... does that make me a stranger?

Wow. It's been a long time since I've been able to do a blog entry here. I honestly don't know where to start. I have so many great stories from the past two weeks, so many changing emotions and keen-ish thoughts that I've wanted to share, but now that I finally sit down at my computer, I'm not sure what to share. I could tell about my encounter with the Seven Mile Mayor's Court (just think Andy Griffith & Maybury), busting campers and counselors who were trying to sneak out at night, or even getting one of my front teeth busted then magically replaced at the dentist. Oh, the stories could go on and on.

But at this point I'm so emotionally and physically exhausted that I just think I'll write another paragraph then call it quits. My camp weeks are jam-packed ... I'm one of the first ones up and the last one to bed, plus I don't get any breaks at all (so I'm basically on the clock 24/6). We just got off of a huge week ... with 84 campers and some really full camps. And it really was an amazing week. It was our first time with older campers, junior high and high school kids, and because of that there was so much hunger, so much spiritual maturity and straightforward longing for Christ. Last night we had a knighting ceremony, where campers could choose to commit their lives in service to the King ... and so many kids came forward. It was a time of healing, of purging, of dedication ... the good stuff.



Ok, so I lied, there's gonna be another paragraph. I just had to post this picture, to prove how much fun we're having out here. This is David, the camp director, placing a missle launcher on the paintball course. I had three CHCA eighth graders (Robert Stagge, James Sawyer, and Thomas Hunter) out here this past week, and there are two more sixth graders coming out next week (Hannah Harrison and Lindsey Trucksis). Oh, yeah, I'm excited. But for now I need to go recover a little bit.

Godly Studs

I just got back from spending time with some of the recently graduated eighth graders, an awesome group of guys called the Fellas. Mr. [Tim] Clark met with these young men throughout the past school year discipling them, encouraging them, and really giving some awesome spiritual guidance and acceptance. This summer I'll have the pleasure of continuing some of this ministry every couple of weeks through informal get-togethers.

After frollicking in the Chapman's pool a little bit, we had some pizza and brownies then headed into the living room to worship and chat a little bit. It's so neat to see these guys maturing and growing closer to the Lord ... to see how they know God is real and understand a little more where they're coming from. I was able to establish a friendship with a couple of them throughout the school year but never really got past the teacher-student barrier with quite a few of them. On one hand, that makes for some pretty interesting interactions (i.e. "Is it really ok to dunk Mr. Webel now? Can I really call him Lance?"). On the other hand, though, I think informal non-school settings really demonstrate that I'm more than just a teacher ... I'm interested in a much more genuine and meaningful friendship.

These guys are in such a critical stage right now ... they just finished being the "big men on campus", the hardy and respected eighth graders, and are about to begin their stint as the measely little freshmen. They're heading into a territory that many of them are unaccustomed to and unprepared for ... the world of high school pressures. CHCA, even for a christian school, is quite saturated with drug and alcohol use, premature sex, theft, machoism, and popular-culture-dependence. Even from the outside, I see those high-schoolers competing for popularity, defying authority, resisting spiritual reality, and craving negative attention. This stuff can be hard for an incoming 9th grader ... especially one who has been seeking attention and popularity throughout middle school (sometimes with quite damaging results).

My prayer for these guys is that they'll truly develop into Godly Studs, men who are not swayed by the pressures of the world or the self-centered desires that may be placed on their hearts and minds. Hopefully this summer we'll be able to impress one simple fact on their hearts ... that their relationship with Christ Jesus must be REAL and be THEIR OWN. They need to step out of the shadow of their parents' faith, their church's creed, their school's expectations. Sure, some of those high-school pressures and world-driven seem fulfilling at first, but I guarantee than they only widen the gaping hole of need in all of our lives ... they ultimately leave us more alone and unaccepted and unhappy then when we started.

I pray that God will open their eyes, reveal Himself in a real way, and show them a studly way of life that is so much better than the ways of this world ... a way of life that brings acceptance and excitement that lasts forever. And I pray that they will accept this way of life with passion and vigor, making it their own and nobody else's.

