Living Rarefied

As I approach the day we leave for camp, I start to wonder about the snapshot my students will grab from camp.

I am trying to remember my snapshots of my first Young Life camp 9 years ago. Here's a few…

• Amazing camp food
• I was the solo sophomore with juniors and seniors and was accepted by them at camp and after we returned
• My crush on Sarah Robison (we sat next to eachother on the plane…)
• Winning the synchronized swimming competition with Trebil and the other guys from Bloomington
• Fishing
• Carrie, our work crew server in the dining room from Texas (loved the accent)
• Mission Impossible themed program
• Cute girls from Nashville

I don't remember the speaker, I vaguely remember our cabin time discussions, I remember my leader Alan but none of the conversations we had.

I remember how beautiful the camp was, but not one problem that my cabin buddy was having, or that I was having…

So how can I help assure positive snapshots for our 10 campers and my 2 other leaders? How can I help 1 student who is moving to North Carolina in 20 days adjust to his new environment and build him up so he isn't worried about making new friends? How can I plant a root with the students who I will be walking with for the next 3 years? How can I infuse a little more depth to their list of snapshots unlike mine above?

Here is a short list of snapshots it would be cool to hear from them in 5 years…

• I made some amazing friends that week that I am still close to this very day
• I was really struggling with [...] and my leader listened…
• The camp speaker really made me look at some things in my life and challenged me to be my own person
• That week changed my life
• We had the most fun of any group there

Students:
Raph, JD, Brooks, Nate, David, Alex, Brendan, Julia, Sarah, and Erica…

Leaders:
Ethan, Alexis and Robbie…

There will be 13 sets of snapshots from our group.. I am excited to see what they will be next week when we get back and in 5 years when I hit them up to be leaders!!!

Ethan testing

So for my birthday, (April 4th for those who need to plan ahead for gifts and parties) my sisters both gave me a gift certificate for Let's Dish. I think they don't believe in my preparation skills, so they sent me there.

But I have 9 meals that feed 6-8 people.

So last night a few of us decided to get together for a meal. I cooked 2 of the meals as our group turned from a few 6-7 to 12!
Monteal Chicken and Potatoes and Seafood packets with linguine pasta. and Bethany brought a pasta salad! and the little one brought pudding pops and other assorted popsicles.

It was a great time. Tables were at capacity and smiles were everywhere. Just a fun night to share some time with others with no occasion other than spending time with each other.

ADDED BONUS: I also needed to clean the house before people came, so my house is in tip top shape!

Ethan Daily

I see too much stuff about being "saved"… He's saved, she's saved, he's going to hell, etc… I am just about fed up with that being the focus point.

Nobody that is walking the earth has any idea of the final "in or out" question… We can hope, live, love, but I firmly believe we will never know until the day arrives whether we are saved or not. If we aren't going to know that answer, then why focus on the answer? Why not focus on the life, here and now that leads us to that day of judgement?

If people's focus is being saved, and then result is heaven, and a definition of heaven is closeness to God, why not live in heaven here on earth??? I seek to focus on building my case for salvation by loving others, becoming closer to God through Jesus, living as Jesus did, growing closer in relationship with those the world has written off, using my gifts for those who lack those gifts, finding Jesus in my daily life, reflecting Jesus in my daily life and my actions to those who see me and those who don't…

I see too many people commenting on blogs about famous people in history being saved or not, I read too much on the web about people being saved or not, I am in too many conversations where the content is the answer of being saved or not.

If we did know the answer before our deaths, what is the point in living a positive lifestyle, what is the point in loving others, what is the point in living as Jesus did? I mean we're saved right? We did it, and we're covered!!! Why not be selfish for the rest of your life, look out for one and one person only.. ME…

I think if people truly knew their salvation before the day comes, the earth would be much further away from God than it's current state..

(DISCLAIMER: do not read this that I don't care or believe in Heaven, I do… I just don't have time for conversations, people who want to focus on the "SAVED" answer, because I won't know in my time here so I have nothing to say or nothing I want to hear…)

Ethan testing

Do you ever get the feeling people are clueless? People who praise you over and over about things that you truly believe they aren't clear of the details?

This is how I often feel with as a Young Life leader. Almost 4 years ago we had a full time staff person and I joined up as a volunteer leader. Young Life has had amazing impacts on me and my family over the years, it would be about 2 weeks worth of posts I think. Over 2 years ago, our staff gal up and left, maybe 2 weeks notice, moving to Michigan, left me and Rob to handle things. I agreed to be the head leader in the interim process until we found a new staff to replace her. Now we sit over 2 years later, and we are still in the imterim phase.

I joined YL as a volunteer because I wanted to hang with kids, grow in relationship with kids. I am not voicing that I believe the path we have taken is wrong, thus saying God has led this ministry in the wrong direction, I am simply voicing my inner battles. I feel as if I have been moved into this "admin" type role and forced out of my desires to be with kids and into the comfort zone of being behind the scenes planning, administering… This is where my frustration lies.

Being a volunteer, if asked to plan things, then the time spent with kids suffers and soon there will be no kids to come to the planned events… On the other hand, if I am asked to be with kids, then the planning suffers and there is nothing organized for us to do. If I focus on recruitting leaders, then I don't do any planning or spend any time with kids and the whole ministry suffers.

And the kicker is, I get gift cards, letters from the YL office, emails, and conversations from the office saying I am doing a wonderful job and the kind of attitude that everything is fine and working properly.. When in my mind, it isn't…

Next week I am getting on a bus to camp in Colorado with 10 kids. A 1000% increase in numbers over last year! Great right? On paper yes, in reality, not too sure… I have seen kids who have been regulars stop coming on a weekly basis because I have spent some of the time I used to spend with them hanging with newer kids. Being the only guy leader and juggling 15 guys who come and go isn't going so well and I never expected it to. Its just not logical to try and juggle that many kids with 1 person. I can't even do that properly with my closest friends? Spend too much time with one, another misses out.

I struggle because it took over 2 years to even offer the job to somebody (who turned it down) and we have nobody in the interview queue… So in 2-3 years when I may be a little too old to connect with youngsters, where am I going to be at? Still doing admin stuff and not connecting with kids? Will there be any other volunteer leaders that connect with kids? Will there be any other volunteer leaders?

Are kids going to say, "there's Ethan, he used to hang out with me, then he went to hang out with the new kids each year…" Or are they going to say, "there's Ethan, he's been hanging out with those 4 guys since they were freshman! They've got a great friendship, I'm glad and hope {LEADERNAME} does the same…" If it's the first, I'd rather not be a part of it. I don't want to appear in a kids life and drop them when a new kid comes along and needs to be included.

Right now it is just me and my sister Alexis as leaders. Moving into a big summer with kids, perhaps a bigger fall with kids.

I used to wonder how many kids will we get to hang out with!!! Now i tend to wonder how many kids are going to be left behind, or neglected from me…

Ethan Feeling, Surprise Me