My Purpose...Or His....

Except from "My Utmost For His Highest" by Oswald Chambers:

God's purpose is never the same as man's purpose. This bewildering call of God comes into our lives as well. The call of God can never be understood absolutely or explained externally; it is a call that can only be perceived and understood internally by our true inner-person who has the nature of the sea in him. What God calls us to cannot be definitely stated, because His call is simply to be His friend to accomplish His own purposes. Our real test is in truly believing that God knows what He desires. The things that happen do not happen by chance- they happen entirely by the decree of God. God is sovereignly working out His own purposes.
If we are in fellowship and oneness with God and recognize that He is taking us into His purposes, then we will no longer strive to find out what His purposes are. As we grow in Christian life, it becomes simpler to us, because we are less inclined to say, "I wonder why God allowed this or that?" And we begin to see that the compelling purpose of God lies behind everything in life, and that God is divinely shaping us into oneness with that purpose. A Christian is someone who trusts in the knowledge and the wisdom of God, not in his own abilities. If we have a purpose of our own, it destroys the simplicity and the calm, relaxed pace which should be characteristic of the children of God.


It seems that I have been on this spiritual journey the past couple of years. Maybe it's because I will be finishing up college soon. Maybe it's wisdom coming with age, but for the past couple of years since I first went to camp, I feel like I have been asking, "What am I meant to do, who am I meant to be?" Looking back over the past two years I have seen much change in my life. In 2009, I moved to North Carolina for 10 weeks during the summer, took a job that I could have never imagined would have turned out to be so rewarding in so many ways. Then finding myself back home, coming off that high from the summer. Then finding my home at Trinity Baptist Church. Knowing that next summer, Camp Ridgecrest was where I wanted to be that summer. And now, coming back to Madison, picking up where I left of at Trinity and continuing my work here.

Last April, I felt that God had called me into the ministry, to pursue a masters degree in Divinity and attend seminary. Now, I am not so sure. Camp has made an impact in my life. The idea of full time Camp ministry in the future has felt at times like a calling. With Camp Ministry, there is a lot of uncertainty, jobs are far and few. Sometimes you have to take a chance, stick with a camp and hope that something opens up. Because of that uncertainty, the decision about what my future will hold is unclear.

I think that is a big part of the calling though. When we are truly called by God, to whatever his plans are, it is not always something that is comfortable to us, or something that we think we are fully ready to do, but it is God's call to us and we know for sure that if we trust in him fully, he won't let us down. It's that trusting in him fully thing that is scary.

After coming back from camp in August, I realized how much of a greater impact this second summer had on me. For the week after returning, I was very tired. It hit me all at once that I had been going non-stop for 10 weeks. After that week or so of recovery, I was ready to be back at camp. There were things that were not the same, things that were greatly missed. There were times that I found myself not wanting to be in Madison and at Trinity but back at Camp.

After a month or so of going back and forth between wanting to be at camp and the work here in Madison, I realized that there is much work to be done here. God's purpose is here and now. Maybe next summer I would find myself back at camp. Maybe there are other plans, but for right now, God has some work for me to do and it's time to get busy.

For the Summer of 2011, I will be returning to Asheville, North Carolina for another summer of camp. I will be going into my third year as a counselor. Looking at what God has in store for the preparation leading up to camp is also exciting. This coming weekend I will be going on a retreat with the Sr. High youth of Trinity Baptist Church and FBC Huntsville. Then Sunday morning we will leave the retreat early to drive to Nashville for the National Youth Workers Conference. Sunday-Monday we will be attending workshops and getting to know other Youth leaders and Minsters from around the southeast. At the end of December, I will have another opportunity to preach at Trinity Baptist Church and then I will depart for a week long vacation in Asheville, NC where I will spend a few days at staff reunion, and then bring in the new year at camp.

For the spring of 2011, I will continue to work at Trinity and continue my school work at Strayer. I know that God will be opening up more opportunities and maybe even throwing a little detour here and there to help prepare me for the summer ahead. While I am trying to stay focused on His purpose, it's hard something to understand what he wants and what direction to go in. But the purpose sometimes is the journey itself.

