We found a used roll of film at camp. By the end of the week, it remained unclaimed, so I took it home. I’ve dropped it off at Kmart to see what develops. I hope I’ll recognize the people in it. Otherwise the film might not make it to its intended recipiants.
We didn’t have any baptisms at camp. Used to I would judge a camp’s success by the number of baptisms by the end of the week. Now I know that this is a missused factor. All we can do is prepare the soil. God provides the increase. Baptism is a very personal decision. It was a subject which was frequently brought up during those late night cabin discussions. I never strongly urge any camper to be baptized. I wait for them to come to me to ask about baptism. I don’t want them to make a decision based on someone else’s views. I did have a few campers in my cabin who matter-of-factly admitted they weren’t baptized. I would just say to the rest of the cabin it was a personal decision and didn’t carry it any further than that.
On a similiar note, the camp director did not have any invitations given during the nightly sermons at camp. I can understand why this decision was made. I’ve been to many camps before where invitations songs were sung and many people came forward to be baptized or rededicate their lives to God. While this can provide many opportunities for spiritual motivation, it can have a negative long term effect. These type of decisions can be based on emotionallism. Once the emotionalism is gone, so is the person’s desire to go to church. Important decisions shouldn’t be based on emotionalism.
Once again I’ll be putting together a slide show CD Rom of the pictures I took at camp. I’m continuously looking for songs to put as background music. Last year I used “With a Little Help from My Friends” by Joe Cocker and “Time of Your Life” by Green Day. Here is a partial list of songs which I am considering this year:

• Right Now – Van Halen
• Forever Young – Joan Baez
• Flood – Jars of Clay
• In My Life – The Beatles
• Superman – Five for Fighting
• Good – Better than Ezra
• True Colors – Cyndi Lauper

I am really dreading going back to work on Monday. I’ll probably find out that I’ve been laid off or something. That’s what usually happens when you’re gone for a long time.

There’s always a certain type of blues that sets in just after camp. There’s a urge to go back. Being the only one from Mt. Juliet who goes to this particular camp, I have no one to share similar experiences with. Maybe I can talk Phil into sending Mt. Juliet’s youth group to this camp next year.
I was in a cabin with eight 13 year old boys. For the most part they were good. I only had to get on to them a few times. There was another counselor who was supposed to be in the cabin with me. He showed up on Sunday afternoon and then left to see a friend of a friend in the hospital. He never called after that. After almost 24 hours of anyone not hearing from him, we were going to report him as a missing person, right before he made contact with someone. He stopped by camp on Wednesday to pick up his stuff and to tell us he wasn’t going to be around for the rest of camp. Am I disappointed? Slightly. He definitely should have called to tell us what he was going. Am I mad? Not in the least. I’m not going to hold a grudge about that. It would have been good to have him in the cabin to help supervise the kids.
It’s sorta difficult being a mentor toward these campers for one week of the year, then letting them go back to their own congregations hoping they will remember whatever you told them. Some of the kids’ home life is not exactly the best. Their parents are lackluster in their church going. Some of them only come to church because close relatives take an interest in their spiritual well being.
If you want to see some pictures from this week, go here.

Whew! Back from camp. I had an excellent time. The staff was very friendly toward me. The kids were great. I think I made a positive impact at camp (at least I hope I did).
The relay races I had been so worried about went fine. The only problem is that I should have scheduled the shaving cream/cheese ball competition at the very end. Somehow having people with their face covered in shaving cream creates the tendency to make a huge mess. I gave the shaving cream participants a dollar so they wouldn’t play pranks on me. Surprisingly it worked. For some unknown reason, I don’t usually have any pranks pulled on me. I guess I am considered non threatening and would not make an easy or worthwile target. Maybe there are bigger and better targets to go after.
We did have an incident where we had to send a camper home. What basically happened was the camper lost his temper over being spurned on love. Threats were made and we thought it was best to send the camper home. It’s sad because the camper being sent home needed this camp more than any other person this week. I’m still frustrated that we had to send him home.
It is really weird to move from a very stressful environment of trying to keep up with data requests to another environment where the main concern is pulling pranks late at night. My campers seemed to be overly concerned with pranks. They started at full force Sunday night. By the time Wednesday and Thursday night had rolled around, they had run out of interesting pranks. I tried to get them to hold back until later on in the week, but they would have no part of it.
Oh yeah, if you want to look at old pictures of camp – go here.
Well I’m pretty sleepy, so I’m going to sleep. Might update this weblog later on…..

The drive up to camp is about 2 hours from here. I’m going to be stopping at the grocery store for some last minute items before I get there. Camp actually doesn’t begin until Sunday afternoon, but a few of us are driving up early to help setup. I’m also going to try to get used to my surroundings. No matter where I’m at, if I am not in my own bed, I always have trouble sleeping that first night when I am away.

It’s hard to believe I’m once again going to camp. This will be my 10th year at this particular camp. Through my many years of participation, I’ve come up with some strategy for camp:

• Gain the respect of the alpha male in your cabin. Within male cicles, there is always the dominate figure…ie. the alpha male. This is the one the rest of the peers follow. If you gain his respect, the rest of the campers in your cabin will respect you also.
• Never ever talk down to the campers. Treat them as your equals. By doing so you will gain their respect and they will be more likely to listen to you.
• Overall have a good attitude even when things might not be going the best….Remember you’re here for just one week. Make the best of it.
• Never miss the opportunity to give encouraging words to someone. A little bit of encouragement goes a long way.

I may be able to update this weblog from camp, but don’t hold your breath. You may not hear from me for about a week.

Except for a few minor items, I think I have almost everything for church camp next week. I know I’ll probably forget something when I’m packing, but I’m not too worried about it. I can always go to Walmart or Dollar General down the road. Seems like every year I end up bringing more stuff to camp.
I am excited about camp. It is the highlight of the summer and most likely the highlight of the entire year. Camp is one of those few places where you can find pure Christianity. The devotional songs just sound better at camp. The prayers seem much more earnest. The friendships formed at camp seem much more sincere. People who I’ve only spent one week at camp with, I’ve kept in touch with for 10 years or longer.
Each day at camp I get see a great view of the hill ridge next to camp. The view is amazing. Pictures just don’t do it justice.