Saga of a Storyteller

Every summer one of the things I really enjoy doing is taking the kids on hikes and telling them a story.  Since our theme has been “The Amazing Race” my stories have all had the tagline “Winners in the kingdom of God look different from other winners because…”  I’ve told the story of Elisha and his servant from 2 Kings 6 who had his eyes opened to the army of God surrounding them and several other stories.

Schuyler before he gets in the lake

 I asked one of our summer staffers to tell the story of Naaman being healed of leprosy.  Schulyer is a very good story teller in his own right and has done a great job with this story.  Also, it saved me from having to get in the lake each week.  It’s a win-win!

But then something else happened that hasn’t happened here since I’ve been telling stories.  Another woman showed up who wanted to tell stories. Brenda is the mother of one our long time staffers and is about my age.  She has been a story teller for a long time and was very good at it.  In a lot of ways, she reminded me of myself.

That being said, this week has been about some introspection and self-evaluation.  It made me look back to the first few times I came to camp and kind of step outside myself and think about how I was perceived by the people who were here then.  I came in and took someone else’s place who was the storyteller before me, and I was able to write to him and tell him how gracious he had been to let me in.  So then I was able to open the door for someone else to come in and tell a story.

The thing is, though, that it’s not really just about the story.  It’s about the relationship I have been building with kids through my stories over the years.  I am so thankful for the opportunity that I’ve had to share things from the Bible that will help kids live a better life if they will listen and apply it.  And there are certainly those who do.

So this week I’m back to my full range of duties with games and hikes and stories.  The camp will be full to maximum capacity.  It’s going to be a great last week of camp.  I can’t wait!

The things you learn.  For years I've always stood at the top of the
hill to tell my story on Three Hills Trail.  This time I told it from the bottom
and for the first time realized that all the times in the past the kids
couldn't look up at me because the sun was too bright.
 I had a hard time looking up at them.  Now I know this is where I
should always stand to tell stories at Three Hills.

The Amazing Race COTW 2018

I have been unusually quiet about camp this summer.  That’s what my sister tells me (my brother, too).  And they are right.  I have been unusually quiet about camp this summer and mostly it’s because it’s very much the same as usual.  Not much to say that hasn’t already been said.  But at their prompting, I will share this update about what’s going on up here in the Great White North.

This year’s theme is The Amazing Race.  This was the theme for the summer of 2010 when I first came to Camp of the Woods. I designed a “race” back then and they saved all the pieces and we resurrected it this summer with many improvements.  Each day we “travel” to a different continent and do tasks related to that place.  Here are some of pictures of what it looks like:

Zimbabwe: Carrying water

Argentina;  Polo

US Virgin Islands:  Pancake Flipping Race

USA:  Barrel Racing

Canada:  Building Innukshuk

I have been telling stories about winners.  I tell the campers that winners in the Kingdom of God look different than winners in races might look.  I tell them about how Elisha’s servant had his eyes opened to the army of God that was surrounding them and protecting them.  I want them to see that winners in the Kingdom of God see things that others can’t see.  I want God to open their eyes to see that there is a God and he cares for them.  

Adam has been doing the evening chapels.  He has been speaking on God’s Amazing Grace, and he has been using the life of Paul and his journeys as the basis for his talks.

The team that came for Mission Week back in June did an amazing job decorating.  There are so many little details in the lodge that I have been playing “I Spy” for the evening entertainment to get them to pay attention to all the things that have been put in there.  Kudos to Tracey Sarris for the imagination to pull this off.

So that’s some of the surface stuff about camp.  Soon I’ll try to talk about some of the deeper things going on this summer.