June 13, 2016

The clock is about to reach the 11pm point on this the 13th of June, 2016.

I suppose I could have written a birthday post earlier in the day, but it has been a pretty full day.
I made the morning ride back to Baptist Hill Assembly for the Lawrence County Baptist Association Children's Camp. I'll be here all week and likely won't get another ride in until Saturday afternoon when I ride home.

Today was a typical mid-June day in the Ozarks -- that translates to hot and humid. But it has been a good first day of camp.
These guys know how to put on a kids' camp. Everything is very well organized and there are plenty of volunteer workers. I don't have to have a great deal of interaction with the kids, so that part is probably good for everyone! I'll have the 7th and 8th graders for Bible study each of the next three days, plus the entire camp (most of the 150+ kids are 3rd through 6th graders) for evening worship and then a Friday morning worship to wrap things up and send them home.

I'll get a short break on Friday before the afternoon brings in 1st and 2nd graders for an overnight camp with Friday night and Saturday morning services and activities.
I have to admit that I sometimes wonder if I'm getting too old for this.
It isn't the activity part that concerns me, but I often wonder about how well I communicate the Gospel to these elementary age students. At some point (maybe now) there has to be a younger person that is more relevant and able to reach these kids.

I received plenty of kind words and encouragement from last week's camp about my "Story time with John" days. I do realize that I am a Story Teller. (I put that in caps because I think Story Teller is a kind of title.) I know that story telling is becoming a lost art, but truthfully, most people just don't put the effort into making a good story a great story. If fact, most of the time they take a great story and turn it into a real snoozer!
If telling a great story is the only thing I bring to the table, maybe it is time to step aside for a younger story teller and let them grow into their role.

At age 56, I have officially become too old to be an air traffic controller!
Although I retired fifteen months ago, I would have been forced out at the end of this month. I am glad that I didn't wait until now. My pension and retirement income wouldn't have changed much and I have had the past fifteen months to enjoy life in peaceful isolation without the daily grind of working with people and dealing with the FAA.

I seriously doubt that I am completely finished as a productive member of society, but I do like having the freedom to choose my time and place of community contributions. I may have to spread the camps out a little more than this year -- a day camp on the 4th, two days last week, a wedding, and now three camps in two weeks (11 out of 12 days)! Then I get two weeks off before another week long kids' camp.
It's almost like having a job!

When Pastor Terry was talking about suffering for the cause of the Gospel last Sunday, maybe this is what he meant -- SIX different camps with bunches of kids (more than 600 total)!
Oh yeah, and there's that hot, humid weather thing, too!

Eh, no worries.
It is all for the Glory of God!

Time to call it a day and get some rest.
Tomorrow is on the way!

John <><