Leaving Camp, Concert, ipads...

Rafting trips are going out today and tomorrow. A bunch of campers sign up for a rafting trip to the Pigeon river in Tennessee… it is fun. The mountains around here offer many really amazing rivers for rafting, canoeing, or kayaking. They also offer amazing hiking opportunities, amazing mountain biking, and amazing rock climbing. This brings up a point you should understand about Greystone.

Most camps around here take full advantage of all of these “tripping opportunities” with anywhere from 1/3 to 3/4 of their community out of camp at any point during the typical day. We don’t.

Not because we don’t like to be “dirty”.

Not because we prefer “Knitting”.

Not because we “can’t handle it”.

We stay here, because at Greystone “community is king”.

We are a big camp, about 500 campers and 200 counselors. This is a gift… but also a responsibility. Jesus tells us that “to whom much has been given much will be required”… what does that mean in our camp? Keep everyone together and we become a tightly woven family. Going off to do our own “fun things” takes away from the family dynamis; at least that is what happens.

We used to go off on many trips, I love them… great moments for the girls, they are certainly fun and worthwhile. But the campers would come back to camp with regrets. They would be sorry that they missed a moment that the rest of the group enjoyed. Morning Assembly, art projects, activity skills, food, evening program… all of these are more highly valued by the campers than the trips away from camp. A small group (less than 20 in the entire camp) would routinely go away… making them less connected to their cabin and their classes. Every year, fewer and fewer girls would sign up for the trips and we would just cancel them due to a lack of interest.

We work very hard to make this community perfect. We offer a very high level of instruction in a bunch of very difficult activities (many of which you can not easily learn at home). We offer incredible food that is unexpectedly good and satisfying. We offer incredible talks (listen to the morning assembly devotions, we post them on the website), incredible evening programs (last night was perfectly delightful), and incredible bonding time (our cabin group, dining room table, every class group, and the quiet moments (for deep meaningful conversations or DMC’s). It all adds up to magic.

The magic still happens when we go on trips, but it is less strong. The Holy Spirit likes us to be together, it is obviously better when we do so. That is why we only go out of camp for a couple of events… skiing and rafting.

Anyhooo… why did I go on and on. Boring? Sorry.

Beautiful day: cooler temperatures, sunny skies, full moon, fireflies, flowers, birds chirping, fish jumping. La tee Da tee Da tee Da.

Wonderful food: Eggs Benedict for breakfast. Seriously. The “space ship” oven can poach 1000 eggs perfectly. Each one is a perfect shape and texture… creepy. How does it do that? The hollandaise sauce was tangy and creamy. We used ham, not Canadian bacon… English muffin… as I said before, seriously good.

Lunch is Shepherds Pie, the campers will go wild… they LOVE IT. Dinner is home made chicken soup and cheese toast; hopefully it will be chilly outside!

Cheers for now.

Oh, and thanks for the comments. So many wonderful comments are addicting for me. I find myself checking the site 3 and 4 times an hour, hoping to find new comments to approve. You are very encouraging and witty. Thank you.

Jimboy

LATE BREAKING NEWS: Tonight is Concert Night at Camp! We do not normally have concerts at June Camp (it is a Main Camp tradition, but we got an opportunity to have a really great band play for us and they are only available tonight). Mockingbird Sun is the band… they play fun, dancing, bluegrass, country fusion music. Nice guys… one of their singers (Brett Taylor) graduated from TCU and played in the RUF band for Rob Hamby (our camp minister). The band is quality… opened for Toby Keith last month, have played with Pat Green and Jack Ingram this year. We will be serving Ben and Jerry’s ice cream at a lakeside concert after dinner. Fun Times!!!

MORE LATE BREAKING NEWS: Mobile users… the news is now optimized for your use. The News on your ipad will now have the photos at the top. It is stunning on an ipad.

FINAL LATE BREAKING NEWS:
1. A HUGE STORM HIT JUST BEFORE DINNER. WE BROUGHT THE OVERNIGHT GROUP BACK AND THEY ARE SLEEPING IN THE GYM JUST TO BE SAFE. THE STORM WAS FUN! THE CAMPERS WERE SINGING SO LOUD IN THE DINING HALL.
2. THE CONCERT WAS BETTER THAN GREAT. IT WAS SOOOO AWESOME!!! MOCKINGBIRD SUN NOW HAS A BUNCH OF NEW FANS. WE HELD THE CONCERT IN THE PAVILION, GREAT ENERGY… JULIE WAS THERE TO TAKE PICTURES, SHOULD BE GOOD.

I WILL TELL YOU ALL ABOUT IT TOMORROW.

GOOD NIGHT GREYSTONE FRIENDS
3. HOW GREAT IS THIS LIFE???