training week(s)


This is me. About to die. 

sunburned shoulders and peeling nose. rock wall climbing with straining harness, aching muscles. horse hair smooth under the wet, clinging dirt. purple bandanas and plastic sunglasses. fields of green and grey with hot hot sun. pine trees and sand, everywhere, sticking to my feet. swimming in chlorine, soft blue cooling hot skin. lifeguard buoys red, tough, and smooth. chaco blister. zing and smack of arrows from bows, my designated proficiency activity, the joyful yellow of the smallest circle on the target. camp cheers that give rhythm to walking, eating, talking. three kittens all grey cuddle and warm purr. the quiet splash of canoe paddles in dark lake water, where I feel most at home. thoughts of my father and the woods when fifty feet above ground on a wire, shuffling towards the zipline. new faces, new ideas, new backgrounds, new laughs, new perspectives, new people. 

Summer is here and real camp starts in two days with the arrival of campers. The two weeks of Macon-home are gone, (I can barely remember what all that privacy felt like), and now the two week training at camp is also done. I'd forgotten the inside of that atmosphere of fresh air and strangely restricted freedom. The kids will be here so soon, but these past two weeks have already contained so many new experiences and people.

I've tried a lot of new activities like rock wall climbing and ziplines, and I've also meet people from totally different backgrounds with totally different stories. The most amazing part of training was sitting around a table with six other counselors and hearing them asking God for the same thing out of the disparity of their lives and personalities. The unity and love between us centered on Christ and these kids, and our differences were not potential obstacles but opportunities for blessings. That experience was intensified on the last night where we shared our testimonies with each other. The stories and the people they represented were beautiful in their variance yet still Christ-focused similarity. At the end, Colette, the camp director, pointed out the underlying unity of our stories: a dependency on our Savior for salvation and fullness of life. 

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