I just got home from speaking at the SouthEast Oklahoma Youth Camp. They are a district of churches within the Church of the Nazarene. Camp was held at Camp Bond – a great campground in Tishomingo, OK.
The theme for the camp was Biggest Loser. Yes…the idea was stolen from a fairly popular reality tv show. My initial response to the theme raised two questions:
1. Did they choose the theme and then consider who might best represent the theme in their speaker?
2. Or did they choose me to speak and then think about what theme might best fit for me?
I had some fun (poking fun at myself…some people are afraid of heights – I’m afraid of widths) with the theme and having to speak with the giant biggest loser logo up on the screen every time I got up to speak. The real emphasis on the theme wasn’t on one’s weight, but on one’s ability to let go (LOSE!) all of those things that would get in the way of one’s walk with God.
Oh, did I mention it was HOT!?! Most days it was over 100 degrees with nearly the same percent of humidity. I wanted to change the name of the campground to Camp Sweat (perhaps this only added to the theme). And the camp also had it’s own bug! It’s called the Camp Bond bug and I bet it could eat a small dog with the size of it’s pinchers.
Okay…I’m being a bit sarcastic here and you’re probably getting the wrong impression. This was a great camp. Some of the highlights for me included…
+ Meeting some great youth workers from all over Southeast Oklahoma.
+ Visiting Milburn, OK just 8 miles down the road (see the picture in the sidebar).
+ Hanging out with a lot of fun students.
+ Sharing in some super services and seeing students respond.
+ Visiting a place I’ve never been before and enjoying their hospitality.
One last thing I probably need to mention. As you know, I live right outside of Boise, Idaho – home of Boise State Football. When I arrived at the camp, it was clear that most of these folks were OU fans. They were still bristling from the famous Fiesta Bowl game where BSU won in overtime. They were quick to share every reason in the world why OU was the better team, why they gave it away that day, and why BSU was somewhat of an anomoly.
Let’s just say that I was willing to listen…but I could sense they were still a little bitter. I wanted to help them…I really did. I even thought it would be nice for me to pull them all aside and share with them what it’s like to actually win a Bowl game.
Good times. Thanks SEO NYI for a great week of camp!
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