I ask that you continue to pray as I prepare for the upcoming summer and tackle whatever comes my way over the next year.

In the Hands of God....

What awesome and amazing things that can be done when you are in the hands of God. This summer has truly been an amazing experience.

This past week was Starter Camp. It is a one week camp for brand new campers for the Apache (7-9 yr olds) and Shawnee (10-11 yr olds). The majority of the staff leave and we get some new folks. We have a lot of people who come to work just this on week who have been around camp for a while. We have former Program directors and Tribal Leaders that come in to work. It's really cool to work with these people who have been around camp for a while and just love to come back to camp and work.

We had a great group of kids this past week and it was an excellent way to end the summer. On Thursday, our last night at camp, we had just finished camp fire and some bears came into camp and were coming down the road. Some of us (staff, not kids) took off down the road actually chasing the bear. As we got down the road, papa bear came out of the woods followed by Mama bear. Although we should have stopped, we kept chasing. We chased them all around the camp. There were enough of us, so they were scared but still, not the smartest thing to do. It was a lot of fun though.

Since returning from camp, there have definitely been things that I have missed, others, not so much. Here are a few:

1)Being waken up ever 1/2 hour from midnight to 5am because a kid was sick or needed to go to the bathroom.

2) Walking around shirtless everywhere and being able to pee anywhere

3) Having to ask a dozen times for something to be passed during meals

4) The amazing cool mountain weather every day.

5) Being able to do the most crazy and ridiculous stuff and knowing that there is someone that will join in with you or someone who will do something even more crazy or ridiculous.

6) Losing 18lbs at camp

7) Camp food

8) My kids

9) The "brotherhood" of staff

10) Camp


"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11.

The biggest thing that I have learned from God is that he has a plan for all of us. We should not focus too much on that plan though and the end result. God will give us that end result in time. God cares most about the process that we go through. His purpose is the process itself, God is not working towards a particular goal. Before I left for camp I spoke at TBC about faith and the story of Jesus walking on water. There is some good imagery there that talks about when Jesus walks on the water. In Mark 6 this story is told again. In talking about God's purpose and the process that we go through, what God desires for us most is that we see him "walking on the sea" with no shore, no success, no goal in sight but having the absolute certainty that everything is alright because I see "him walking on the sea" (6:49). God is preparing us for now, not later. His prupose is for this very minute, not for sometime in the future. What people call preparation, God see's as the goal itself. God's purpose is to enable us to see that he can walk on the storms of my life right now. If we have a further goal in mind, we are not paying enough attention to the present time. If we realize that moment-by-moment obedience is the goal, then each moment as it comes is precious.

I know over the next few days, I will reflect on this past summer and all that has been done. I hope God is up there saying "job well done. Coming away from camp, I feel that I have have made a difference, or at least that is my hope. Thinking back to the beginning of the summer and all that has happened has been overwhelming. This was a summer of being filled with God's presence each and every day. Changing lives through discipleship and adventure. That is camps mission. Lives have been changed, and it has been cool not only to see that, but to be able to say that I was a part of it. I'm not just talking about being there and being ready for when it comes, but actually being in the cabin and having those one-on-one, sometimes heartbreaking conversations with my kids.

I would be lying if I said that I wasn't tired by now, because I am. Only being back a couple of days from camp, I still find myself finding camp in everything I do and everywhere I go. Saturday morning, I woke up at 6:30am (7:30 camp time). That is when we woke up. As much as I wanted to go back to sleep, I couldn't. This morning (Sunday), I was up by 5am and couldn't go back to sleep. I know that will change in time. Every time I see kids, whether walking in Walmart or somewhere else, I think, "oh, that's an apache, or that's a shawnee".

I already know where I want to be next summer. There is still much work to be done and I can't wait to be a part of it again.

Friends at Camp....

Here are two of the counselor's that I work with that have been doing all the music for worship this summer. They are awesome!!!

Don't Let it End!!!

