I’m a Survivor: Winter Youth Camp 2013

I have been involved with youth ministry for about 8 years now and always consider it a badge of honor to survive youth camp. This past weekend was no different.

For those that have never attended youth camp, I will try and describe the experience from a young adult’s perspective. My perspective.

The weekend starts officially at the very moment on Friday evening when we begin to cram backpacks, pillows, sleeping bags, and suitcases into cars already overloaded with teens and pre-teens. Fortunately, there is always a junior high boy (or 5) that forgets his sleeping bag and pillow, so we always seem to have room for all of the luggage. The placed we were staying at this year was not too far, the car ride only lasted an hour, so there was not too much time for havoc to ensue. However, it IS enough time for kids to get carsick so we were on a diligent watch for emergency pullover sites, any containers that could be used for unexpected putrid fluids and of course, we knew at all times where the car window handles were located.

Upon arrival, there is always a portion of time where the kids tumble out of the vehicles to look around and gain their mountain feet. This is good as the girls needed mountain feet to make it up to their cabin.  I wasn’t too worried about the hike because I run. Unfortunately, I do not run up cliffs, so it became a work out every time I needed to get something out of the cabin. But in all seriousness, our cabin was awesome and the scenery was beautiful. This view confirms that verse that says:

"For His anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for a lifetime;
Weeping may last for the night,
But a shout of joy comes in the morning." Psalms 30:5

I can confidently tell the parents of the girl campers that we woman youth leaders don’t get ANY sleep the first night of camp, so should an emergency happen, we are alert and awake. Unfortunately, because we do not get any sleep on Friday night, I cannot say that we are as alert on Saturday night…So when I say that I “awoke” to a beautiful sunrise, in reality it was more like I joyfully and ecstatically realized the sun was finally rising, confirming that a sleepless night was soon to be over. Luckily, one of the best parts of camp is being able to look like a camper, so tired eyes can be somewhat masked by a beanie (look, I'd much rather post pics of everyone else, but I don't post pictures of the kids for privacy reasons).

As I saw the sun beginning to rise, I heard the other youth leader in the room, Jessica, tumble out of her bunk to use the bathroom around 6:30am. Unfortunately, we soon found out that our door was stuck shut. There is nothing like the inability to use the commode to make one begin to panic, so imagine how this might affect a room filled with 8 girls. I jumped out of bed and tried the door handle and it would not open the door. By this point, all the girls in the room were awake and a little concerned.  Our room was about 10 steps off the ground, so I thought that punching out the window might be the best solution to our problem, that way we could enter the cabin from the outside door. I aggressively lifted the window while simultaneously punching out the screen. Unfortunately, the window was too heavy to stay put once lifted, which I found out BECAUSE it was too heavy to stay put, so I held the window open while Jessica started her climb out said window-only hearing “Eye of the Tiger” at this exact moment could have made this experience more epic.  Unfortunately, the drop was longer than expected, so there were a few scrapes and bruises for that leader, and more importantly to me, I am pretty sure that a spider dropped on me at one point while I was holding that window open, but I remained strong. Parents, this is what we do for your kids. And THAT is how Saturday started off.

We had a morning session for the kids where we discussed identity issues. This session was soon followed by a trip to the snow. Thank you to whoever invented snow pants. I borrowed a pair of snow pants from a friend (I am definitely more of a beach person, so I own a ton of swim suits, and zero snow pants), and I am pretty sure they saved my life. This thought occurred to me while I was flying down a mountain, connected to a chain of kids on inner tubes, while looking back to see my inner tube trailing behind me. Thank you snow pants. Luckily we returned to camp with the same number of kids that we left with earlier that morning.

Saturday night at camp is always my favorite time. It comes after a long day of activities and sessions of course preceded by a night of no sleep. But we normally have a campfire on Saturday night and it is so relaxing and fun to hang out with the kids, just chatting and laughing. Oh wait, I almost forgot that the junior high boys like to fart into the fire, but other than that, Saturday nights at camp are so fun!

The drive back to town on Sunday is much quieter than it was leaving town on Friday, and to me, THAT is a sign that camp was good.

Why do I do this? Because it is incredibly important to me that young people know that God loves them, that they are created and accepted by the Creator who says they are valuable and that there is ALWAYS hope.