Luke Says Hi.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

So yesterday I was reading a story to our daycamp kids ... it told how Ginghas Kahn (we changed his name to Kul Chin) had a pet hawk that kept spilling the water that Ginghas was trying to drink to quench his thirst. In anger, Ginghas fatally stabbed the hawk, only to find out later that the water was actually poisoned (so the hawk was actually saving his life).

After we finished the story, I asked the kids what they learned. Skyler, the cutest, most precious, totally innocent 6 year old on the planet, raised her hand high in the air. When I called on her, she simply said,

"Don't kill your friends."

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Maybe ...

Well, we got the stuff out of the Quonsot Hut. What a mess.



Today was a good day ... even better, we all have tonight off. So a much needed hour of reading, hour of naptime, hour of floating in the pool is to be had tonight. Hallelujah. Then later tonight, Jim and Billie (who own the camp) are having us all over for ice cream. That'll be really really fun. :)

It just got done pouring down rain. I absolutely love that! Just when I finished eating dinner, however, it stopped. Grr. It was perfect to go playing in ... maybe it'll continue later on tonight.

And maybe it's maybelline.

Fore!

I just got a 29 in golf (in the games section). I'll bet you can't beat that one!

Day (of) Camp

Ah, our first real day of camp. These kids are so utterly adorable ... I wish I could post a picture or two of them to show you, but that's just against the rules. Let me just say this ... our counselors rock. They were loving these kids all over. I found out that two of the day campers (one was one of my favorites from last summer) are from CHCA ... how awesome! I think the kids thought my name was [Jungle] Jim. They really liked climbing on me. Yeah.

We also got a new smoke machine in the mail today ... we took it up to the ministry center ... no explanation needed for this photo:



I think we're gonna tackle the Quonsot Hut tonight. Imagine a metal building full of junk. That's the Quonsot Hut. And we're gonna clean it out. Bring that. If I don't post a message here for a few days, I'm probably lost inside the Quonsot Hut. Sorry.

The Seven Mile Mishap

Well, I'm definately not online now as much as I used to be while at school, but I'll still be posting here. I'll probably only post once per day or so, and it'll often just be a longer collection of random thoughts I've typed throughout the day. We'll see ... now that I have a digicam, I've got to figure out exactly what I want to do about posting pictures ... I'll probably open up a photo section once I can figure out a streamlined way of publishing the photos.

Yesterday we had Calibretto13 (a punk band signed with Tooth and Nail) and Rodger Bingham (from Survivor II) out for the Mega Slam Jam, a big event we held here at camp. It was an awesome day ... we had paintball (with our brand new Spider Shutter guns) and rock climbing, bouncy boxing, a bungy run, jousting, swimming, free food, and various other festivities. It was a blast. It's kinda weird, having a rock band play in your front yard ... but it was cool. Here are a couple of pictures ...





Last night we went to steak and shake and had a surreal experience. I won't even begin to describe it here. Then today 4 of us drove down to Cincy to the Vineyard ... on the way back I got a speeding ticket ... one of these speed traps, where the limit drops down from 55 to 35 as you enter the town (they got me at 59). Oh well, I guess that's the way the cookie crumbles. At least James still loves me. :)

We're going climbing in a little bit, and I'm as sore as a ball of lactic acid. In fact, I think I am a ball of lactic acid, in a slightly non-ball-shaped-shape. But I think I'll work that out forty feet in the air. Day camp starts this week ... it's where the little kids come in all week (5-7 year olds) and we play with them. I think we're prepared, but it's always an interesting experience anyways. We'll see what happens.

Ok, I'm going to get going. I posted a couple more games (some of the best yet) in the games section, so feel free to check those out. Take care, whomever you are.