Two weeks left... that's it... Two weeks from this day, I will be back home in Madison. It's kind of bittersweet. While I am looking forward to getting back home and seeing friends and family and getting back into normal routine, I am already missing camp even though I haven't left yet. This summer has certainly been full of many new challenges and experiences that won't be forgotten.


The most difficult part of the last two weeks will making sure that I seize every moment to pour into these kids. The summer's almost over, great things have been done in these kids lives already this summer, but there are still even greater things to be done.

My cabin for this session, 2B, has been great. We have a bunch of leaders in our cabin and it has been going very smoothly. Next Friday, we will say goodbye to the kids as well as most of the staff. The last week of the summer will be spent working Starter Camp.

Starter camp is a one week session for brand new campers in the Apache(7-9 yr olds) and Shawnee (10-11 yr olds). We will only have two Shawnee cabins so we will go from 70 Shawnee kids to 20. My co-counselor for this week will be one of my dearest and closest friends here at camp, so I am excited about that.

It's almost over, but there is more work to be done. Pray that we will all finish out strong and not let a minute be wasted with these kids.

Glory to God Forever

Session 2A is done. One more two week session to go, 2B and then Starter camp. It's hard to believe that the summer is almost over. This past session was amazing. Every single one of the kids in my cabin were awesome, and they will all be missed. Some really cool and interesting things have been going on over the past couple of days.

Our cabin, cabin 7, won Honor Cabin for Session 2A. This is a really big honor. Our kids worked hard and deserved it. Honor cabin is given to the cabin in each tribe who shines in all the different activities. Each morning we have to clean up the cabin. We then have a cabin inspection where we get points. There are also OA's or Organized activities where we compete with the other cabins in our tribe. By winning those, we also get points that contribute to honor cabin.

Bear Mace, part 2... So we learned that the bear mace that we took on the camp out did not have the clear safety clip that it was supposed to have. That is why when I went to close, what I thought was the safety clip, I actually fired the spray.

The bears are back... We have had several sightings of black bears around camp over the past couple of weeks. Last night, or actually early this morning, I came face to face with one. Since last night was the final night of session 2A, we let our kids stay up a little later. I was going to go to bed about midnight, but I decided to sit outside on my porch for a bit and pray for each of my kids. I forgot to turn the porch light on but had a flashlight with me. As I was sitting there, I looked up and thought I saw a black fuzzy blur right in front of me. The first thought was, that could be a bear. I turned my flashlight on, and sure enough, there was a 300lb bear staring right back at me. I looked at him and he looked at me. I then turned and looked at the door to the cabin thinking about if I would be fast enough to make it to the door. I started to move slowly towards the door and then the bear started to move towards me. I then took off running towards the door and it then turned around and ran back up the hill. After getting into the cabin, I piled a few trunks in front of the door. Needless to say, it took me about an hour to get to sleep after that...

The last two week session will start on Sunday. It's hard to believe that camp is almost over. I am spending this weekend getting plenty of rest so that I can go full speed ahead for the next three weeks and make the most out of camp.

As I wrap this post up, I would leave you with this versus:
"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."
1 Corinthians 10:31

God's Sense of Humor

The summer is flying by. This group of kids will be gone by the end of the week and 2B will begin on Sunday.

Last night, we went on our second camp out for this session. We went to a place called Joshua's Hollow. It was my first time at this camp site. It is one of the shortest hikes that you can take. There is a good size creek to play in and a small covered shelter. We made it there pretty early and got enough wood gathered together to cook dinner. At 5pm we started to hear thunder so we decided to cook dinner early. Just as we got the first batch on the fire, it poured rain and started to thunder and lightening. This lasted till about 7pm. The other cabins in our tribe that were at other campsites had already hiked back to camp. We were told to wait it out since we had a shelter. The rain went away by 7:30 and we built the fire back up from wet wood, which was interesting, and were able to get the meals cooked.

The weather was fine for the rest of the camp out.

