The first week in August

The Sampson clan (Mom's) but Dad is there too.  Never saw him with a hat--1st on the left and back row.  Grandpa S is in the middle.

Dave in the same kind of picture as on my book cover.  Not sure if he let me play with his puppy or if I let him play with my puppy.  Of course all the dogs were FAMILY dogs!

The pictures have nothing to do with my thoughts this morning.  For 33 years this morning would be the first full day of Servant Camp. Today is the 5th years I am not there.  Servant Camp holds many many memories, almost all of which are good.  To be involved in something for so long and to be a part of thousands of young people experiencing God and touching their lives, that is the best.  Some thoughts/memories:

• One year I was bitten by a spider and spent the better part of camp in bed, not one of the best memories.
• I still can see Norine's eyes at about midnight as she hurried to tell me that the frozen dough in the cooler had thawed and it was rising almost off the shelves!  The kitchen workers had to cut and bake goodies much of the night!
• For sure the most indelible memory is the year George S became ill the first afternoon of camp and died in the hospital during camp.  He was a counselor for the 4th grade boys.  After the news of his death I walked down to his unit of boys to tell them.  They happened to be doing something where they were all lined up.  As I shared the news they all took off their caps and bowed their heads.  
• The canoe trip that the girls took down the river where one girl almost drowned.  As I stood in the dining room that night after their rescue I had to decide when to call the parents.  I dialed Gail, who was at home, but no answer.  That was a long lonely night as it seemed it was only I and God there.  That was when I promised that I would never go to camp without Gail again.  That was true until 2009.
• One closing ceremony we all lit candles and stood in the dark to worship God by candlelight, it was awesome.
• I had to deal with hundreds of campers over the years and once, only once, did I have to send a camper home for bad behavior.  Not a good memory.
• A person can not think about camp without memories of the years that we had 400+ campers and another 100 staff.  Borrowed tents, rented portable toilets and perhaps borrowed grace as well! The men, who did the running, picked up the toilets and I would give money to have a picture of 5 pickups with toilets behind going down the road in a caravan!
• One of the years the temp was near 100 every day and the heat index hovered near 110.  People had ice under their hats among other ways to try to cope with the heat.  We only had one person who had to go home because of the heat.
• The Cub Scout camp that has been used for many years now has a swimming pool.  The second day of camp the head pool guy made a mistake and in the morning the pool was drained!  No pool for the rest of the camp.
• There was the evening program when the weather was threatening.  We decided to stay in the outdoor theater and go through with the program.  I knew it was safe.  The next day one of the scout staff showed me where there was a tornado that was coming at camp but made a horseshoe journey around it!
• There could be hundreds of other memories but will stop with these.

Camp came to a close for me after 2010.  It was 33 years of effort that produced much fruit but it was time.  No more announcements, no more fund raisers, just memories.  It was a good run and I am honored to have done it.  Are there some scars, for sure. Where there is much love, much activities, many decisions and many people there will always be disappointments, disagreements and hurts.  I THINK I have left most of those behind.  I would say the last few years is the first time that I could think "free" of camp.  During most of those years I am guessing that there was hardly a day went by that I did not think something about camp.  It could have been about scripture, or shirts or speakers or food or whatever but camp was never far from my mind.  If I could go back to the beginning and start over but know what was going to happen, I would do it all over again BUT it is nice to move on.  For most of those years we had a camp shirt.  I had hopes that I would continue to get a shirt for "old  times sake" but sometimes our worldly desires do not fit into reality!  Perhaps I will need to organize more family reunions to get meaningful T-shirts!
I accomplished the "cards" for August.  Terry and I send cards for family birthdays and anniversaries.  I finished all of the 6 for August.  That was nice.  
I put some chalk in the north bedroom during the weekend and now that room is pretty well finished.  I think Terry is going to do a few tiny touch ups.  I am making a cover for the radiators.  It is fun to design and make things.  I have high hopes that it will look nice.
No more FP--time to hit the road as I have a breakfast get together with a friend this morning.