First Day of HUME SD SH/2011

So Saturday night about 8:15 I receive an email on my phone. (This is one of those times that I'm glad I have the ability to get email on my phone). The email is from my contact at the Bus Company we charter our transportation through. Roughly 10 hours before leaving with over 60 people, this is not the person I want to hear from! And to top it off, the email simply says, "Troy, I need to talk with you asap, lost your number, please call" UH OH!!

Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

Fortunately, by the time we connected, the problem had been averted! Apparently the bus we were originally scheduled to take was having major AC problems. Not good going through the desert! (We went on that ride a few years ago).

But as the verse says, God worked it out for good. The outcome??? We rode on a brand new 2011 bus! Flat screen TV's everywhere...super comfortable, great engine, made good time. We arrived at camp, with a second batch of flowers for Aubrie (the amazing Hume Office Administrator at camp, she likes Stargazer Lillies) that my wife puts together every year. Our check-in was pretty seemless. All of our pre-registration sign-ups (surfing, kayaking, etc) went w/o a hitch. Everyone had their Health Screening forms taken care of, the balance payment was on the penny, it was smooth.

I have to say a huge thank you to all of the people who made today's process run so well! (Colette, Angie, Lori, Missy, Charlene, Renee, Staci, Nancy, Deeanne, Debbie, Kris F, Kris A, and the guys who helped movet the tables this morning. I am SO SORRY if I missed anyone!) When we walked out of the registration at camp, one of the staff came up to me and said how impressed she was with how well organized I was, that it was the best she'd ever seen, if you can believe that! Well, I told her it only took me about 20 years of doing camp, and the help of a whole lot of people to get it that way! So thank you all for you're part of the process, we have a great team!

Anyway, after hanging out for a bit, we went to dinner and my buddy Brian Kitson showed up, to be our final guys' counselor. This is indeed a special treat for me, as about a year and a half into my walk with Christ, (I was 18), I had stopped going to church. As my Campus Life director, Brian decided to come pick me up for 2 or 3 weeks in a row and take me with him, and I've been walking with God ever since. Brian was a huge influence in my life at a time when God knew just who I needed to help guide me.

Following dinner, we went to "The Opener", Hume/SD's kickoff of the theme for the week. This is about a 25-30 minute production, that they coudl easily charge money to visitors to see. It was one of the top 2 or 3 openers I've seen in all my years of going to Hume! It's easily as good as any other, and I can't really even think of anything to top it...simply awesome. It's a western "All-In" theme, as I know most of you know.

The speaker is on target right of the bat. As they have introduced the story of David, and how he had to go All-In during his life. Tonight's challenge looked at David and Goliath, and he pointed out 3 things that David knew to be true about God: 1) He's alive (living), 2) He's active and 3) He is without limits. The early challenge to the students is to see what it's gonna take for them to put ACTION to their stated beliefs. It's gonna be a great week!

And now, in no particular order, my Random Thoughts for the night:

He's Gonna Be Fine: Already had our first trip to Urgent Care. One of the kids has a nice swollen jaw from the busride. It looks like maybe the alitude caused a flare-up of where he got his wisdome tooth out about a month ago. (Mom was already contacted, don't worry, it wasn't your son!) We've got him on antibiotics, and yes, he'll be able to finish the week with us...

Better late than never: After confiscating 2 phones, I had 3 more turned in tonight...good to see the Holy Spirit doing conviction on young men

"The greatest among you will be your servant": Taylor Bader has a fallback position at any restaurant as a busser...he probably cleard about 200 sets of dishes tonight, what a servant!

I'm a meteoroligist: The weather is beautiful! Perfect!

Old students are like a boomerang...:

• Robert Ramirez (Horizons' graduate 2010) is doing an awesome job on the Video Staff here at HUME/SD!

• One of my old Junior High kids from my San Diego days, Tim Brown, (or "Big Tall Tim as my son Caleb calls him) is now a youth pastor, and has his group here!

• Another two of my old kids, Shawna and Owen Spiva, are on the staff here this week as well...so awesome to see how God has continued to mold them into His image!

Yuch, but yay!: 5 hour Energy drinks are one of the nastiest tasting things ever! But they work amazingly well...I think we have close to 40 of them as a staff in our combined stash this week!

That's it for tonight..I'll try to have picture up tomorrow :)

When I was a little boy, my Mommy (actually my step-mom, but the only woman I ever knew as "Mommy") used to make "Hot-Milk-Toast". It was one of my favorite things to eat. Basically, it's exactly what it sounds like: Heat up milk, pour it over cut up pieces of toast, and add some sugar on it, which puts a sweet taste on the soggyness of the bread instantly created. Might sound gross to some, but if you eat it quick enough it was very tasty! Obviously, let the milk cool down, and the bread get absolutely soaked to the point it falls apart, and no amount of sugar is going to save it.

Lately, I think I'm seeing too many of us Christians walk thru our lives like a bowl of Hot-Milk-Toast. We get our spiritual lives on fire (Hot-Milk), and pour it over every broken piece of our lives (Toast), and then try to add fun things to it (Sugar) to make it look, smell, and taste ok. The problem is, all too often, we get ourselves prepared correctly, and then do nothing with it...becoming soggy, luke-warm Christians, "and no amount of sugar is going to save it".

I'm sitting here thinking of so many of the young people I work with...some doing very well, some probly needing a bigger pat on the back, some needing a bit of a spiritual kick in the rear-end...and yet, I still wouldn't trade it for anything.

We are in the middle of VBS this week at Horizons, and so many of them are involved, I'm very proud of them. It's great to see and hear about their servant's hearts...

As we look forward to Summer Camp at Hume/SD I have to say I'm as excited as I've ever been about the theme, "All-In". I think, and pray, that our students will be challenged to put up or shut up, when it comes to their walk with God. Even after all these years in youth ministry, it still bums me to know that some problems and choices teens still face continue to take them down paths that God so wants to help them avoid. It's hard to watch good kids make poor decisions, and yet contstantly refreshing to watch God not give up on them.

There have been parts of the last year that have been very trying on me personally in ministry, perhaps like never before. And yet, in the last few weeks I have seen a group of young people stand up and say, "Troy, we want to make a difference, and we will not put up with spiritual soggy lukewarmness anymore!" I can't wait to invest the next year into THESE students, as well as anyone else who wants to come along for an amazing ride.

Hot-Milk-Toast can be a great treat, or a disgusting mess...kind of like our spiritual lives...just random thoughts....