does answer prayer, and he proves it every day here. Nice! One night, we grabbed all our mattresses and went to the middle of the ball field, under a blanket of stars and slept there. Charlie prayed that it wouldn't rain for the night and it didn't--until 6:30 am. But what a GREAT wake up call!

Today I ate the biggest cinnamon roll known to man. It was twice the size of my head and roughly two football fields in length and tasted really sweet. Matt the Musician had to help me eat it all because between that and my life-size-of-a-Volkswagen BLT sandwich, it just wasn't easy.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Here I am now. Here I am. I'm here, right now at LLBC. Lake Lundgren Bible Camp, home of the famous Lake Lundgren and featuring a camp that teaches the Bible and yep, here I am. I also get to work with a very famous and inspirational person, Jon Utzat , my counselor from back when I was a wee little camper in 2001 and '03. My he's grown since those years, (not really), but it's great to reunite with someone who has really shown me what Jesus is like, and someone who has led me along into growing deeper in my relationship with him.

I thank you God, for bringing me here and for helping me get through such a great book like "Searching for God Knows What" by Donald Miller. As I sit in this boat that is docked and experience the love you have for me
to use
for you
to others.
Lord, help me to be someone who truly embraces a spirituality like no other romantic attraction and perpetual infatuation known to man. Let me throw out the old and take in the
newness
the fresh
the invigorating
blessed gasps of air
of which you've already exhaled onto your creation.
You've saved me from the penalties of
sulfer
red
choking
blood
that which is the sly flatulence of satanic
proportions
and I have no desire for it's pukey, repulsive
nature

I want to lead kids into a definite world of your grace, Father. To let them experience you and only you. To throw away the old of rejection and Christian monotony. To excrete the systematic religious rhetoric and an embrace on a culture war.

We've already lost a war. The war we've been fighting since the beginning of our time, found in our . It is this fight that started when we lie and say we're something else, as if to say we've somehow been exempt from our tendencies to make mistakes. It's a war that has begun when we decided we really didn't need God nor his love therefore revolting against both of those.

It's a war against our natural desires and tendencies, broadened to the term sin. We all have it just like we all have rear ends, we just hide them inside our pantaloons and
forget.
forget..
forget...
The love, the relational sensation, that feeling of connection. We're Christians on a ship adrift in an uncharted sea, numb to the legs that once freely walked the fresh ground. The wood in the ship slowly decays and so does our character, esteem, worth.
Loneliness.
Where is the Christ we committed to so long ago? The one we polished our decks for, raised the masts for, said "aye aye, Captain" to.
Where is he?
Where is the harmony between the tossing waves and this ship which brought us together in tune? Are we just an island bobbing up and down in our Christian swirl of despair?
A ship that at first glance looks
ornate
strong
victorious
But when you hit the deck, the rotting nature of our true identity is exposed and the rotten cargo is smelt. Our canons, aimed accusingly at other ships, bringing them down because of their differences in
opinion
denomination.

Laid to waste for the sake of our own esteem.

It is the outstretched tips of light that brings us back to the harbor. A place of community and love where ships of different sizes can finally be docked for the sake of unity. The Lighthouse Keeper, his footsteps echoing on the worn wood dock, makes his rounds according to his caring nature, cleaning the mold off of every one.
Cleansing
Restoring
Reviving every weathered one to a ship-shape standard of excellence, and the redemptive touch results in a shimmering fleet of worthiness. Every need is met and a love so personal is felt between each and every ship and the Lighthouse Keeper, whose light shines bright into the starry seascape.
Forever.