Diary of a Czar

Who would have thought, three months ago when I fished around for a funny signature and ended up ending my email with "--The Czar", that it would become such a big deal. And as kids searched for a hidden 2-liter bottle of Dr.Pepper, or chugged odious water from 2-oz. Dixie Cups and ran around holding hands, Mr. Pierson began to refer to me as "The Bizarre Czar" :-) Hey, I'll take that moniker and wear it with pride.

Well, youth camp. Let's see . . .


Sheetz on the way in with Katie, Daniel and Nick.

Katie making custom Yickiepickie T-shirts, and thereby being amazing.

Czar sash!! Ahhhhhhh, me likey.

Frenetic beginning, 'till Greg C took charge of Capture the Flag/Frisbee and I was freed.

Czarship has its perks: private room, morning espresso, Autumnobile access, radio, and knowledge to answer questions.

Czarship has its lows: when there's nobody to make the fire with which marshmallows are to be roasted, it's your fault. And you don't get to hear much of the messages, even when you're leading worship.

3-4 cans per day.

Canker sore the size of Manhattan = pain that never leaves you nor forsakes you.

Leading worship = doable, especially with a room full of people who want to sing.

Leading worship practice = very hard and humbling.

Skit about me and Dr.Pepper. Made my month :-)

Watching the campers run around carrying out YCAmoeba, by brain child. Seemed to go well!

Amazing, extended ministry after Monday and Tuesday nights' sessions.

The hardest part of running YC is the announcments. Timing; what to say; who to say it; when to do seconds; etc.Thanks dragged on too long, and I pretty much didn't think at all about the end of camp, so it got pretty hectic again.

The Meadows for ice-cream with PChOP people.. staving off the end of YC :-)

Steve-O came home with us, which pretty much made that day and the next.

As Monday rolled by, I was amazed at the experience of having other people take on tasks that I assigned them, and doing them as well, and with as much care and concern, as I would (or more). It's hard to describe what it was like watching Greg take CTF/F and make it happen, or walking into my office and seeing Wes Taylor hunkered over, drawing multiple maps of the Amoeba game to give to each of his refs. The wonder of this feeling is somehow tied to the fact that I could never make someone do things that well. I found quite clearly that comments/instructions from myself can't create a sense of ownership in anybody. So to see someone caring and working and *feeling* their task - doing what I could never ask or force them to do - . . well, it was indescribable! [I think this feeling relates to that which arises when we see God's grace at work. Could never ask or demand...]

Ultimately, I remained profoundly unaffected by nearly everything that went on at Youth Camp, even as I cried while people shared, and played my heart out when I led worship. So I didn't come home with a glowing ember to cherish, but I think with an armful of logs to fuel faith down the road.

YC08? Barring the providentially unexpected, I'm in 100% baby! We'll see how the post-YC meetings go in August.

For all of you who were affected at Youth Camp, who saw God there, who felt the Holy Spirit in you and around you . . cherish that! Thank God for that! I am far more aware now than I ever was before that all our youth camp stuff, all the food, games, plans, bunks, buildings, bandanas.. they are all fundamentally different from God coming. I didn't send Him an email telling him to show up Monday and Tuesday nights at 7pm. All my plans and labors, though not meaningless, felt like popsicle sticks in my hands before the great weight of God that deigned to settle on those little buildings out in the rolling green of Clymer, PA.

--Clear Ambassador/Czar

I want to remember the skits, so here they are:
- Blue Barf: "THE Infomercial" - predominantly featuring Minus 1, starring Akash Negi :-D
- Peeps: "Dancing with the Peeps" - featuring the Czar on guitar. Cowboy country, Picnic Table Polka, Spaced-Out robot hip-hop, and Blue Barf Ballet.
- Picnic Table - I forget the title. It was a rollicking, random ride of scattered, semi-indecipherable yet entertaining Biblical references and trippy vignettes. Killing the fatted calf was a highlight
- Cowboys - "Cowboy Memories" - sittin' round a campfire, recalling vignettes. Let us not forget the mooing cows or meeting the Man in Black.
- Flaming Cheetos - "Wheel of Fortune" - Took the cake for 2007. Human spinner, hand-made letters to be flipped over, and people doing the voices for other people. Good times.
- Spaced Out - "Dr.Pepper Obsession" - Nick Schuch = me (beardtee, Czar sash and radio, can of Dr.P), Mike P = psychiatrist. Rest of team = vignettes. Shannon as our Mom back in the homeschooling days (She's gone! We can eat ice-cream and drink Dr.Pepper!). Steve Shuch shaved the top of his head to play the old John B, hobbling on a cane and still clutching the can. Ahhh, amazing!