Friday, April 26, 2013

Top 10 Things To Love About Camp

10. Awesome hikes:

At Shiloh we get to enjoy a beautiful hike to a mountaintop (hilltop for all you west coast/rocky mtn. folks) that overlooks one of the most beautiful reservoir views I've ever seen. Sunrise, sunset, or anywhere in between you won't regret this sort of mountaintop experience.

9. Challenge courses:

How often do you get to rock climb up 50 feet in the air? How many zip lines have you been on? How about some team building or problem solving 20 feet above the ground? Looking for a rush? This is where it's at!

8. Camp food

Many people think that camp food is unhealthy and tastes terrible. You can blame Hollywood for that one. But the truth is, most camps try to offer healthy options for their campers. Not to mention that I can't remember ever walking away from a camp meal still hungry.  Also, s'mores. 'Nuff said.

7. Bows & Arrows:

That's right! Bows & arrows! In NJ it is pretty unusual to have regular access to this stuff. Boys can finally do more than pretend to be Robin Hood and Girls can more than pretend to be Katniss Everdeen. At camp you can learn exactly what it takes to be an archer like the best of them! 

6. Late night conversations:

Sleepover conversations are one of the best things about growing up. But that is only good for one night. At camp, you get to do this for a whole week! Often the hilarity that ensues during these conversations is beyond mention. But I would guarantee that at least one night during your week at camp, something serious worked its way into the discussion and you created a real connection with someone.

5. Music

Most people don't get opportunities to sing out loud other than alone in their own car. But at camp, you can sing loud and proud regardless of the quality your voice. Music helps connect people to a degree that other mediums could never even come close to.


4. Camp fires

I think that my favorite smell in the entire world is that of a camp fire. The smell that lingers on your clothing is earthy and warm and brings back so many great memories. Some music and some time to share about your week make this a special time for a lot of folks. Also, s'mores. Again, 'Nuff said.

3. The Staff

I still remember camp counselors from when I was a little kid. Most specifically I remember a guy named Shane and his brother Tim. They always ran the clinic for R.C. cars. One of the best things about the staff is that you can eventually be a part of it! Some of my co-workers became best friends (and vice versa). That brings me to my next point

2. New friends

I don't think that I could list all of the wonderful people that I met at camp. Those late night conversations help to add depth to a connection that is made while picking teams for dodgeball, singing camp songs, or fighting over that last piece of bacon at breakfast.

1. It can change your life:

A single weekend away at camp can change your life forever. Imagine what a whole week, month, or even a summer at camp can do! During the school year, many kids eat for free at school, but in the summer, for some families they have trouble scrounging up money for the extra meal. For these campers, a scholarshiped week at camp is the only week all summer that they don't go hungry. That can help change a life. Some kid's don't have anyone at home who will listen to them - a "seen but not heard" mentality. Having a camp counselor who will listen to them, encourage them, and believe in them can change a life. Thousands of campers also choose to have a relationship with a God who loves them deeply. Now that is a changed life!

Did I forget anything? Feel like I left something out? Feel free to share some of your memories in the comment section!

Monday, April 8, 2013

Spring Cleaning

I've officially finished my first full week at Shiloh and I can 100% honestly say that I have never felt as sore as I have this past week. The gym construction site was pretty messy and disorganized. It needed some serious TLC and that was what I was tasked to this week. It was time for some spring cleaning (nice since spring has finally decided to arrive this week).


I moved large piles of sheetrock. Sometimes it was moving it only a matter of 10 feet, but if you've never moved a 14'x4' piece of sheetrock I can tell you that it weighs 100.8 lbs and sheets come attached in pairs.
- Now instead of these sheets taking up 56 sq. ft. of floor space they are leaning up against a wall.

I moved all of the yet unattached doors. Most doors in a person's house are hollow so that they are light weight and easy to open. But in a commercial building, all of the doors have to be fire rated and they are heavy and solid.
-Now these doors are set up by size and swinging direction ready to be grabbed when they are needed.

I swept up (and vacuumed up) more dust than I could possibly express.
-Now workers can move around without trudging through (and kicking up) a layer of dust.

