Freewheeling Blog: Summer Youth Camp Memories

I've often said that, aside from having a family, the best thing I've done in my life is church youth ministry. I spent 30+ years across two churches in working with (and playing with) youth on Sunday nights and special events like summer youth camp.

Such a camp was one of the highlights of my year, and I only stopped doing it about three years ago. I knew whenever I got tired of running a cabin of middle school boys, it would be time to stop going to camp. The thing is, I never got tired of it. God just convinced me that I needed to repurpose my time into Cecil Taylor Ministries.

Anyway, I was delighted when the following Facebook memory from 2015 popped up today, so I thought I would share it (and my selfie from that camp) as follows:

Coming off a God-glorious church youth camp, the wettest, muddiest and coolest ever. Here are a few vignettes of managing a cabin of 6th and 7th grade boys.

1) Soccer ball stuck in tree twice, way up. Also one shoe and three brooms stuck in pursuit of soccer ball. Used first-aid tape to lash four brooms together to retrieve everything. Didn't attempt to reach the inner tube on the cabin roof.

2) Boy gets stung by a wasp IN HIS BED, oddly enough. Someone asks later over a meal, "What happened to the wasp?" My response: "There was a wasp in a room with 15 middle school boys. What do you THINK happened to the wasp?"

3) I delegate a 7th grader to check the clothesline out back. "Were there any clothes left on the clothesline?" Answer: "Nope." I check later. He neglected to mention all the junk still UNDERNEATH the clothesline. I should've known better than to ask the wrong question!

4) Realizing how amazing it is that these guys, who are barely more than children, are so challenged and respond so well to the many new experiences of church youth camp. Even packing a suitcase is a challenge, but we ask them to dig deep physically, socially and spiritually, and they do.

Ah, summer church youth camp. I wish I could start over and do it all again.