No Fakie

Zach, one of my recently graduated 8th graders, is famous.

webel.net Referrals

It's very interesting to track who comes to webel.net. Every day dozens of people visit this website, somehow finding it from all over the world (see this map) and sometimes spending 20 or 30 minutes browsing around. One of the most interesting things to keep track of is the things that people search for, finding webel.net in the process. Here are a few notable examples:

On Google:
summer camp for people who want to care for kittens
"appliance direct" commercial florida
"Mike dunfee" OH
Shrinking of the medulla oblongata
webL
cubik camera
"trading spaces" article
"take that osama" "game"

On Yahoo:
"what did dela*"
the grouch OS9
"appliance direct" and orlando

I'm not going to post all of the things that people searched for ... because quite frankly, a lot of people have found webel.net while searching for pornography. About a month ago I had a few posts dealing with pornography and how it affects us, especially some of the guys that I taught this year, and I guess Google picked up on that and routed people there when they searched for things. Wouldn't it be awesome if it helped someone in that way? Guilt can be a powerful thing ...

Anyways, just thought I'd post those links. I especially liked the "shrinking of the medulla oblongata" and "summer camp for people who want to care for kittens". webel.net is reaching out ... :)

Beefalo

Here's one for those of you who like to cut out toys ...

Is This A Hint?

I just received a bar of soap as a present from a fifth-grade student. Here's the interesting thing ... this isn't the first time. Sarah Min also gave me Soap On A Rope for christmas. I think I'm getting the idea ...

Gone Fishin'

The other day I let two of my guys "go fishing" in my fishtank ... they'd been wanting to do it all year and I promised that before the school year was out I'd let them. Weird ones, they are.

Weird in a good way, I mean.

Oxymorons

You know what really irks me? When artists title their work Untitled.

Underwater Vince

New Games

I just put 5 or 6 new games in the games section, fyi.

Action Jackson

This, my friends, is my fellow PVM program administrator, Jackson. Bring it.

Rice Surprise

Hungry?

Dimaged.

Oh yeah ... Microcenter's 20% off sale ends today, so I went ahead and bought a Minolta Dimage X digital camera ... it's smaller than a pack of cards (great to take everywhere) and takes great pictures. I'm going to try it out this week to see if I want to return it before the 7 day return policy ... we'll see. It's pretty exciting! Or should I say X-citing? :)

Hello Again!

It's been awhile since I've posted here. I'm not quite sure if it's harder to get online while at camp or if I simply don't have a desire to ... obviously, I'm living out in the woods out here, removed from the technological world ... but I do have access. The people out here and the adventurous things to do are so awesome that I simply don't want to sit in front of a computer screen. I suppose if I had internet access in my cabin I'd post more often ... I've even considering setting up a wireless hub so I would have access in my cabin, but I don't think it's worth it.

We're halfway done with staff training at pvm ... and I can truly say that we have an awesome group of counselors. Every single one of them has a heart to serve the Lord, and they're eagerly learning and growing and getting to know each other. We'll get into a lot more programming this week, as well as finish up some work projects we've started. It's good stuff. Here are a couple of pictures of us on the challenge course this weekend:





I'm taking off of work tomorrow (Monday), but I'll be back Tuesday for the festivities (field day, class parties, the 8th grade/faculty softball game). This should be a really fun week ... if I can only get my room cleaned up and get the miscellaneous administrative jobs done that I need to do! I'm really going to miss the students, especially the 8th graders, but I guess that's just how it goes for us middle school teachers. And I have a feeling that we're the forgotten ones. What a hard-knock life, eh? I think I might be able to be a part of the fellas bible study this summer, but we'll see. At least I'll see a lot of CHCA kids out at Pleasant Vineyard for camp!

The graduation video is done, finally. 45 minutes long, as good as it's gonna get with my circumstances (limited budget, resources, and definately time). I hope it's something that they'll be able to take home and cherish. Totally.

Ok, I'm going to get going. Matt Wicker (a.k.a. mateowickey) is having a birthday bash/barbeque/pool party at Annie and Brittany's house. I miss those people a LOT! But we're all so close this summer, it's gonna rock!