Aggie HYPE Video 2008

HYPE, Thanksgiving and the E.R.

What a week…

I came back into the B/CS last Sunday night for the Thanksgiving holiday. I woke up Monday morning with an important task ahead of me. I received the photos and video clips for the HYPE Thanksgiving Banquet slide show the night before around midnight. My assignment was to put together one of my videos for them to show at the Banquet.

Last year, the video took close to twenty hours of work, due to the length of the video and my relative inexperience creating slide shows. This year I knocked it out in less than five hours. All the ours perfecting videos for the blog came in handy. I was able to integrate video clips and pictures, along with background sound and music. I think it turned out pretty well.

It was nice to not be in charge during the Banquet. Last year, Kaz, Kendra and I were constantly scrambling and worried out of our minds. This year Kaz and I just showed up and did the little things that needed to be done. We corraled kids, boxed up extra food, and took out the trash. It was much more enjoyable to watch from the sidelines.

Kaz and I hit up Wings N More for a post-Banquet wingfest, and we shot the breeze about life, Camp and other matters of importance. I finally got home around 11:30.

Soon after reaching home, Dad came home. He checked on Mom and Grams (Mom’s mom who has been staying with us), who were in their bedroom tring to get to sleep. He came back into the kitchen with a worried look. Grams just had a seizure. We stayed with her and called 911, and firemen and EMTs reached the house in a matter of minutes. By this time, Grams had gotten a little better but was still disoriented. Soon she was surrounded by seven guys in their late 20s to early 30s.

I was hanging out in the room with them while they were taking blood pressure and such, when a thought occured to me. Dad and I always kid Grams about inviting college-aged guys over for parties when we’re not around. I told her that we’d finally caught her with all her boyfriends over, and she was tickled. Less than two minutes later, Dad popped in and said the same thing, and an EMT or two started chuckling.

She headed with them to the E.R., and we followed in the Blazer. Mom went in with her to the room, and Dad and I chilled in the Waiting Room. I had grabbed my laptop, and the E.R. had free wireless internet, so I updated my facebook profile to ask for prayers. I got a few comments on it, and my friend Matt even called to make sure we were okay. I told him we were doing alright, but we’d probably be there a few hours. Sure enough, Matt walks through the doors fifteen minutes later, and waits with us.

Around 3:30 A.M., Grams gets released. The nurse who brought her out happened to be a friend of mine from the Aggies For Christ who I hadn’t seen in a long time, so we chatted for a while then headed home. Turns out Grams’ doctor was trying to wean her off seizure medicine, and this was her first week completely off it. She doing just fine now, but it was a bit scary for a while.

So, my week has been pretty eventful. I head back to Abilene for a few more days tomorrow, then it’s Christmas Break!

Mom’s Cancer

Well, after two years of screenings and tests every six months or so, she finally had the big test. The results came in this week. She is cancer free, and has been for two years.

This is especially good news because the doctors told us that if it stayed gone for two years, she has a 99.99% chance of it staying gone for good. Many thanks for those who prayed for her and our family over the course of the last two and a half years, the people who helped us out by bringing food and visits, and the people who helped me get through that summer at Camp while Mom was so sick.

I’ve got news frm the recruiting front, but it just doesn’t seem important when compared to this. I’ll update on Camp of the hills some other time. For now, Mom’s news is what’s important.

Oklahoma Part II

Things are going all kinds of well here in Texas’ neighbor to the north. Since I last blogged, I’ve been able to speak at two different classes. One was an entry level Bible class for Ministry majors, and the other was an early course in the Education Department, and both were chock full of potential counselors.

In addition to those, I also got to present my message to a group of students at a meeting called Outreach. Apparently, every Monday night a few dozen students gather to hear about ways to reach out to their peers, their community, and their world. For instance, the guest speaker took missionary trips to Kenya, and was encouraging everyone with stories of his time there and asking them to consider doing the same. I got to get up and tell a couple of quick stories of campers before the main speaker and talk to people afterward.

Tuesday wasn’t as productive as Sunday or Monday. I hadn’t been able to secure any times to talk to classes that day and there wasn’t anything going on that night. Well, maybe there was a little something going on…

During my time in Thailand, I got to missing America every now and then. One of my ways to deal with that was to look at U.S. news on the internet. That soon blossomed into me becoming a full-fledged political junkie. Tuesday was a culmination of ten months of intense scrutiny on my part, and I did not want to miss it.

I started watching the news in earnest in the early evening, probably around 6:00ish. I was in a common room for the dorm I was staying in. There were a couple of couches and a few guys sitting and watching the results. They weren’t exactly the most open-minded folks I had ever met, and their assertions that an Obama win would guarantee the end of the world were a bit off-putting. I left them to grab some food as well as to try to find a different group to watch with.

For the record, after a lot of introspection and study of both parties, I feel that I don’t fit into either category. I agree with one party on some issues, but I’m on the other side of the fence on other issues. So when asked about my political affiliation, I find myself answering Independent. With many friends on both sides of the aisle, I believe that I’m the kind of person who can have an open and honest discussion about issues, political, economic, or religious, while remaining respectful and kind.