2:30AM the next morning: I wake up because I heard something drop to the ground. I reach over to the pocket in my hammock and the bear mace is not there. I look around for it and finally see that it has fallen to the ground. I get one of the kids to pick it up and hand it to me. No big deal... When I go to put it back in the pouch, I notice that the safety clip has been flipped up. Not good... This is easy to fix though, in theory... All I had to do, per the directions, was just flip it back down and it's fixed. As I flip it down, a stream of bear mace shoot out into the air. Here's a little bit of background about bear mace.

Bear mace is like a high powered version of pepper spray. If sprayed directly into humans eyes it can cause serious damage. It if it gets on your skin or eyes indirectly then rinsing with soap and water does the trick. It does burn a little though. Bear mace is also a one time use. It's not like wasp/hornet spray where you can choose how much you spray. It's a one time shot that lasts about 5 seconds. It is used to spray in the face of a bear if they are getting ready to attack. It has the same effect that a normal can of pepper spray would have on a person. However, once sprayed, you must evacuate the campsite. Bear mace attracts bears, believe it or not... So, even if you spray it to get rid of a bear you still must leave. Once sprayed, you have about 30 min before bears start showing up.


Back to the story, the spray went off at 2:35am. By 2:55am we were hiking back up the trail. The response time to get everyone packed up and moved out was incredible. A few kids had come in contact with the spray, so we had them take a shower when the got back. The last person got back to the cabin by 3:30am. By 4am, everyone was in the cabin asleep. It was a long night to say the least, but at least everyone made it back safely.

It's kind of ironic, during the rain, while we were under the pavilion, I said a short prayer asking God to provide for us and get us through the night. Sometimes God has a funny sense of humor when answering prayers and doesn't always answer them in the way you want him to. Imagine that...

A beautiful thing...

Camp is awesome!!! This will definitely be a summer to remember. We have a great group of kids this session. We have a full cabin, 10 of them. Three extra kids makes a big difference, but a good one.

This past Monday we went on our first camp out and guess what we ran into again... Hornets... Short Story...
So, we are hiking to a place called Buck Flats. This is a hike that we have already done several times this session in our tribe. Other tribes have also gone on this hike several times. We have 69 kids that are going on this hike. We are in the first part of the hike, I am about 2/3 of the way in the back of the line. I am walking with a couple of kids as we go up and all of the sudden I hear a kid screaming really loudly up ahead. I take off running ahead to find a kid coming running towards me with hornets attached to him. Even though I am not a fan of stinging things myself, I do my best to get these hornets off the kid. After that, I try to get the kid calmed down, he has been stung several times, but luckily he isn't allergic. A few more kids come up behind us. I have them wait with me until more counselors arrive. Pretty soon a couple of more counselors make it up. We get the medical kid and give the kid some medicine. I then send two counselors ahead to see if they can find the nest. The come back and say that it's all clear. We then decide to walk in one group the rest of the way. We put a couple of counselors in front, the kids in the middle and then I round up the back. We then head up the the rest of the way. We get back into the woods on the trail and it's not but 3min later, the kids in front of me turn around screaming and running, so we run back to where we started. Somehow we got tangled up in the nest again. We re-group, send a couple of counselors ahead to check it out again. This time they found it. Hanging right over the trail in a branch was a hornets nest about the size of 2 basketballs. It was huge and we had made them mad. We created a trail around it and were able to get the kids safely that time through.

The crazy part is that we have all hiked that trail several times this past summer. In fact, the nest is so close to the trail that our heads have passed right by it every time. I guess, unfortunately this time one of the kids ran into it.


This Sunday night I will speaking in front of the whole camp at Vespers. Vespers is like a devotional time in the evening on Sunday right before Council Ring. I will be talking about a passage in the John 21: 1-14. This passage talks about finding Jesus in the most common places. Many campers at camp, including myself when I was a kid at Camp, feel that they feel "closer to Jesus" while at Camp. When we leave camp, we find ourselves wanting to change things in our lives but sometimes we fall short of doing so when we return back home. We sometimes feel that we have this "real life" and camp is different. The truth is that the feelings and the closeness that we experience at camp is something that we can experience at home in our daily lives. At camp, we are constantly surrounded by christian friends that we can talk to and be ourselves around. These kids are surrounded by christian men that they can look up to and talk to when ever they need to. When they go back home, they may not have all of this love and acceptance that they get at camp, but that doesn't mean that God is any less there. As I prepare to speak on Sunday, I ask that you will be in prayer for me that God will allow me to speak his words that night.

