What We Learned at Camp

I felt as if God orchestrated my being able to go to camp this year. The cat was so sick, and I was so worried. Then suddenly, he was reasonably well again, and my fears about leaving him evaporated. I found myself excited about going to camp (I'm a homebody who tends to dread leaving) and completely looking forward to it.

As an adult leader, I assumed God wanted me there for the students. Little did I realize that He really seemed to want me there to wake me up.



The week's theme was Move: The Faith Journey. The morning bible studies revolved around Moses and his call to lead the Israelites out of captivity and back to their promised land. His was certainly a faith journey of epic proportions, but it wasn't his story that spoke so firmly to me. It was Gideon's.

The camp speaker used different biblical passages each evening, including Micah 6, 1 Kings 18, and Matthew 17. But it was Gideon's story in Judges 6 that really slapped me awake.

The Midianites were holding the Israelites captive by destroying their crops and livestock. Gideon was secretly threshing wheat in a winepress when the angel of the Lord came to him and told him that he would save the Israelites. This didn't seem possible, as Gideon was the youngest in his family, and his family was from the smallest tribe. Gideon told the Lord that, but it didn't matter. The Lord let him know that as long as He was on Gideon's side, things would work out. The Lord even made a point of that by using a mere 300 men armed only with torches and trumpets to defeat the Midianites.

The message in a nutshell: If God is calling you to do something, he will equip you to be able to do it. When you're following God's calling, he will make you successful.

I shared with my youth that several years ago, I felt the need to write a youth-based bible study on a specific biblical passage. My own fear of failure and general laziness about it caused me to do nothing. I even had a story published in that time, which should have given me the clue that I am a good enough writer to do this. Yet, I still did nothing. That urge was there for a few years and then suddenly... it was gone. All I can figure is that God decided that if I wouldn't do it, then he'd pass the job on to someone who would.

Ouch.

In recent months I've been encouraged again in various ways to start writing devotional materials. In fact, I had a Christian writing opportunity drop right into my lap out of nowhere. And you know what? I did nothing about it. So when I say that this Gideon lesson spoke to me, I mean that it actually smacked me in the face and knocked me off kilter.

I have some work to do.

Centrifuge 2009

We returned from Centrifuge (youth camp) late Saturday night. I've been catching up on sleep, loving my cats, and trying to get mountains of laundry done since then. But I thought I'd share a few highlights from youth camp.

The camp we go to is in Glorieta, NM. The mountains were a glorious change from our 105-degree temps here in Texas.




The sunsets were beautiful:



So were the storm clouds:



Worship was amazing. The Daniel Doss Band led the music, and they were good:



A few of our kiddos during worship:



The whole reason we were there:



A scene from lunch. Disappointingly, the food wasn't good this year. Ordinarily, the food at Glorieta is the best camp food you'll ever get, but this year, it was as bad as any other camp. But you know what? I didn't have to cook for a whole week:



Mega Relay is on the last day of camp. All the bible study groups compete against each other for the Fuge Cup. In the past the kids wore war paint and looked pretty crazy and a little fierce. It made things more fun. However, the war paint was apparently staining the camp's showers, so it's now forbidden. They still had fun, though:





The adult sponsors:



What it looks like to share a room with middle school girls:



Steven and I wearing opposing Star Wars shirts:



And finally, the sanctuary lit up at night:



I'll post some about what we learned in a later post. If you're on Facebook with me, I'll have more detailed photos up there before long. (You know, where you can actually see faces and action.)

Because Leaving Can't Be Easy

We leave for youth camp tomorrow. Because our bathroom faucet has been dripping, Steven decided to replace it before we left. He started on it Friday night, then discovered he didn't have a part he needed. Saturday he got back to work on it, then discovered the old original plumbing was problematic. (Don't ask me how because I don't know, nor do I really care, as long as it's fixed.)

This turned into a call to our friend Dan, who is very knowledgeable about plumbing. Poor Dan spent part of his 4th of July under our bathroom sink. But we're so grateful!



This just reminded me of last year and having to repair the couch the day before leaving for camp. Leaving just can't be easy, it seems.

If you think about it during the week, pray for us. We're taking 35 students to camp with us this year, including a few whom we believe are not saved. I'll be taking a blogging break for the next 1-2 weeks, which frankly, I need because I think I've become dull and uninspired. A time of spiritual retreat is something I definitely need right now.

Also, say a prayer for Calvin that he stays well while we're away and doesn't give his "aunties" taking care of him any trouble.

I'm Spoiled

Our church has everyone going to youth camp fill out an "adoption" form, answering questions such as, "What's your favorite snack?" "What are your hobbies?" "What is your favorite color?" People can pick up a form to adopt a student or sponsor, give them a few goodies to take to camp, and pray for them all week while they're away.

