Day 70

there's been eleven hundred kids so far and we're one third of the way through the summer.

today was the break between the otherwise consistent routine of camp ending on a friday and the next one starting on saturday. we had staff development day and most of the staff and counselors had to go to workshops and sessions but russ, the music/media head took us three video guys into crofton for ice cream. good guy.

i don't think i've ever introduced russ here. he was the lead singer of canada's first popular christian pop band 'hokus pick' from 1989-1999. he often entertains us with stories of backstage events and roadtrips from when his band toured with dc talk. now he works at qwanoes and writes a bunch of the theme songs and other camp tunes. campers of the past have apparently nicknamed him 'the squirrel' and his short interjections of exclamations and jittery mannerisms daily reveal this subtle, humorous title.

after permission (no policy-breaking here) and a skate around crofton, we came back for a staff night meeting in q-town. jim badke, the kaleo leader, spoke and his simple, concise, and meaningful words were a refreshing change to the usual analogized and winding, youth-oriented weekly speakers. paul, shaun, and i stayed around after because this fresh perspective of the big picture for the summer had completely revived our waning enthusiasm for the routiness of our collective jobs. i wondered out loud if it would be worth all this production and work if only one kid would be saved amid the three thousand plus that came over the summer. if Jesus would die if it was to only save just me, then all this is definitely worth it. many, many kids have already been saved.

as we talked, i imagined Jesus walking through camp, standing in the cabins, moving around tables during the furious action of mealtimes, and sitting in the back row of q-town all while having a steady manner of turning just in time to nod or watch or hear or smile at what he saw was going on. there is this eternal significance here.