Counseling the Boys of Comanche

This summer I am working as a counselor at the YMCA Camp Tecumseh in central Indiana. It is a really good time. During the staff training week I got to know a whole ton (at least!) of really cool people. The other counselors are all really open and excited about life and ready to meet people. A bunch of them try to read with at least some of their spare time, which is impressive concerning how short it is. I've never met a group that has had such a high concentration of really interesting, open, artistic, friendly, and happy people. So pretty much, the week and a half that I was here before camp started was nothing short of awesome.

My cabin was a little bit rough the first two weeks, mostly because two of my campers took so much of our time that we couldn't spend much time with the rest of the kids trying to get them to know each other. I was originally paired with Mike Lang, a junior at IU who is from Kokomo, Indiana. At the end of the first week we got a third counselor in our cabin named Essian Ukanna, a Dartmouth graduate who is half Georgian and half Nigerian. The three of us together work very well and we have a ton of fun. This week all of my campers have been great kids who have listened to and respected us. It has made a world of difference and I can tell by how even the depressed, unsociable campers are having a great time and are feeling comfortable enough to jump in to activities.

I think this summer is really going to be a great one. For one, I have the privilege of getting to know all kinds of really awesome people. I get to learn how to deal with plenty of different kinds of kids from all kinds of backgrounds. I've learned how to make pens on a lathe!!! I also get a lot of experience leading and observing devotions and discussions for adolescents. I have plenty of time to think about Biblical stories and what they mean. And I'll be spending some time writing new devotions and chapels with another counselor.

I'm excited about that part because I feel like it could have an impact on people's faith. So many of the devotions and the chapels are modern adaptations of stories where Jesus comes and is rejected by people or all that they experience of Jesus is that he takes the physical and mental anguish that they have experienced on himself and experiences it all himself. An example is a story about a couple who gets a phone call from God saying that God is going to come to dinner, then the couple makes preparations and turns away a beggar, a man in need of help, and a sick little girl in their anxiousness. Or another where Jesus walks around and takes a weeping woman's sorrow onto himself as well as trading a Vietnam veteran's stump of an arm for his own strong one. I think these messages are mostly good but are also depressing because we constantly watch Jesus being rejected and suffering. Jesus did suffer in his life and on the cross, but he also preached a gospel of love, acceptance, and community that leads to a very fulfilling life. Everyone at camp experiences all of these things and they say that they feel closer to God here, yet for some reason camp lifestyle is not connected with Jesus. I hope to build that connection. Not to say that I think camp is the Kingdom of God, but I think we would do well to live some of the camp culture.