My friend Michelle "adopted" me, and boy, did she spoil me! She had all of this waiting for me at small group last night:



Not only did I get bags overflowing with goodies, but they're PINK! I collect turtles from around the world, so she got me that super-cute water bottle with turtles on it. There are a couple of books in there for my reading pleasure. A sweet note for both Steven and me with a couple of generous additional gifts.

And the best part? A letter for me to read each day I'm gone. How great will that be to wake up each day and know that I have a new note to read? Can't wait!

Yesterday was Michelle's birthday (Happy Birthday, Mi!), but she totally made it feel like mine. She's sweet like that. I feel positively spoiled.

Homemade Tortillas

I tried a new recipe last night from the $2 vegetarian cookbook I bought at Goodwill last week. It was a very healthy wrap that consisted of a spread made with avocado and goat cheese, and a filling with cucumber, red onion, alfalfa sprouts, and a red chili. It included the recipe for making the tortillas to wrap it all up in, so I decided to try it. You see, I've had a tortilla press for years, and I've never used it.

Talk about easy! The dough is nothing more than flour, water, olive oil, and salt (recipe at end). Pop a ball of dough onto the tortilla press:



Close it and press down on the handle:



Open it, and voila! You have a tortilla:



Pop it onto a hot skillet:



Heat about 30 seconds, then turn it over to heat the other side:



There you have it. Fresh, homemade tortillas:



Small confession: I thought the tortillas were too small and thick straight from the tortilla press, so after I made about 3 of them, I pulled out my rolling pin and rolled the rest of them to be a bit flatter and larger.

Tortillas

Mix together:

2 cups flour
1/2-3/4 cup warm water
3 Tbls. olive oil
A pinch of salt (although after tasting the finished product, it needs more than a pinch IMO)

Knead the dough, then cut it into 8 pieces. Roll out into tortillas. Cook individually on a cast iron or non-stick skillet, about 30 seconds on each side.

Crafts That Save the Planet?

Call me a cynic, but that seems like a rather dubious claim.



Admittedly, I'm going to be picking on the latest issue of Paper Crafts magazine, but it's really a general observation. Let's face it: It's trendy to claim that little things are saving the planet. But are they really?

I'm all for reusing things or saving stuff from landfills, but I've never really understood the logic of people who write to Heloise with their tips for using plastic grocery sacks as garbage-can liners or pooper-scooper bags, then claim that they are recycling the bags. They're being tossed in the landfill whether they're being filled up with something or not, so I can't buy the argument that it's a glorious deed. Granted, it is helpful if it means not using some other bag in its stead, but it's hardly recycling if the ultimate end is the garbage can.

That leads me to this magazine. Please understand that I very much like this magazine; I bought it, after all. I'm just shaking my head a bit at the front-cover claim of projects that "save the planet."

Okay, so using the packaging of a craft item is better than just tossing it in the garbage. But are you actually saving the planet by doing so? Not really, especially as purchasing the item in the first place is encouraging the manufacture and shipment of the product, which are a billion times worse for the earth than just tossing the packaging away.

Making a campfire kit is hardly eco friendly. Yes, it may be taken camping in the great outdoors, but it's actually creating more garbage because cute labels are being made to go around the already-existent wrappings of the chocolate bars, graham crackers, and marshmallows for s'mores.

Please don't call a project eco-friendly when it involves printing things out on cardstock. Doing so uses electricity. How is that helping the planet?

Now, I'm certainly not saying that we shouldn't do any of those things. Goodness knows I have such an issue with buying new craft supplies that I had to challenge myself not to do so for a while. My point is merely that I'm tired of all the trendy claims of things saving the planet when they really aren't. Keeping things out of the garbage can? Maybe, in some cases. But truly eco-friendly? I don't think so.

Weekend Thrifting

Typically when I go to thrift stores, it's for amusement purposes. I just like to see what they have, and if I happen to find something useful or interesting, all the better!

I didn't expect to find things we need.



I found a brand-new Filtrete allergen-reducing air filter at Goodwill for only $4! I typically pay at least $10 for those! My theory is that someone bought it, opened it, then realized it was the wrong size for their air conditioner. But it's the right size for mine!

The light bulbs are for our bathroom fixtures. We have those out-of-style (but I actually like ours) Hollywood-strip light fixtures, and they take a lot of those round bulbs. Not only are these brand-new, but they're compact fluorescents. Only $2.19 for each box of 4 bulbs.

I love finding life's necessities inexpensively. Such an unexpected blessing.

And then there was the $2 cookbook that I simply wanted. Calvin decided to show it off for you:



My husband groaned in mock horror when he learned I'd bought a vegetarian cookbook, but he'll get over it. It's good for his kidneys.