The Story of My Life: MFSC 2, The Scream Heard Around Camp

Day 2 came with a early and rude awakening after a rough first night of sleep. I get we were here to participate at camp and follow the program, but getting up before 8am in the summer was painful. The only light through the gloom was that I had a fully cooked breakfast waiting for me in the cafeteria...but Tim B decided to put the brakes on that locomotive. Having had the worst room the day before, he was making sure history wouldn't repeat itself. 

The process began with making the beds to look like the day we first walked in. Then all the clothes lying around were put in an orderly manner. Any trash was put in the waste basket. All towels were hung, all water was cleaned up, and everything was in proper order. We felt pretty good about our chances as we finally headed to breakfast. We wouldn't know the end results until around dinner time.

After breakfast came a Take Five. These actually happened directly after every meal. They were up to fifteen minutes long, but were meant for everyone to find a secluded spot all to themselves and be quiet for at least 5 minutes. There were various intentions for this time, but the most simple was to be able to spend 5 minutes of calm and quiet to yourself in a jam-packed day. I'll admit that my first go around with the take fives was not anything as they were intended to be, but later I would find great value in them.

I mentioned group time previously, but I didn't mention anything about my group. It consisted of a group leader, a couple of assistant group leaders, and the rest were jr high kids, myself included. My Dad was assigned to my group as the main leader. The co-group leaders were Mark M and Isaac M (no relation). There were three other kids in my group who were Sam K, Vincent K, and another kid whose name escapes me. Having my Dad as the group leader eased my ever present anxiety during the week. But I want to talk a bit about Isaac M. This was the first time I had met him as he was from Michigan. He was pretty good friends with both Tim C and Mark M. Once I met him, I instantly thought he was one of the cool kids. He had the looks, personality, and a big smile that made him a very likeable dude. What fascinated me the most was that someone like him was willing to give up a week of his summer to serve jr. high kids. All of those things made me appreciate someone like him even more.

After a really good morning session, the afternoon activity had us back in the gym. It was set up for a large game of Knockout and two courts for volleyball. I quickly gravitated towards the ever growing knockout line. I wasn't long before we had intense games going. There were so many kids who wanted to play that we had to form two lines on both hoops. Once again it was mixed with jr high, high school, college, and even some post-college adults. 

There was so much chaos that you had to have the utmost concentration to win a game. And that was something I wanted more than anything. To be able to say I was the last one standing vs my peers and those greater than I. I took shot after shot. I ran all over that court like a crazed maniac. Game after game I fought for that W. But it was repeat after repeat. A missed shot followed by a swish. The clang of my desperation throws missing over and over. I became so drenched is sweat I could've splashed in a small puddle.

I was getting tired, but in the next game I made the top 5. I was oh so close to sweet victory that I could taste it. The desire and drive in me overcame my fatigue. I stepped in line for one more shot. The first shots were taken and we were off. Each time I got the ball in my hands, I made every shot count. Aggression was the key to my success. If the person in front of me missed their shot, they had to react quick because I was in the zone. My confidence grew when an older kid missed his shot and I sunk mine. Before I knew it, I found myself in the final 3. It was me, another jr high kid, and a college serving one by the name of Johnny H. We all slowed down to catch our breath. The other kid was up first. He missed his shot. I quickly fired mine, but I too missed. I managed to retrieve my rebound and lay it up off the glass before the other kid's ball hit the rim. I hustled back in line. It was now David vs Goliath. Johnny H took his shot and he made it. Then I made mine before he got back to the line to take another. Back and forth we went. Neither being able to knock out the other. Then a loud CLANG was heard as Johnny H missed was a seemingly easy shot. I didn't hesitate and heaved a desperation free-throw. I ran forward to grab the re-bound, but there was none. My ball hit the square and fell through the net. KNOCK OUT! I celebrated in pure ecstasy. Not only had I finally won, but I beat someone much older and better than me to do so. After that, nothing was going to ruin my day.

I want to pause this memory for a moment and reflect on a valuable life lesson here. It wasn't until years later, when I found myself at this very camp and in this very situation, but with the roles reversed, where I was now the older college kid taking on the last remaining jr high kid in the knockout line, that it hit me like a ton of bricks. Johnny H let me win that game. There were shots he took that he should've easily made, but it was clear to me now that he purposely missed them. Was I upset when I had this realization? Nope. Did it take away from that valuable moment in my life? Not in the slightest. I still had to earn my way into that top 2. To face the best of the best. And I still had to make the winning shot. But the lesson there wasn't about winning or losing and doing so to the best of one's ability. It was a matter of taking care of someone else. Someone like me who hardly played organized sports. Who very rarely got the taste of victory in front of a crowd. And anxiety-riddled jr high kid who felt like he achieved the impossible. And for a long time, Johnny H's act of kindness carried on in me for years to come. So when that young kid in front of me was playing his heart out to beat "the big kid", it became my turn to miss my shot. And when that kid made the winning basket, he felt the pure joy I had all those years ago. I small, humbling act of kindness can do wonders in someone's life. And I experienced both sides of that coin.