There is only 4 weeks left at camp this summer. It is going to go by all too quickly. Please pray that God will allow us to seize every moment with these kids, give us the strength to press on when we get tired and to give us spiritual strength to improve our own lives.

Halfway there...

The summer is halfway over. Session 1B has just wrapped up. We only have two more full sessions left and then the 1 week starter camp. It’s hard to believe that things are going by so quickly. This past session we had a great group of kids who were ready to talk and open up. It was awesome to be able to have those one-on- one conversation with kids that young. One kid in particular at camp, had some life changing experiences and did a complete 180 from where he was when he first came to camp.

Last Tuesday, we went on our second camp out for that session. We went to the Catawaba camp site. From there we were able to hike down to the Catawaba falls. This is one of my favorite campsites to go to. It is really a cool place to be. The campsite is situated in a valley, which does mean it gets darker a littler earlier than normal. But after you get to the site, you can hike down to the falls. The falls are about 200ft high. There is a little bit of room to climb on them before it gets too dangerous. The kids had a blast playing in the water and see all that there was to see. I have included a few pictures in this post so you can see how awesome it is.

Unfortunately, the hike back up to the campsite after our visit to the falls was not so successful. We were almost to the campsite, I was in the back of the line, and we had about 15 kids with us. All of the sudden, I hear kids screaming in front of me and they take off running. I look up and see this huge swarm of about 15-20 hornets fly out of the ground. All but two of the kids take off running towards the campsite. Two of them come running back towards me with hornets attached to them, stinging them. As you may already know, I absolutely hate anything that stings, with a passion. So I take off running backwards as well. We finally stop to assess the situation. We get the kids shirt’s off and kill the hornets that were on them. Then we sit there for a bit and let everyone calm down. In the end, we had 4-5 kids that were stung several times. We gave them all Benadryl when we got back and they were fine.

Here’s the coolest part of the hike. The next day we set off to hike back. To say the least, there are a few nervous people as we prepare to hike back up, afraid that we will run into another nest, me included. We actually do run into another nest on the way back…. The kids had all walked over it, I was in the very back, No one got stung though, I had them run and we got away in time. Here’s the cool part though…. As we are hiking back, every single scenario is running through my mind, what if we run into another nest, what if this happens, what if that happens, how we will handle it. I was scared out of my mind to say the least, but I couldn’t show it. The kids couldn’t see how scared I was, that wouldn’t have helped the situation. About 20 min into the hike I realized something, I was trying to do this on my own, I wasn’t asking God for help, I wasn’t asking for his guidance. Right there on the hike up, I prayed and asked God to take all these fears from me. I couldn’t do this on my own; I needed his help and strength. The Jeremy camp song “Trust in You” kept ringing in my head and I thought about the words to that song on the hike up. A few minutes later, all my fears were gone. I felt completely different. It was amazing. God works in many different ways, sometimes he answers prayers directly, and this was one of those times.

For this next session, session 2A, we will have a full cabin of 10 kids. I already know that some of these kids are coming in with heavy burdens on their hearts so I will ask that you keep them in your prayers as they begin camp next week. I would like to leave you with one final thought from a morning watch last session. To be fully known with God means that we have to be willing to admit that “we are nothing but he is everything.” This is something that we were really focusing on in our cabin the past couple of weeks. We all have burdens in our lives. We have to be willing to give all of those up to God, no matter what they are, no matter how difficult it is, we have to give it all up to him, because he is the only one who can give us true peace and rest.

