They call me KD...

Yes, I am named after a box of cheap, pseudo-cheesy noodles...it kinda of makes sense if you know me at all...but it is the most beloved name to me...

For the past 11 years I have spent at least one week, usually two weeks, and a couple of times even three weeks each summer at a lovely spot in the Waiparous Valley called Camp Chamisall...no it is not named after a piece of women's lingerie but an acronym for Christian and Missionary Alliance (CH-A-MISS-ALL). And it is my favourite place on earth outside of my own backyard. Why you ask? Because God is visibly and tangibly at work there...and I get to be a spectator and a sometimes contributor.

This place rejuvenates me and exhausts me like no other place on earth...if home is where God fills me, then camp is where He empties me. And it is a joyous exhaustion.

I am now 49 years old and I spend the majority of my time with young people who are some 25-35 years younger than I but it is for a week in this magical place that I feel most effective in their lives. Here I live with them 24/7 for 6 days and God makes miracles happen.

I just spent this past week with ten lovely young women in a cabin in the woods...we played hard physical games (or at least they did and I was their cheerleader), ate a lot of food that could not in the slightest way be called diet and the majority would not be healthy (but oh, it tastes so good), danced to 80s music, sang ourselves hoarse in worship and we talked...oh, we talked so much, about such important things, about funny things, about heart piercing things. Would you like a list??

Sex - the who, the what, the where, the how....and God's plan for it
Parents - the secrets they didn't know
The role of men and women in marriage
The role of men and women in the church
Roller coasters
Demons and spiritual warfare
Families and their brokeness
Divorce
The masks we wear
The 1980s
Forgiveness and if its possible
What we need most from God
How to please and trust God
Movies and TV shows
Our wide paths and the narrow ones we'd like to be on
The Life of Pi, other religions and the apologetics of our faith
End times, Revelations and what heaven will be like
The impossibility of getting the milk/cereal ratio just right
Evolution and creation science
Boys/men/husbands
Being an Elijah
How our only hope to survive our lives is Jesus...

We laughed until our sides hurt....we cried our eyes red...we felt helpless in the pain of our suffering...we felt joy in the hope of heaven...and we loved, so much it was almost painful....we left there knowing no problems in our lives were solved but we felt more ready to take them on.

This place is a cocoon of love and trust and a place that is utterly safe to fall apart in. And then we are put back together in a new way, somehow more complete and able.

There is no other place I would rather give a week of my life to....

Coming soon to an Autumn near you...

It's almost my favourite time of year....

In spring, (such as we have in this country), I long for the long sunshiny days of summer, (such as we get in this country). I do love the sun and lazy times where I don't have to get up and go anywhere or do anything I don't feel like...( well, there's my job, but I don't count that).

And while I've had busy times this summer...a mission trip to Belarus, a couple of weeks volunteering at camp....there is really no routine, no must do's...

In the two and a half weeks between the mission trip and camp I watched no less than 22 movies and read 8 books...over 400 pages each!! And mostly by myself.

You see I pour out a lot of myself during the course of a year...through family, ministry, work...and I hidey hole up with a book or a movie and immerse myself in someone else's story instead of mine in order to rejuvenate. It's usually a fluffy movie or book...Lord knows, I have enough reality in my life, I don't need it in my entertainment.

But through the summer my routine falls by the wayside...I flutter here and there, no boundaries....And I love routine, focus, pursuit of what is good.

Autumn is coming home to me....home to family times, home to rountine in work, home to weekly ministry and fruition of plans. It's time to put away the constant movies and books and get back to a really good reality...purposeful and on a path...

I know it's coming, I look forward to it. I am already making plans...but then, I do have a few weeks before it all kicks off...maybe just a few more books....just a few more movies....