Un-pause. Knockout would not be the only exciting activity that day. The evening one was one I was looking forward to since I saw the schedule. A night swim. The boys were doing this one solo while the girls would get their turn the next night. Never before in my life had I been able to swim in a large pool well after the sun went down. We were out in the middle of nowhere where we could be as rambunctious and loud as we wanted. Just walking to the pool's edge and I was in awe. Heated, lit so you could see what you were doing, a volleyball net across the shallow end and a basketball hoop on the side. I was in kid heaven.

What made the experience special was not simply the fact that it was a night swim. It was the fact that all the boys were able to have an incredible bonding moment. While the first 15 minutes or so were spent getting used to the water and the feel of the space, the rest of the night was organized chaos. We organized volleyball teams that were competitive to a fault, but allowed younger kids to have their moments to shine. When someone got a nasty spike,  they roared like a gorilla defending it's territory which was followed by playful shoves, high-fives, and a ton of splashing. When we tired of that, we had a slam-dunk contest, where we got louder and louder with each epic dunk. Once the dunk king was crowned, we finished the night off with the human cannon. The college-aged serving ones would form a small circle in four feet of water. Then one by one, the jr. high would swim to the inner circle and place their feet on the serving ones' hands. Then the kid would get into cannonball form and the serving ones would bob up and down while counting down from three. After they got to one, the kid was launched as far as they could be thrown into the deep end. Yes I did take that ride and let's just say I made a splash.

About the time the clock struck 10PM, it was time to return to our building to wind down and soon drift off to sleep. Thinking that would happen so smoothly was wishful thinking at best. After a full day of fun and being able to stay up later than normal, the last thing a kid wants to do is go to bed. But the serving ones did a good job and eventually got everyone in their rooms for the night...

---knock knock knock. I thought I was dreaming, but having realized I was being awoken at 1AM to the sound of actual door knocks, I didn't dare leave my bed. Tim B had woken up and went to see who was at the door. It turned out to be Jeff B, one of the main camp coordinators for the week. I faked being asleep while he talked to Tim. Apparently, someone was roaming outside of the building tapping on the first floor windows with lights on trying to scare the girls. Jeff asked Tim to go help him search for the culprit. They both grabbed flashlights and disappeared down the hall. I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. Just as I was drifting off, I heard an ear-splitting scream. Then another. Then a lot of screams coming from downstairs. Now wide awake, I jumped out of bed, ran out of the room, and made my way to the railing. There in the middle of the main floor was most of the girls all in one big cluster. Many of the other boys who had woken up joined me on the railing. No one had any idea what was going on. Jeff B came back in and calmed everyone down then asked everyone to return to their rooms and go back to bed. That's it? I thought. No explanation? Since my parents were staying in the motel section, I wanted to make sure they were okay. I had a small cut on my foot that was fine, but it did look like it could use some attention. So I asked Jeff to take me over to the motel. Surprisingly he did. We woke my dad up and he got me a band-aid from their supply. Seeing that they were all good and my toe was bandaged, I told Jeff we could go back. We walked back through the dark to the sounds of the night critters and I returned to a quiet building with everyone back in their rooms. I crawled into bed and finally fell back asleep.

The next morning during breakfast, I approached Jeff B and asked him what last night was about. He said they weren't sure who, but a girl complained about tapping on her window and thought she saw something wandering outside. Word was brought to Jeff and he recruited Tim B to go check it out. Word had spread amongst the girls who were awake that there was a prowler on the loose. Some were noticing flashlights and went to the windows to see if they could see who it was. In reality, it was Jeff and Tim searching for the mysterious tapper. But some of the girls did not know that and Jeff didn't want to scare them so in the moment, he held the flashlight up to his face so they could see it was him when they looked out the windows. Unfortunately, the light cast shadows over his face, making him look terrifying. Some girls thought he was the tapper and ran out of their room screaming causing others to follow suit. Jeff did end up chuckling about it even though it was a long night for him. There were other groups not associated with us utilizing other parts of the camp for the week. Jeff had his suspicions that it was someone from one of those groups trying to pull a prank, but the culprit was never caught so that is one mystery that won't be solved.

With that I conclude part two of this JHC recap. I have one more part to tell as it contains a crucial change in my life as well as other memories that mattered. Until next time.