Hard Work... Greater Rewards

Well... we are almost a week into the second session of the summer, Session 1B. We have another great group of kids in the cabin this time. We have 7 kids, with a couple of them from Alabama. This session has been going by slowly, but that is a good thing. This session has been stressful, mentally. But it has also been very rewarding.

There have been several opportunities to reach out to the kids in my cabin. I ask that you keep each of them in your prayers as several of them are dealing with some difficult things. While these are only 10-11 yr old boys, they are dealing with some pretty adult stuff. Stuff that you wouldn't normally expect until the teen years.

One of my kids believes in God, accepts that he be forgiven for his sins, no matter what he does, but is struggling greatly with the guilt for his past sins. Another kid, who seemed to have it all together on the outside, completely broke down last night after camp fire. He began to question whether he really had faith in God. The list goes on, but as you can see, God is present at camp this session, more than ever.

It has been amazing having these conversation with these kids every night. I don't think I have gone a night this session where I haven't been sitting down with one of them and talking to them about Jesus and how amazing he is. This is what camp is all about. Building these relationships with these kids and telling them about this awesome guy named Jesus.


During the Session the staff get's one day off, either Thursday or Friday. Friday is my day off during a session. That means, for those two days we only have half of the staff at camp. On Thursday, I took the big chair. Our Tribal Leader had his day off and I took over his responsibilities as well as my cabin staff duties. At Camp each tribe has a Tribal Leader. The TL is in charge of the whole tribe. So yesterday, I took care of my kids as well as being in charge of the whole tribe. This involved some extra work on my part for the day, but the majority of the day went smoothly. The greatest compliment that I received yesterday was from the Asst. Program Director and he told me that I would make a good TL and should apply for the position next year.

We have a less than a week left with these kids. There is a lot of work to be done. I think this next week these kids will open up even more. I am excited to see what the week will hold.


On a personal note, I have found myself developing some good spiritual habits. I find myself praying more, going to the bible for guidance and feeling overall more spiritual sound. There is still a lot of work to be done and I am continuously praying that God will continue to strengthen me for what ever comes my way.

Session 1A...

Well, We have made it through the first session of the summer. The bar has been set high. We had an awesome group of kids this first session and it will be hard to beat for the remainder of the summer.

This past Tuesday we went on our second camp out of the session. The campsite that we went to was on the top of a mountain. There was a lookout spot at the campsite where you could go and sit and look over into the valley and see all the mountains. It was a truly spectacular site to see. We took the kids up there for the devotion that night and we sat there and watched the sun set and then laid there and watched the stars. It was an amazing experience for everyone.

Today we said goodbye to the kids and we have about 1 1/2 days to rest and get ready for another session. For this coming session we will have 7 kids in our cabin. I would like to leave you with some words from Camp...

"God, give us hills to climb, and the strength to climb them"

And that's camp....

It's hard to believe that we will be saying goodbye to this first group of kids at the end of the week. I have had the pleasure of having a great group of kids this session. Last night we had council ring and then tap outs for the Little Chief Test. We also did promotions for our cabin as well.

Yesterday afternoon, I put my First Aid Training into action. It's one thing to read and learn about it, it's a completely different thing to actually have to react. On the way back from the Nibble Nook, where we get Ice Cream on Sunday's after worship, a kid collapsed and passed out. He was actually a kid that was in my cabin last year. He was hypoglycemic. He was only out for about 5-10 seconds and then he regained consciousness. It was certainly a learning experience.

Today we will be taking the tribe on a field trip in the afternoon. We will be going Linvelle Caverns and then to Fudruckers. Tomorrow night we will go on another camp out and we will be making packets meals for dinner.

Fully Known

"Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." 1Corinthians 13:12

The theme for camp this year is "Fully Known". This summer we will be talking about being fully known in ourselves as well as being fully known in God. The versus above is our theme versus that we will focus on for the summer. Week 1 of kids is just about to be over. I have an awesome group of kids this session. I could not have asked for a better group. The weather has been fair this past week. There have been a few rainy days and hot days but overall, it's been good.

