Summertime

~Summertime~

Current mood: enlightened

Summer-time is stereotypically known for college students to go out and have as much fun as you can with friends, family, getting kinda crazy (for some of us) and getting crazy ridiculous (for others of us). It's a time for us to let loose and get rid of that winterized, indoor mentality that we get caught up in (I feel sorry for the people living in Alaska).

This summer has been no exception for me. Living in the desert, we get the cold 20 degree temperatures in the wintertime and hot 110 degree days in the summertime. Of course we would want to get out there and get a tan, go to the beach and live it up while its hot. Knowing me, this year is no different, except for this summer had a twist to it.

This year I had the opportunity to volunteer as a camp counselor with the jr. high and high school ministry at High Desert Church in Victorville. Almost 300 students from the church traveled to Hume Lake, California (South and East of Yosemite) for 6 days of well...you guess it...A LOT OF NOISE. There were approximately 37 counselors from our church that went to be apart of this adventure and what an adventure it was. I had 10 students, 1/2 of them sophomores & 1/2 of them juniors in my cabin. Between getting roughly 2-3 hours of sleep each night, the God AWEFUL smells of high school boys in one tiny room and the amount of exhaustion your body goes through as it is pushed 20 hours a day was unbelievable, not to mention for zero pay. Your faith ultimately gets tested, but I would not have had it any other way. I am sure the rest of our counselors felt the same way (right Robos & Bots??!!) I remember at our meeting before we left Pastor Tim Kuhl said to me, "This will not be a vacation for you." I was like, yeah right...how hard could it be. I will have so much free time, I won't know what to do with myself. AINT!! Wrong answer. What was in store for me was entirely different.

Joseph Lightfoot summed it up by saying, "If you help others, consult their weaknesses, relieve their maladies and strive to raise them up, by doing this you will effectually raise yourself up also." A sense of "wow, its not about me anymore" comes over you. These 10 high school students looked up to me for everything and watched me, even when I was not looking. All they wanted was for someone to care for them, have fun with, entertain them and laugh with them. It's funny when you engage in recreation, worship, prayertime, and one-on-one conversations with them that most of them look up to you, open up and share things they wouldn't dare tell their parents. The bond that's shared with them creates a mentor-type friendship that you will never forget. That's when I realized life is not about me anymore, it's about others and what we can do to help them succeed in life.

My experience as a counselor will never be forgotten and I can't wait to do it again next year. I think once you come to a point in life when you believe "it's about others, not me mentality," your appreciation for friends and the younger generation skyrockets. It has for me. I am excited for next year at Hume Lake as a counselor, and even excited for us counselors to get pounded in the Gauntlet again by a Big Ogar with a jousting stick (yes I got knocked into the water by him...)I will be emailing pictures to you guys from Hume in the next couple of days. Also, feel free to check out Hume's website at http://www.humelake.org/ We are under "High School Ponderosa, Week 4." Check us out getting taken out by the Big Ogar (I'm the one getting my head pounded in the water!) Or to get there faster, you can click on this link

http://www.humelake.org/photos/?id=215 and choose Ponderosa High School Camp, Week 4, Thursday.

All in all, it's the learning as we go & experience in life that gives us a reality check of who we are as Christians. Our creator has mapped out our life anyway, even when we don't think so. If I didn't believe there was a God before camp, I sure would have now! I would encourage any of you who have not had the opportunity to be a counselor to be one. The opportunities and promises God has in store for your lives are endless. You will not regret it, I promise you.

Scottie