Re-entry

I do not re-enter well from CAMP.

It takes a long time, I'm sarcastic, somewhat grumpy, I'm always looking for that group of 300 people, when it gets close to a meal I listen for a bell to ring or a whistle to blow, and when the meal is over I stack all the plates, sort the silverware, and pour all the leftover drinks back into the Iced Tea Pitcher - then I go outside to talk to people. Except, there is no one outside, & Carolyn gets mad at me for ruining her Tea and leaving all the dishes on the table. Yesterday, at church (the right amt. of people)everybody looked at me so oddly when I asked them how their track was going. I forget everyone's names from W'burg (even really close friends). I want to talk about things that have happened in the last 2 weeks, but most of the stories are those kind that "you have to have been there" to understand.

Now, fortunately, Carolyn understands, she provides me with space, understands when I start to speak in gibberish and gently lets me return to normal (what is normal anyway?). She provides me with a reasonable amount of social interaction - with peers and helps me with their names and tries to interrupt me before I talk too much about the BLOB or the ZIPline (terms which most 50 yr.olds wouldn't understand). Even with all this preparation I vacillate between wanting to be back at camp and being glad I'm home.

Well what is the cause of all this anxiety and culture shock? After all it is not that much of a cross-cultural experience - it's just Lexington, VA. There are 2 reasons that I can identify. One is personal, the other is spiritual. Personally, I'm an extrovert, the classic kind. I feed off of being with people. They energize me. I love to be in a crowd, even if I'm not a part of it. I don't have to be the center of attention, just to be in the middle. So situations like camp are ideal for me. There is always something going on from 7AM until 2AM. Camp feeds all of those needs for me. And to even complicate it more - Camp comes at the end of the most intense campus time - closing regualr appointments, meals, parites, Senior good-byes. Campus time intensifies as exams approach. Then Camp, then I return to an empty campus, and sort-of an empty town (from my perspective).

And Spiritually, and I hope this is not too idyllic, camp is like a glimpse into heaven. There are God's people everywhere. Eventhough we are still sinners, we keep short accounts, we reconcile quickly. We support and encourage each other. We speak truth, but not worldliness. We rejoice in the Gospel. We give glory to God and not ourselves. All the content shared is from the Word. There is a choir that resmbles the Choir of the Kingdom, we are all singing praises to God. All of our needs are met. There is plenty of planned and unplanned time to be with God.

Well I am blessed, I wish everyone could get a 2 week glimpse of heaven. Something to look forward to an up-close look at God at work deeply in the lives of people including ourselves.