I really appreciate the care packages and letters that have been sent. It means a lot. I also appreciate all the prayers that you have made for myself as well as the campers this summer. As many of you know, Father's day is this weekend. I ask that you pray a special prayer for one of my campers. One of my kids lost his father not but 6 months ago. I don't know what to expect this weekend but I ask that you keep him especially in your prayers this weekend.


Finally, as promised, the above is a picture of me with my really short hair....

The Kids Have Arrived....

Well, the day has come, the point in the summer that we have all be training and praying for, the kids are here!!! It now feels like camp has really begun. For this first session, 1A, I think I have a great group of kids in my cabin, 9 of them.

Tonight we are going to be going on our first camp out. Also, I had my hair cut the other day and got it cut really, really short. I will try to get a picture to show you but just as an FYI, it's really, really, short. Please continue to pray as we get going this summer.

Shawnee Tribe!!!

There have been many exciting things going on at camp the past few days. We have been doing beautification every day, which pretty much means cleaning up around camp and making it look nice for when the campers arrive. Yesterday morning we found out what cabins we would be in for the summer and who our co-counselor is. I will be in the Shawnee tribe again, (10-11 yr. olds) and I will also be in Cabin 7 again.

Last night we went on our first camp-out of the summer with our tribe. It was a really nice camp-out. Above are pictures from the camp-out. We went to the Ridgeview Campsite which is basically just straight above camp. The next few days will be more cleaning around camp, training sessions, and meetings. The kids will be here on Sunday and then camp will truly begin!!!

Staff Week is here....

The last few days at camp have been pretty easy. Just mostly hanging out with old friends and making new ones. Wednesday night I challenged my CPR certification since it had expired and I passed the test, so now I am certified again. Since I passed the challenge I didn't have to take the whole course over again, which was a relief.

Since then, I have been mostly hanging out, going into town some with friends. There have been several games of 4 square and frisbee golf to be played in preparation for when the kids arrive. At 6:15pm today staff week will officially begin. We will kick it off with a staff dinner, then more training and work will begin tomorrow. The next week will be filled with beautification around camp, this is basically fixing camp and cleaning things up and then also several different training sessions.

It won't be long until the kids get here. There has been a little bit of rain here and there and it has been surprisingly warm. Hopefully it will cool down soon. All for now.

Day 1: Mount Mitchell and the Blue Ridge Mountains

One of the first things I like to do when I get to camp is drive up to through the Blue Ridge Mountains. So that's what I did this morning. I got on the Parkway and drove up to Mount Mitchell. On the way up to the peak there is a restaurant where I was able to stop and have breakfast as I looked down into the mountains. After that you drive up a couple of more miles and you get to the parking lot where you walk about 1/2 mile or so to the top. On the way down from the top, I took a side trail that went for about a mile and took me around the mountain and down through the ridge. It was a nice short hike to get me ready this summer. Here are some pics from the day adventures. Enjoy!!!

Well... I made it...

It feels great to be at camp. The trip up here was rather short and uneventful. I was able to make it in a bout 5 1/2 hours. There was a little rain here and there but nothing too bad. All the roads were also open, which always helps. Once I pulled up and stepped out of the car at camp, I was immediately talked into playing a round of Frisbee golf. That's camp staffers for you... priorities...

I will have pretty much the whole day tomorrow to just hang around camp or go explore Asheville if I want to. Thursday evening I will do CPR Recert and then should have all of Friday to hang out.

It's nice to be up here in the quiet and stillness for a bit before everyone arrives. Now, let the summer begin.

Getting into the Camp Routine

As camp get's closer and closer, more exiting memories of camp come back. This first picture is a picture of camp. This is where we start every morning with the morning assembly, rain or shine... We line up in order of cabins. It's great to have the whole camp together in the morning. The Program director will come around to each tribe and ask the Tribal leaders how their tribe is doing this morning. One tribe at a time will yell at the top of their lungs. We will then hear the news for the day. Being at camp, we don't have TV and rarely have time to get on the computer so Wayne, the Asst. Program Director will bring us the news for the day, mostly it is just sports updates and completely random news events. Then we will sing a song before morning prayer. The Superman song, the Wenier Man song, and the BoBo song are the top three picks.