Anyway, I was walking through the O.C. campus center, when I saw a large gathering of people around a big screen T.V. I grabbed a foot-long meatball sandwich and sauntered over. Sure enough, they were glued to CNN. I pulled up a chair and watched with them. I got a couple of raised eyebrows at first, because I didn’t exactly fit the mold of the others who were watching, but I felt welcome. It ended up being a group of about fifteen people watching, fourteen black, one white.

We got to talking about hometowns, (I was one of two Texans, with most people being from either Oklahoma or Kansas) and just shooting the breeze. We’d get really excited when the top of the hour was coming up as we watched for new projections and we laughed when they brought out will.i.am as a hologram. I honestly felt completely at ease, which I think is a blessing God’s given me through my time at Camp of the Hills.

When they finally got to California, and projected Obama as the winner, the people around me went nuts. There was singing, dancing, and running around. High-fives and hugs. Even a few tears. In a moment of clarity, I caught a glimpse of the significance of the night. I looked around, knowing that the images on the screen and those from my new friends celebrating would be mine forever. I’ll fondly look back at these memories years from now, and recall the historic night as I tell the story to my kids and grandkids someday. In addition to a little piece of history, one of the girls I met there is interested in working at Camp of the Hills.

Wednesday, I was able to go to Stillwater, home of the Oklahoma State Cowboys, and bring a message to a fairly large college ministry. I was the guest speaker for their evening service last night. I had a bit of an adventure of it. I had thought about what I wanted to talk about, and finalized my talk in their library that afternoon. The campus ministers took me and a few others out to eat, and we enjoyed talking about our pasts, and they got a good laugh when they heard the story of my on-going college experience.

We got back into the truck and headed back to the church, but it started absolutely pouring on us immediately. We scurried into the building and began getting ready for services. Matt, the younger of the ministers, was trying to get the announcement page checked by his boss. “How’s this look?” he asked.

A flash of lightning illuminated the room, and by the time the eerie light of it had vanished, the rest of our lights had fled along with it. We stood in pitch black.

“Uhh… I don’t see any mistakes.”

We scrambled for candles and lighters by the light of cell-phones. Luckily, they were planning a holiday banquet, so they had plenty of candles at the ready. We set them up in the main room and prepared for our candlelit service as we listened to the sound of small hail pelting our roof. As people started trickling in, all soaked to the skin, we were optimistic about a different worship service than what we were used to. We were calling it a little taste of the first century church, until the power came back on.

I felt like the lesson went fairly well. Apparently they aren’t used to much talking back and forth during a lesson, because I got a crowd full of blank stares the first time I asked for their input, but they warmed up to the idea after a while. I was even able to use some stories from Camp of the Hills in my talk, along with talking about Mom’s fight with cancer. (I doubt I’ll ever be able to talk about James 1:2-3 without bringing her up. She took joy in her circumstances during that ordeal!)

Over the course of the week, I’ve found about six or seven people who are interested in working at Camp this summer. I think that’s pretty successful, but I’d love to get to ten prospects before I leave. But considering how nervous I was about this trip beforehand, I feel really good about it. I believe Camp of the Hills now has a foothold in Oklahoma, and that was my main goal for this trip. Hopefully we will see more and more counselors from this state in the future.

Oklahoma

Since my recent posts have been somewhat downers, especially that last one, I wanted to clue y’all in on some good stuff that’s going down. I’m typing this post from Oklahoma City! In the biggest recruiting trip I’ve ever been on, I’m spending more than a week in Texas’ northern neighbor. I’m going to be recruiting at a couple of Christian colleges, and I’ll be spending time in some college ministries at secular universities.

Tonight I sat in on a high school class for Capitol Hill Church of Christ. They bring kids out each summer, and I have a good raport with many of them after watching them grow up from year to year. A couple are possibly counselor material for this summer, while more are looking like part of our backbone in future summers.

One guy I know well, U.S., is now a freshman at Oklahoma Christian University. I’m crashing on his floor for the week, and I might even go to class with him some. He’s apparently a very sought after guy, because multiple churches want him to come intern at their congregation for the summer. But after a week hanging out with me, hopefully he’ll be ready to sign up for a move from camper to counselor.

One of the things I want to pursue hardest is campers who turn into counselors. The kids need role models they can relate to, and often times it helps that relationship to begin if the counselor has been in their position. To be fair, you don’t have to come from their same background to make a difference, but it sure helps out a lot. That’s one reason why I’m heavily recruiting former campers who I think have what it takes to be a counselor.

Many other camps have to turn people away for summer counselor positions, because many of the kids dream of being counselors someday. They get to pick and choose the best of the best, because they have so many applicants. While not every former CotH camper would make a good counselor, one of my goals is to help campers see a transistion into giving back as a counselor as a viable option.

That’s all I’ve got for now, but I hope to update another couple of times while on my trip, or at least get a good wrap-up when I’m back home.