It is summer camp time!!  If you have followed my blog at all you know that summer camp is an important part of who I am and my call to ministry.  I spent eight wonderful summers going to Camp Calumet as a kid, I spent another nine fabulous summers as a counselor/senior staff person at Camp Calumet.  Then during some time off from college I spent three years on the year round staff at Calumet.  All very important in my life and I had many life changing experiences at Calumet.  I also have a great group of friends from Calumet as well.

It is no surprise that as a pastor outdoor ministry is high on my priority list.  Five months into my call I recieved a letter from the Bishop’s office asking me to prayerfully consider serving on the Vanderkamp (local Lutheran/Presb camp) board.  After some conversations with colleagues and after some prayer I decided this was something that God was calling me to do.

So I have been serving on the Vanderkamp Board of Directors for about a year and a half, and I really enjoy it.  I am able to help formulate positive camp experiences for youth in our synod.  I also came back recently after directing a confirmation camp at Vanderkamp for youth in our conference.

But none of that excites me more than seeing my son excited to start his time in camping ministry.  This past Sunday we dropped of Cheese wiz at camp for his first week as a camper at Vanderkamp.  Now this would not of happened if we were in New England.  As much as I am excited for him to experience Calumet and do the same things that I did when I was a camper/staff person.  Calumet does not allow kids to come to camp until they are eight years old.  Vanderkamp allows kids to come as early as six.

He was counting down the days before he went to camp.  We got there on Sunday and he was ready to go.  In the picture to the right he is holding his bear so he can sleep with it at night.  He packed his drum sticks so he can play in the band, he packed his bathing suit and goggles to go swimming and he was very excited to do some boating.

I had mixed emotions on Sunday.  I was sad because I knew that I was going to miss him.  But I was so excited for him.  I know the lasting impact camp has had on my life and I know that it is going to have a lasting impact on his life as well.

This will be the first of three camp experiences for Cheese wiz.  The next will come at the end of July when my parents will take him and my daughter and my brothers children for a week at Camp Calumet.  Then at the end of August we will take our yearly family vacation with friends at Calumet as well.   Our summer will end Labor Day Weekend when we will be at Calumet for the 90′s staff reunion which I will serve as chaplain.

I hope that my son finds as much joy and excitement as I did in his camping experience.  I hope that he sees God working in the camp and in his life as I did growing up.  Even if he chooses not to be on summer staff at Vanderkamp, Calumet or any of the other camps that are out there, I hope he holds these memories close to his heart, because I will never forget the look of excitement, wonder, and love that were in his eyes after I dropped him off on Sunday.

In the summer of 1992, barely 18 years old, I stepped onto a plane, leaving my family, school, friends and everything I knew behind. I was going to a place called Calumet, of which I knew little. The sense of adventure and the sense of freedom were fantastic, and completely liberating; I couldn’t wait!!

I finally arrived at Calumet, late on an absolutely pitch black night and after briefly meeting D-Guy I was shown to my bed at I-house. As I fell asleep that night I said a little prayer in which I told God, ‘this is going to be the best summer of my life’.

The following morning I woke, stepped out of the door I thought I came in the night before, (there are two doors) to find myself standing on a beach and my first ever sight of Lake Ossipee. As my eyes adjusted to the morning sunshine, I stood on the beach speechless; time stood still under that deep blue sky and as the waves lapped onto the sand a few feet away, I sensed that my prayer for the best summer of my life was already fulfilled; I felt at home.

Being the only Englishman on staff that year and being unknown to anyone, I realized later, that possibly for the first time in my life, the real me finally showed up. With a sense of freedom and limitless enthusiasm I worked in the kitchen for most of the summer. I made friendships that last to this day and had, quite simply, the best time of my life.

One day, after Family camping week, I was asked to clean all 17 of the big kitchen bins, the ones used at the back of the kitchen. For the first time all summer I was not excited by the task. As I stood there with gloves, a stiff brush, chemicals and 17 smelly bins, Wade Hlushuk stopped by.

Wade and I had become close friends over the summer (a friendship which continues to this day) and I shared my lack of enthusiasm with him. Wade then offered me my first major piece of mindset coaching, which still guides me today. With a warm and friendly smile he said, ‘Rory, you can decide to be excited about anything’. In that moment my whole day and ultimately, my whole life changed. Those bins had never been so clean and I, quite possibly, had never been so happy.

Throughout my career as a speaker, author and philosopher I am often reminded of that day for two profound and very moving reasons. Firstly I realized that in every moment I am responsible for my thoughts and that my thoughts literally create my experience of life. Secondly I realized that being of service to others, even cleaning the bins when everyone else has gone home, is a profound privilege.