This is a picture of the Blue Ridge Mountains. This is a great place to get away and escape to on our time off. One of my favorite things to do is to drive up to Mount Mitchell and then hike the rest of the way to the top. The sites are amazing and this is really an awesome place to sit back and looks at all that God has created.






The kids that come to camp are crazy but really cool. Most of the kids are really well behaved and ready to have a good time. Each kid is unique and brings something special to camp. I hope you had a chance to watch the video I posted in the last blog. One thing that sticks out to me when I watch that is something that Phil says. Our job at camp is to love kids, no matter what they do. This is absolutely true. Kids are going to come to camp from all different backgrounds. As counselors, we should totally love these kids. Some of the kids come to camp just to have a blast, but others come seeking something. No matter what the situation is, we should love all these kids.
This is a picture of Cole who was in my cabin last summer for session 1A. Cole was always very energetic and full of energy, but he was a really good kid. Camp sessions last for 2 weeks. The Bugle blows at 7:30am to wake up every morning. Most of the counselors take full advantage of every minute of sleep as you can imagine. The kids, on the other hand, do not, at least not for the first week. During the first week, kids are usually up by 7am ready to leave the cabin. By week 2 of the session, kids are getting a little more tired and tend to sleep in a bit more. But not Cole.... Every morning, I would wake up and Cole's bunk was across from mine. Every morning when I would wake up and first sit up, he would sit up, look at me, and smile and wave. He did this every morning for the whole two weeks I had him. That is one memory I probably won't forget. These are the types of things that make camp so great. Kids do crazy and cool things.

Please continue to pray for myself and the staff as we get ready for this summer, but also pray for these kids that will come through the camp gates. Pray that they will have the summer of their lives, and that their hearts will be open to hearing about God's word.

A Glimpse of Camp

Here's a little glimpse of what Camp is all about... Enjoy!!!

Staying in Touch

There are several ways to stay in touch with me over the summer.

First and foremost, if you need to reach me in an emergency, you will need to call camp directly and ask for me. Camp's number is: 828.669.8051. Please only call in an emergency.

I can be reached via mail at the following two addresses:

For letters, send mail to:

Patrick Streeter
Camp Ridgecrest for Boys
PO Box 279
Ridgecrest, NC 28770

For packages, send mail to:

Patrick Streeter
Camp Ridgecrest for Boys
290 Yates Avenue
Ridgecrest, NC 28770


Letters are always greatly appreciated at camp. Care packages are also greatly appreciated. Food is always a good thing to receive. We are not supposed to have food in the cabins because of health code requirements, however, campers and staff do it anyways. We also have a plan in place to make sure it disappears when the health inspector shows up. If you wish to send a care package here are a few suggestions for things to include:

Nuts/Trail Mix (Resealable bag or container)

Candy ( Individually wrapped)

Walmart Gift Cards (Anything I will need to buy while I am up here will most likely come from Walmart)

Camp Ridgecrest Here I come

In less than 26 days I will find myself at Camp Ridgecrest in Asheville, North Carolina for another 10 weeks of camp. Camp last year was amazing in many ways. I am looking forward to another amazing summer. I have already begun packing for the summer and moving things out of the condo. I think I will find myself taking less to camp this year, which is a good thing :-) . As camp gets closer I know you all will be praying for me. I know you will want to pray for me specifically but I also ask that you pray for my fellow counselors, pray for the kids that will be at camp this summer and pray for all the awesome, life changing experiences that both campers and staff will have.
I am continuing the email update list from last year, but as you can see, I have added a few names. If you know of anyone else that would like to receive camp updates, please forward my emails onto them or send me their email address and I will add it to the list. Also, if you do not wish to be on this list, let me know that as well. I have set up a blog for this summer. Hopefully I will be able to add pictures as well as other information on the blog. The link to the blog is: http://campridgecrest2010.blogspot.com/

In Christ,
Patrick