So with that, I leave you with another video I do not own:

 

 

 

 

Risk Taker

Risk Taker- Someone who risks loss or injury in the hope of gain or excitement.

I was recently asked in an interview the following question: “What would you change about yourself?”  Normally, I would have many answers for that question, but for whatever reason, I had one answer this time and it came close to immediately. I wish I was more of a risk taker.

I am going to want your input at the end, so pay attention. Living safely is fine, it is good, but to be honest…it is also boring, and right now I am bored. Now don’t get me wrong, I am EXTREMELY busy every day, for instance yesterday. I went to work, then to band practice and then to hang out with a couple of my high school girls, I left the house at 7:15am and I didn’t get home until after 9:30pm. I am not bored due to a lack of having things to do. I think that I am bored because I have done the same types of things for so long. I like the stuff I do, but I need some change.

As I started to think through this surprising desire or need for “risk” (for those not paying attention until now, I am NOT referring to the game Risk…though I do enjoy taking over the world), I started wondering if my recent life style of playing it safe is directly related to how I view God? I used to take risks. The last time was when I felt God tell me to go to Australia. I quit my job and left with only a plane ticket and ended up not only going to Australia, but also to Indonesia, and it changed my life. Here are a couple of pictures:

The Youth Leaders were creamed in a massive 100+ person food fight, I had no idea what was coming, but it was some sort of oatmeal, honey, food coloring mixture mess (AUS)

 

 We volunteered in the café for the high school kid's events (AUS)

In Indonesia we hung out with the street kids, played games and tried to learn the language! (Indo)

We also got to play with the kids in the orphanage and help prepare a new building that was much larger! (Indo)

Side note: I cannot wait to adopt kids

But if this turned out so successfully, why don’t I take risks more often?  I have come up with two possibilities:

1. I don’t love something enough to take the risk to make it happen
2. I am too afraid of failure

Now I will respond to myself, excuse me while I expose you to some inner dialogue, self-diagnosis.

Both number 1 and number 2 have ultimately to do with fear. Fear to have passion or interests to pursue, or fear that things will not work out and that I’ll be stuck. But God doesn’t give or promote fear:

“But God has not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 2:7

In fact, I would venture to guess that when fear exists, it is because there is something missing in my belief system about God’s character, when I fear it means I do not trust him, nor do I believe Him or hear Him. So if I believe that fear is not of God, can I then walk in the opposite spirit and attempt to do the thing that causes timidity? I think so. Obviously, there are lines that need to be drawn here, I mean, it is ridiculous to do stupid things, so no, do not jump off your roof in hopes that you will fly. That is stupid. I am talking more about things like trying new hobbies, moving to a new country, going back to school, having “THAT conversation” with someone, those types of things.

Ok, I don’t have a great way to end this because this is subject matter that I am still processing through. This is the part I where I want your input, what do you think about risk? Maybe the ultimate question isn't about risk, but about loving something enough to risk loss or injury? What do you find valuable enough to take a risk? I am depending on you… as are many others reading this! So comment away!

Here is this week's video that I don't own!

 

 

 

Funny Friday

Some days are just full of funny little nuances that need to be intentionally noticed in order to entertain.  I have had such a day.

Last night a friend and I decided that we would take a spin class this morning. Spin classes are offered at most gyms and consist of stationary bikes, a small room, loud music, an instructor up front giving directions and lots, I mean LOTS of sweat.  One thing I have yet to mention is that often times spin classes are offered at an early morning time slot and at an evening time slot, so we decided to go to the early class as this is Friday and it is unlikely that I will have time, or desire to go to the gym on a Friday night (I am trying to give the illusion of “having a life”, is it working?), so this entire paragraph was to let you know that my day started at 4:30am.

Because I had to get up so early, I was not quite fully awake before I left the house. I thought I would chow down on an apple for some quick energy, I grabbed the apple, and promptly dropped it, practically threw it, on the hard tile, and watched it bounce about 3 times before I caught it….when I say “watched” I also mean “heard” as the apple was of the Granny Smith variety, the floor was made of hard tile and the house was quiet, so perfect bounce/sound combination.  I tweeted earlier (@adrienneyerzy) that I decided I could be described as a “hopeful” person since only such a person would dare think that the apple wouldn’t be too bruised for consumption after such a fight with the ground. It was delicious.

