Dunked Heads, Shared Verses, and a Little Boy Named Jonathan

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 - 11:35 PM

Hi everybody!

I suppose I'll just dive right in to some high points from today.

We are on team Green Machine for rec this week, and our rivals are Red Rumble. Before we left for rec today, we had a special rock paper scissors tournament to start things off. For our team, one member from each church went to "qualify" to be the finalist against Red Rumble. I was picked for Crossroads, but I was beat out by a guy that looked to me like a 6-foot tall Frodo Baggins, who was then beat out by our finalist, who then proceeded to, after a grueling 7 or so rounds of the game, lost to Red Rumble. We've got all week however to beat them...at something.

Anyway, we had Soaked at rec today. Swimsuits, water, and exhilaratingly embarrassing games. Such as my personal favorite, which consist of each team standing in a line behind a bucket, and each student must run to a giant tub of water, dunk their head, and run back in order to squeeze as much water from their hair as possible into the bucket. They say the team with the most water at the end wins, but no one ever judges or picks a winner. That's okay. We got wet, grassy, and lovingly humiliated. That counts.

And tonight, Crossroads Church was represented to the whole camp through my sister, Erin. After visiting with the actors (they do various skits and things during the morning service and other events) in a special meet & greet session this afternoon, Erin was invited to participate in "Late Nite" after worship tonight. She ended up being in Round 2 of a boys vs. girls competition, consisting of a game in which a ballon must be taken and bounced down a line of three people using only their heads, (without letting it hit the ground) to be caught by the popper (my sister) who must then sit on the balloon and pop it. Such noble acts were witnessed and applauded by over 2000 young people today.

Erin and the girls ended up losing to the boys, but all in all I'm sure it was a great experience for her. When she gets back, ask her to write a book.

Something really great happened tonight before heading back to our dorms. After worship we have church group time, in which we all meet and share with each other our thoughts about the day, and what we learned, etc. Last night I suggested to Mark that throughout each day, we find a passage in the Bible that touches or challenges us, or worships God, or impacts us in general. In turn we share our passage during church group time each night. Mark was very excited and said it was a great idea, and supposedly even shared the concept with the other people at his youth ministers' meeting today. Well tonight was our first time doing it, the "pilot" if you will, and it was spectacular. It is amazing to hear the word of God spoken out by everyone in our group, as a group. And to see all the different concepts expressed through each of our verses is phenomenal. For curiosity's sake, tonight I read Hebrews 10:19-23, which says,

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

And lastly, I'd like to say that Compassion International is here at camp, and they had a guy named David from Africa come and share with us at worship this evening. About twenty minutes later, I found myself in the lobby, filling out my information in order to sponsor a young boy, Jonathan Nii Tettey Tetteh, a 10 year old from Ghana. He lives in an AIDS-affected area, and on the cover of his packet there is a small line of text that urgently requests that he be sponsored immediately. There were several packets on the table, each with a picture and basic information of children around the world. But this boy, Jonathan, stood out to me, and God spoke to me through Jonathan's urgency. I've heard things about Compassion before, but tonight, I got punched in the face with a truckload of perspective. I am so blessed to be sitting here typing this post on a computer that I can call my own. I am blessed to have a job, that provides me with money. It brings tears to my eyes in realization of how much I have in comparison to this boy, Jonathan. I want to share with him. But not just my money. I want to share myself. And I want to share my whole life's hope through the Lord Almighty, who gives me so many blessings, and the ability and desire to share them.

- Caleb