My time at Calumet, the people I met and the acceptance I received, reassures me every day of my life. In a sometimes uncertain world, Calumet is like a lighthouse, ensuring I never loose sight of who I am and what is truly important to me.

After a long time away this blog will be up and running again.  When we first had the idea of creating a devotional book based on stories from Calumet it took off like wildfire.  There were facebooks created, emails sent, documents drawn up and a blog started.  However, with the events that happen in life that passion was soon fizzled out.  Like many things the devotional book became lower and lower on the list of things to do.  

But I would like to bring that back.  The passion still burns within us and we hope to have something together (at least a 40 day devotional) done by Lent.  However we can’t do this alone. We need your stories – we need you to share your calumet memories.  Don’t worry if they might not seem “devotional worthy” we are not worried about that.  We can take your thoughts and ideas, pray about them, talk about them and then let God do the work.  This is not about us- this is about God and the amazing things God has done in our lives and in the lives of all who have gone to Calumet.  

It does not matter if you have only been there once- or even heard about the amazing ministry that Calumet has provided so many people.  Leave a comment or send us an email.  Check us out on Facebook and become our fan.  We thank you and all who will benefit from this project thank you as well.

David has tagged me for a meme. I will try and finish this before I go to the YMCA for some swimming.

The rules for this meme are fairly standard. Simply post the rules at the beginning of your post, answer the questions,, and tag five others to play along. Leave a comment on their blog to let them know that they need to visit yours for the rules, and of course, link back to the one who tagged you, in this case….me!

Here we go

Ten years ago:
Wow I have not thought about 10 years ago in a long time. 10 years ago I was finishing my second year at Luther College. I was preparing go to to Camp Calumet for the summer. hmmm… Good times

Five things on today’s “to do” list:

Work on my Bible Studies for this weekend

Work on my sermon for Sunday and Wednesday

Pack some

Teach swimming lessongs

Cook dinner for the family

Things I’d do if I was a billionaire:

Pay off all my debt

Help my family and friends out

Contribute money to Calumet, LTSP, and Luther College

Contribute to the Leadership Fund of the ELCA

Buy an iPhone

Buy a nice house in New England with a large yard and spend my days playing my guitar and writing songs

Three bad habits:

Drive too fast

I tend to have a hard time saying no

disorganized

Five places I’ve lived:

Philadelphia, PA

Reading, PA

Freedom, NH

Decorah, IA

Rutland, VT

Five jobs I’ve had:
Paperboy (1^st job ever)

Line Cook (Red Lobster in high school, Country Kitchen in college)

Camp Counselor and Retreat Specalist (Camp Calumet)

Youth Director

Dunkin’ Donuts driver

Five people I’m tagging:
Dr. John

Johnna

Ian

Virginia

Christoph

With thoughts of Youth and Stewardship, Pre-marital counseling and the Catechisms, and the book American Jesus swirling around in my head.  Added with the fact that I think I am getting sick and it looks like my first call interview might be in the next week or so…..I decided to answer questions to the Friday Five that I found on Lutheran Zephyr’s blog.

1. How many times have you moved? When was the last time?

During College I moved back and forth between college, Calumet and Home.  So not counting every time I did that I have about 10 moves under my belt.  I hope that the next move will be my last for a long time.

2. What do you love and hate about moving?

I love the feeling of complete organization when things are packed up. I actually know where everything is and I am amazed by what I find when I do pack things up.

I hate the actual moving part. I do not like carrying the boxes, straining my back and how fast hours turn into days, which turn into weeks.

3. Do you do it yourself or hire movers?

I have never hired movers but I heard they rock and I hope that might be an option this next move.  But there are lots of the bigger stuff we are going to throw away.  Including the couch, desk and dining room table that we paid a total of $100.00 about four years ago. I think we got our money’s worth

4. Advice for surviving and thriving during a move?

Start early because you always run out of time and you will find yourself throwing stuff in boxes when you could of thrown it away.

5. Are you in the middle of any inner moves, if not outer ones?

I am moving all over the place.  We will be moving to my first call site in a few months (I hope) and I feel like I am always learning and growing as a person and individual internally.  So yea we are pretty busy moving wise.

Bonus: Share a piece of music/poetry/film/book that expresses something about what moving means to you.

Ever since I read what Lutheran Zephyr wrote “on the road again” I can’t get that out of my head.  I think that is appropriate but if I think of something more meaningful I will put it here.