The Story of My Life: My First Summer Camp Part 1

Summer camp was something every kid new about. Depending on what type of kid you were, you either always wanted to go or you dreaded going. I was in the group that wanted to go. But it wasn't really for the basic reasons of summer camp. Because my view of what those were like came from all kinds of 90s cartoons, PBS kids shows, TV shows, and movies that depicted how epic they were supposed to be. They made camp counselors look goofy and that kids had more free reign than they did at home. The epic competitions, prank wars, and doing all sorts of crazy stuff late into a summer night was the stuff of dreams.

But we all know that TV tends to exaggerate things and summer camps were not cheap endeavors. Plus none of my friends went to summer camp so it wasn't something that was in the cards for me. But in the summer of 2004, now living in Cleveland, OH, opportunity arose. It turns out that the church group out here ran a multitude of summer events for the youth and one of them was called Jr. High Family Camp. It was a week long Christian youth camp that focused on kids in Jr. High (5th-8th grade), but was open to families as well. And who were the counselor's? Any high schooler, college student, or adult who so desired to give their time and heart to serve. The big kicker? It was located in a remote area of Pennsylvania. The town was called Laurelville and it was almost halfway between Cleveland and Abbottstown, PA.

All the young people I had met through church were going and my family thought it would be a good idea to get involved. So while my three younger brothers were not old enough to be full participants, the camp was open to families so everyone, my parents included, made the journey. A three hour drive later I found myself in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by trees. Then buildings appeared. Some that appeared to be old and some on the modern side. I wondered which ones would house us. The camp itself was huge.

First stop was check-in. We let the leaders know we had arrived and we received our room assignments. While there were more rustic, camping style options, the organizers went for the more luxurious options. We exited the check-in and drove up a back hill where we found ourselves in front of a small motel and a lodge. The lodge had two floors with plenty of rooms on each floor. The rooms were hotel style with big comfy beds, a full bathroom in each room, and an AC unit, but no TV. The motel was the same, but it was like a standard motel where it was a one floor building and each door led to a room. The families were put in the motel and all the campers and their group leaders were put in the lodge. All the boys were put in the second floor rooms and all the girls were put in the first floor rooms. Strict rules were put in play where if the boys entered the lodge, they were only allowed to go up to the second floor and not linger on the first. The girls were not allowed on the second floor for any reason. Violators were warned there would be repercussions if those rules were broken. This arrangement would bring about a very interesting turn of events later in the week.

The only scheduled thing for the first night was the welcome meeting where we were given our packets and supplies needed for the week, the schedule layout, the rules and regulations, and all other necessary information. The general schedule for each day was as follows: Breakfast, group time, large meeting, lunch, afternoon activities, group time, dinner, break, group time, large meeting, evening activity, lights out. The last day's schedule would be different as it would contain two big events known as the talent show and the grand finale called the Bible Bowl. More on those later. One other note is that all the events throughout the week earned points towards the Bible Bowl. That included having the cleanest rooms, verse memorization, and not losing your belongings. 

But with reward also came consequence for failing the standard. Another aspect to this camp was to teach people how to be responsible human beings. Having a clean room and not letting it look like a pig-sty was one of those life lessons. During one of the activity times, room inspectors would do an inspection of the rooms, take notes, and report back to the leaders. Room inspection announcements normally came at dinner so the inspectors could make sure the room looked tidy throughout the whole day. Some rooms were spotless by lunch, but after the afternoon activities, they became a disaster. Being a camp rookie, I didn't think our room was that bad. Turns out I was dead wrong. Our room was announced as the worst room that night. We got nailed for sloppy beds, towels on the bathroom floor, clothes in places they didn't belong, water on the bathroom floor, etc. Our one saving grace was that it was the first day. First day offenders got a warning so they would know what the standard was. There was no mercy for second failure. When we returned to the room, we had to see the other rooms that got high marks. It was apparent why ours was the worst. Our serving one who was in the room, Tim B, apologized and said he knew better having been a junior high camp veteran. That "worst room" label put a competitive jolt in him as he said we were going to have the best room at some point this week. I was determined to see that happen.

Before I go on, I have to talk about Tim B for a minute. I got to know him a bit over the past year living in Cleveland. He gave me a lot of grief for the Pittsburgh Steelers shirts I wore (rightly so as I was an Eagles fan in Browns territory), like to make very bad dad jokes, and loved playing basketball with the young people. But this camp was where I'd really get to know him more. I discovered that he had to take a week off work to serve a bunch of rowdy junior high kids. I learned that he found joy in seeing joy on the kid's faces and would do things to make it happen. He deeply loved the Lord and desired the kids he was with to find that same love. To him, it was worth giving up vacation time for. I will share some of the moments that inspired me as we go on in this tale.