I organized all of the tools by type and by task. All of the tools for sheetrocking and spackling are on one table.  All of the power tools (drills, grinders, saws, etc...) are on another table.  All of the fasteners (screws, nails, tape, zipties, etc...) are on yet another.
-Now when someone is looking for an item for a specific task, they don't have to take 30 minutes looking for what they need.

Why am I saying these things? While I do think I am awesome for doing all of these things, that isn't why I'm telling you about it. I want you to know that when you keep your life organized, keep your life clean, you enable yourself and others to better serve those around you.

If your life is crazy and you never know where you are going to be three weeks from now (none the less three hours from now), you are less able to help others. If your car is messy (and I'm speaking directly to myself on this one) you are unable to pick up that old lady walking in the rain with her groceries. If you don't take care of your house it is hard to invite people over for a bible study or a youth group's "night out/in".

What I'm driving at is if you keep a schedule and live a life with less clutter you will be more able to live the life to which God is calling you. Have you ever missed and opportunity to help someone because of disorganization or being messy in some way? What parts of your life might require some spring cleaning?

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Errors - or - What Not To Do with Grout.

Error 417: Expectation Failed -

You see, two Saturday's ago at Shiloh I tried to grout a shower stall for the first time ever.  I thought I was doing great.  I got that grout between the tiles.  And I did it pretty fast too!  The problem was that I didn't realize how fast it dried.  Nobody told me that if I waited more than about 30 minutes I wouldn't be able to get the grout cleaned up.  You see, you are supposed to take a damp sponge and wipe the tiles down to clean up excess grout.  I expected to be able to grout the room, then wipe it down.  I was wrong.  You only have about 30 minutes before it has to be wiped down.

Error 449: Retry With -

I tried valiantly with the sponge to correct my first error.  But honestly I was mostly just tearing holes through the sponge because of the amount of pressure that I was adding.  I called my good friend Pete over to help me out (and God bless him he spent a few hours scrubbing with me).  We scrubbed the walls together. It still wasn't enough though. So I decided that we would retry with kitchen sink sponges (the yellow ones with the scratchy green side). It worked a little bit better. But the grout was hardening faster than we could scrub.

Error 462: Destination Unreachable -

This is really what it felt like. I had been scrubbing for hours and had to leave for my nieces first birthday party. I skipped lunch to try to get this done, but I still couldn't finish. I knew that it was over. By the time I could come back a few days later this would be as hard as it would get.

Error 405: Method Not Allowed - 

By this point my arms were kinda sore. The repetitive motion of scrubbing the tiles was pretty tedious. This is when I decided to work smarter - not harder.  I hopped in my car and went to the nearest hardware store where I picked up a brush that attaches to a drill. This was my ticket to the finish line!

All I can say is that it is a good thing I tested it out on an inconspicuous area because it really kinda messed up one of the tiles. The grout was gone, but so was the finish on part of the tile. I knew that this was not an acceptable solution

Error 424: Method Failure -

One of the guys I worked with suggested steel wool. Again though it was exhausting on the arms after two hours or so of hard scrubbing.I took some zip ties and attached the steel wool to the drill in an effort to once again alleviate my arms. It worked for quite a while, but after about 30 minutes it looked like a steel sheep had shed all over the floor. The steel wool just didn't hold up.

By this time our foreman at the gym had heard about my predicament and bought some heavy duty scouring pads. Of everything I have used, so far these work the best. I attached them to the drill and they took the grout off fast, with no negative side affects, but the pads just don't hold up.  Over the course of about 2 hours I went through the three industrial grade scouring pads that I had.

Error 406: Not Acceptable -

Later this week I still have to finish scrubbing this down (I have to find more of those scouring pads first). I know that leaving this long term is not acceptable.  However, I'm trying to clean up my mess. Hopefully I'm finished with this by the end of the week.  

I guess the points I'm driving at are:

1) When you mess something up, you should try to do something about it.
2) Fixing an error can take FAR longer than making one, and
3) Learn all you can about something new before you jump in head first.

Your turn:

When have you ever had to spend time cleaning up after a mess that you've made?  How much longer did it take than making the mess?  Tell us about it in the comments. Also, for those of you who have no idea what all these numbers mean, check out Wikipedia.