Raining cats & dogs

Whew- anybody else know it was going to rain? I feel like I've been sequestered under a rock for the past week; like many of us do, I tend to 'overschedule,' which means sometimes important things--like national news--and unimportant things--like the weather--get lost to me. Thankfully, here in Pennsylvania it seems we are still in need of rain, as everyday I drive by at least two or three cornfields and see brown, dry, sad corn! Unfortunately for our friends down South in places like Texas and Louisiana, they are not just experiencing a wet day- it's a full-fledged rain out. In situations like this, I always think back to the summers I participated in Work Camp as a teen. While we never traveled as far as Texas or Louisiana, I remember my first Work Camp ever when we traveled to North Carolina.

Ever have an image, or smell, that just stays with you? Well, I can vividly remember my first Work Camp experience; the first time my group stepped on a work site, we were met with the most obtrusive smell. Coming from a background where the most disgusting smell I experienced was garbage, this was somewhat of a shock for me. As my group entered the house where we would be working out, we took a preliminary tour to see what we would be doing. As we walked over warped pieces of linoleum and what used to be the family's living room, I was shocked that something so natural could produce such devastating effects. Until that point, the most devastation I had seen was after a tornado hit the town next to mine; seeing the loss of personal possessions was a reality check for me.

Our job that week consisted of a lot of demolition and throwing away of old, molded 'things.' The smell we encountered was the effect of this family's stuff sitting in water for many months; they didn't have the ability, or money, to clean it up, so it just sat there in their old house while they lived in a trailer thirty feet away. I could only imagine how it felt to look upon the house you lived in for many years, unable to fix it or salvage personal possessions. We picked through teddy bears, photographs, rusted jewelry, clothes, even school supplies and bicycles. Their entire house was gutted, and at the end of the week we left knowing someone else would be coming to put the pieces back together, but still unsettled that we couldn't do more.

The most amazing thing I can remember from my first week of a Christian Endeavor work camp was the amazing spirit that this family had. The family consisted of a mother and her three sons--ranging in age from 17 to 3, and there was this incredible sense of purpose from within them. There was no pity parties--although who else is more worthy of sadness than a person without a home?--just matter-of-fact living. The fact that this family lived next to a perpetual stinking & rotting house was overshadowed by the fact that someone had come to help them. And that someone, that week, was part me.

It is often too easy for us to forget about these transforming moments in our lives. And it is so easy to get caught up in summertime activities that are so good for us to do--like Work Camp and Summer Assembly--and then go home and forget about it. We're all guilty of it--I'm raising my hand very high here, too!--but as Christians, its something we must strive to never forget.

That's why I'm so excited that Christian Endeavor has expanded their work camp efforts for young adults in the fall and during many school's spring breaks. Often, we break up our lives into segmented activites: school, summer, friends, church, family, etc. But why can't your summer life mesh into school time?

It might not be Texas, but there's plenty of poverty and devastation in other places in the United States, and where there's a will, Christian Endeavor will find a way.

So tell me... what is your most memorable Work Camp moment?