After the spin class I thought about how gyms should offer take out, not fast food, but for people. I just started working out again this week (at some point I will post about why I have been unable to work out) and because I did so many squats with so little muscle, post cycling me was pretty weak and I am just saying that it would have been nice if someone offered to take me out to my car.

I drove home and dragged my body into the house at about 6:10am and thought, “now what?” The thought of watching an episode of  “The Office” quickly entered my mind, but I didn’t want to tempt myself as one episode leads to another episode, and so on and so forth.  I didn’t have to drive to work for a while so I kind of just stood there lost for a few minutes, but finally the thought occurred to me to make breakfast (my favorite meal type) so I made some killer oatmeal (raisins, lots of cinnamon, a little brown sugar). As I re-read this I realize that you might not think it too funny, but if you could just picture me standing dazed in my own kitchen wondering if I should watch Dwight and “The Office” at 6:10 in the morning….well, I think it is funny so I am keeping this tidbit in.

At this point, actually around 7am every Friday, I have a heart to heart with myself regarding my office’s policy of allowing “Casual Friday.” Normally, I have to dress in business attire for work, but not on Fridays! I am always questioning if I have taken advantage of casual Friday and am often questioning where I should draw “THE line.” After much inner dialogue, I have decided that I cannot wear baseball hats, or any hat for that matter, but I CAN (and will) wear jeans. Today I threw on a sweater, skinny jeans (pushing the edge here), and boots. I will never be accused of not taking casual Friday seriously enough.

I finally got to work at 8am, with vanilla latte in hand (obviously) but soon after had to leave to go to the Court to file some documents. If you have ever had to file anything with the legal system, you will know that there is a LOT of waiting time and lots of opportunity to “people watch” and I was not disappointed this time. To my left, out of the corner of my eye I saw something sparkle. I turned to see what it was and it was a lady wearing some sort of purple pompom on her head. This was not a like a cute little hair tie with something fluffy attached, it was like a full sized, cheerleader’s pompom in lieu of hair…on her head. Based on my personal reaction to “pompom head”, I can only conclude that we likely all agree that one must not wear something so outrageously out of the ordinary on their head if one wishes to be taken seriously.

I continued to wait in line and noticed that behind the counter there were hearts everywhere. Red hearts hanging from the ceiling, sticker hearts sticking to the plastic windows, paper hearts pinned to the cubicle walls, I mean love was in the air, people. The place looked like it should be called “lover’s lane” unfortunately, there were few waiting in line waiting to take a magical walk, most people would have been happy with stamped papers, or just reasonable answers to their questions in a time sensitive manner.

(Side note: Speaking of “lovers” I am currently witnessing a “connection” being made at Starbucks. Awe...or more accurately, awkward. I hate witnessing awkward moments, even though I may not be  the target for the awkwardness fairy, I'll blush. Sigh.)

After I finished filing the documents, I drove back to work… and soon prepared to go home (we have a half day on Friday). Before I drove out of the parking lot, I got a notification from Facebook telling me that someone posted a photo on my wall. The photo is of my friend Bri, who I met in Australia but now lives in Florida.  Bri is a blogger for Compassion International as well as for a personal site and the photo was posted by my California friend, Kendra, who is has a blog for moms with young kids. The amazing thing about this little FB interaction is that Bri and Kendra, although they are my friends, didn’t know each other. Both of them told me that they were invited to a blogging conference and once I realized that they were going to the same place, immediately began working on getting them to meet each other! They both have such a gift with writing and such large followings that I just KNEW this would be a connection that at the very least would benefit their blogs and followers. This is one of those instances when I think that God is so big and the world is so small. Two people have a friend in common and meet at a location that neither lives in, both living 3,000 miles apart, all because I volunteered with YWAM 5 years ago. And I was right, now they are friends.



I would love for you to check out their sites:

Kendra’s site is called “Preschoolers and Peace” and you may visit it here.

Bri’s site is called “Our Savory Life” (about food and love) and you may visit it here. Bri also blogs for Compassion International and here is a link to their site.        

Well, that catches you up to my lunch time. I have no idea what is in store for the rest of the day. But one thing I do know, entertaining situations and interesting moments happen all the time, you just have to have your eyes open to the things happening around you and have command a good sense of humor.

Why not end this post with a funny clip from "The Office"? Here it is, another video I do not own: