Thursday, June 19, 2008

Day Camp Rewind

Contrary to a widely circulating rumor, I am alive.

Barely.

Monday morning marked the 17th year of First Principles Day Camp for me. Hard to believe, but every summer since 1991 has seen some variation of Day Camp for the 4th-8th graders leading up to summer camp (For those of you unfamiliar, First Principles Day Camp is a two-hour a day/ three-day curriculum about becoming a disciple of Jesus. It is designed for 4th-8th graders the week before summer camp to introduce them to the Bible teaching about salvation. Each night the youngsters have homework designed to be done in tandem with their parents in order to get the conversation going at home and involve mom and dad on their child's journey toward the Kingdom). First Principles Day Camp is one of the high points of my summer; one of the highlights of my year!

This year brought a heightened enthusiasm leading up to Day Camp because this marked the first time my own daughter was old enough to attend. I had been so excited about leading the 36 kids who'd signed up for Day Camp through the experience and especially excited about one kid in particular, my daughter.

I awoke with a strange feeling on Monday -- not the enthusiasm that ordinarily marks the beginning of Day Camp but the feeling that the prior evening's Taco Bell wasn't settling well.

I tried to gut it out -- "gut" being the key word.

I lasted for four minutes.

Now, it's Thursday morning. Day Camp has passed. Two children have been added to the Kingdom, immersed last night by their dad's.

And I? Well, I'm 9.6 pounds lighter today than I was when I weighed on Saturday, still just more than a bit weakened from the worst intestinal virus/bacteria/flu -- Montezuma's Revenge -- of my life.

I didn't think those awful illness inducers grew in the heat of the summer?

Kudos to Joe Boe for picking up the slack for me and teaching; to Grady and John for helping organize the afternoon fun and games for the kids; for the various moms/grandmoms who provided lunch; for Ron and Ken providing transportation to some far-flung reaches of Fresno to children who wouldn't have come otherwise; and for every mom and dad who invested time this week doing homework with their children.

Saturday, it's off to YBC and the largest contingent ever from Woodward Park, over 240 strong! I am praying that Breanne and Garrett are not the last of the new additions to the Kingdom of God.