tips

I am sitting on the floor of a finished-out boxcar 100 yards from the shore of Lake Gaston. Nine rising 9th graders are snoring just feet from me and I can't sleep. I'm seven weeks into camp and for a brief moment I am able to stop and reflect on what I've learned since I arrived here on May 20th. My own mid-summer meeting of sorts.

+ Don't steal someone's debit card unless you're absolutely positive that you're not going to lose it on the floor of Wal-mart.

+ Fitting 7 college-age people in a 4-door sedan is possible, but numb legs are to be expected after riding for 45 minutes with 16 limbs crammed in a space meant for 12.

+ Wearing sunscreen can help prevent burning.

+ You should always make sure that your sunscreen is waterproof.

+ Sometimes sunscreen doesn't really prevent burning at all. Even if if is waterproof.

+ Sour patch [children] taste better at camp.

+ "Dropping the Bible hurts God sometimes."

+ Even girls sweat when it's 102° outside. Really, girls can sweat a lot.

+ Thinking of a purple elephant for a few seconds can cure hiccups.

+ Thinking of a purple elephant cannot, however, cure homesickness; you'll just end up imagining your parents riding the purple elephant which makes you miss them more.

+ Toy Story 3 is a phenomenal movie and I should buy it as soon as it comes out on DVD.

+ Homesickness doesn't go away as you get older—you just get better at dealing with it.

+ In amazing ways, God provides patience when you ask him for it.

+ Trying to clean mud out of your ears with a Q-tip is not a great idea; you'll probably just end up pushing the dirt farther back into your head and never be able to hear again.

+ Super Wal-Mart contains everything you could ever imagine to need while working at a summer camp. And most of those things are $5 or less.

Three weeks left. God is working here and I am so excited to see what else he will do.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!...

Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

Psalm 34