I was too quick to laud the merits of Crocs in my last post. This week one of mine sat out in the sun an entire day and (would you know it?) shrunk down at least two whole sizes! No joke.
Made me feel like one of Cinderella’s sisters trying to jam a foot into a glass slipper, my heel hanging out the back. Who would have thunk mere sunshine would shrink a Croc down like cannibalistic natives shrink heads?
The sun ruined another of my belongings as well. After sitting in the broiling trunk of my car for some time, my laptop battery no longer accepts a charge. This is sad, but someone told me I should put it in the refrigerator to fix it. I tried. It didn’t work. Then they told me I should put it in a ziplock baggy and freeze it. With some trepediation, and after warning my roommates to not be alarmed if they heard a muffled *boom* from the freezer, I tried that as well. Thankfully it didn’t explode, but the trick didn’t fix it either. Maybe I should try throwing it against a concrete wall next?
So another week has passed at camp. I was a lifeguard, and will be again next week. Nobody drowned on my watch, for which I’m thankful. The only event of note was on a tube float…. one guy got this large hook stuck in his heel! Apparently some aspiring Captain Ahab missed his Moby Dick, only to later, in a roundabout fashion, harpoon a 22 year old human! What’s worse is the hook was attached to a line which was snagged at the bottom of the river. So this fellow was struggling to tread water against the current! With some fanfare we freed him, after one of our number produced a massive knife which he had been swimming with for just such an occasion. Our saved victim was appreciative, and after getting him to shore the hook was removed, only having buried itself in about 1/2 inch.
In between snatches of this and that I’ve managed to do some reading.
Almost finished the book, Haiti: the Tumultuous History – From Pearl of the Caribbean to Broken Nation. It’s enlightening, but soo depressing and makes me feel angry at Hatian’s crooked leaders.
Also read a shorter work, The Light Princess, a fairy tale by George MacDonald. It was clever, funny, and fun. The protagonist reminded me of at least one person I know. The chief lesson was that love is the only thing which can bring back into harmony laws out of balance.
In other news, in my last post I gave my current camp address in hopes of receiving more letters, and it worked! I got a letter! It was from the brother of my brothers’ brother-in-law. So that was exciting. I also got a cheery e-mail from Seth, an older brother of my father’s youngest son.
One day last week I lost both my Bible and my toothbrush! Can you believe it? I was again reminded of my propensity towards absent-mindedness. After these losses, the quality of both my Bible reading and my teeth began deteriorating. Later, after much searching, both essential items were found (though not in the same place) which made me happy.
I heard a series of messages this past week on King David and how he had a heart after God’s own heart, even though he had failures in his life, some of which were dramatic. These messages were quite encouraging to me (and convicting), and when they get posted online I’ll link to them here. Some main points were that David wanted to know God and actively sought after Him, that he owned up to his mistakes when confronted regarding them, that he was obedient in obeying God, and that he wanted to be where God was and for God to be where he was.
Off subject…. after spending a lot of time with kids this last month, I’ve got to thinking on the topic of “maturity”. What is maturity? I Googled it and the following definition appeared:
The state, fact, or period of being mature.
Brilliant, Sherlock.
My definition would include being serious, something I’ve noticed is outside the realm of possibility for many teenagers (especially guys), not to disparage the odd anomalies.