For the first big afternoon activity, we all went to the on-site gym the camp had. When we arrived, there were dodgeballs all lined up in the center of the floor. Then the obvious was announced that we would indeed be playing dodgeball. And when they announced it was going to be boys vs girls, the boys let out a loud roar while some of the girls did not look to enthused. To start it was jr. high vs jr high only. The two sides lined up on either end and when the siren blared, it was off to the races. Chaos ensued in blazing speed. One minute I was charging the line and the moment I blinked, a ball nearly took off my head. The rest of that game was a blur. But I do remember the slow build-up to a full scale onslaught. The teams changed from Jr. High and HS girls vs Jr. High boys. Then the HS boys were added. Followed by any college girls that wanted to join. By then if your senses weren't honed in, you were going to taste rubber. I witnessed some kids take some heavy blows. After a few tears and some comforting, they eventually re-entered the chaos. The play of the day came from the girl's side. A HS boy was targeting a specific HS girl. He unleashed a throw so hard that when it connected it knocked her down. But instead of having to leave the field, she hung on and caught the ball, not only eliminating the HS boy, but getting one of her eliminated teammates back with that spectacular catch. Everyone in the building went nuts. The play was so iconic that it was talked about the entire week.

After about an hour or so, they announced the split of activities. The girls were off to the pool and the boys were going to stick around in the gym for more dodgeball punishment. Here's where things went crazy. The older boy serving ones who weren't allowed to play when it was boys vs girls were now allowed to enter the battlefield. It was like unleashing powerful cannons that were hidden until the final salvo. One person in particular, Johnny P, had a deadly throw that was both risky and effective. He would load a ball into one hand, turn his back towards the firing line, then do a full 180 and unleashed the ball in a direction that could not be predicted. If it connected, you were in a world of hurt, but he also turned his back on enemy fire, so it could turn into an easy KO. One loose cannon of a throw ended up causing a casualty to someone not in play. One team was losing pretty bad. As more people got out, the longer the line that was waiting for a caught ball became. As the line got longer, people slowly shifted out of it to see the action. It wasn't long before the back end of the line curved into the field of play. Johnny wound up one of his no-look throws and fired it at full strength. The ball took a direction of its own out of his hand and scored a direct hit to the face of an unsuspecting jr. high kid in the "out" line, but standing in the field of play. Game action was suddenly halted as aid was rushed to the poor kid. After a few minutes, the kid had his marbles back in place and was helped to the restroom to clear up his sore face. The onslaught resumed shortly after. We dodged, ducked, dipped, dived, and dodged for another hour before it was our turn to cool off in pool.

The rest of that first day was a combination of excitement, relaxation, and getting a deeper understanding of God's word. The group time I mentioned previously happened after multiple times a day and usually consisted of going over a section in the Bible to find the facts. For a jr high kid, those times would only be as good as what I was willing to put in. If I got bored or distracted, I gained nothing. But if I paid attention and my curiosity got the better of me, I would actually learn something I didn't know before or gain something about life that was useful. The nice thing about the small group time after dinner was that it was always a "get to know your group" time. Lots of interesting ice breaker questions. I found that one so much fun because the social side of me was more than happy to share the parts and quirks that made me tick. 

The day would eventually wind down for an altogether group time with singing and a message from the Bible. In a way, I found these messages more fascinating than a typical Sunday morning message because these were given by mostly college kids who would sometimes perform mini skits to better portray the story they were sharing about. The messages combined with the massive group singing was an uplifting way to nearly close out a long day.

The last thing each night was always a different activity. For the first night, the boys returned to the dodgeball arena but this time to play a different game. The dodgeballs were traded for basketballs and it was last man standing in a fiercely competitive game of Knockout. For those unfamiliar with this game, everyone forms a single-file line from the foul line on the basketball court going straight back to the wall. The first two people in line each have a basketball. As soon as the first person shoots, the second person shoots. If the first person scores, they pass the ball to the next person in line and go to the end. If the second person scores before the first person, the first person is out and the second person goes to the end of the line. This pattern continues until one person outlasts everyone else. Seeing as there were over 40 people involved, the games got intense and there was a lot of cheering, laughing, and the occasional light jest when someone got knocked out. I wanted so badly to win one, but that night wasn't my night. But I did get to experience something I really hadn't before. That was the joy of being able to play large games with a large group of kids. As I was homeschooled most of my life up until this point, I lacked a lot of that type of experience. And I was loving every moment of it.

Stayed tuned as I continue this journey through my first summer camp, as I have more exciting and life altering stories to tell, more people of my life to introduce you to, and more memories to explore. This was only the beginning.