Poop and Sunshine

One morning at camp, a bird pooped on my face.

Now, this was a literal event, but we all kind of feel as if we've been pooped on sometimes, don't we? Sometimes we're standing under a tree in the beautiful morning light, minding our own business, when someone drops something unexpected on us. It's not our fault, but we do have a choice about what to do with it. We can let it ruin our day, crying to everyone who will listen about the mess that we've been left to deal with, hiding our face in embarrassment, or we can walk to the bathroom, wash it off (making sure to use lots and LOTS of soap), and move on. Nobody wants to be pooped on, but sometimes it’s beyond our control. You can choose not to stand under trees just like you can carefully choose the crowd you hang out with, but birds don’t just poop while they’re sitting in trees. You could choose to never go outside again, or always have an umbrella above your head, but what kind of life is that?

Ultimately, you’re probably going to get pooped on at some point (maybe not literally, but figuratively). And when that happens, you’ll have a choice. I challenge you to go wash it off, and go on with your day. And even if more bad things happen, like you twist your ankle or the battery in your watch dies, it’s not the end of the world. Next time you go down those stairs, watch out for the step that got you last time, and go get a new battery for your watch. Even when more and more things seem to be piling up, it won’t stay that way forever. Take it one step at a time and keep on living your life. Don’t be afraid to go outside because of the bird poop; don’t hold an umbrella over your head all the time: you’ll never feel the warmth of the sun on your face.

I challenge you to throw open your front door and go outside. Don’t be afraid of what could happen, live for what is happening and let the sun shine on you.


Just make sure that you’ve got some sunscreen handy, and lots of soap, just in case.




-jodi

Monday Morning Blues...

Do you want to know what happened last Monday morning at camp? Of course you do.



First, my watch died. Which stinks, because I have to be certain places at certain times, and that's harder when you don't know what time it is. Next, I took my cabin down to the Cedar Center for breakfast. When we were done praying, I said, "Amen." Then something hit my nose. I figured it was water from the tree above me. It was still morning, there's dew and all that, right? I wiped it off with my finger, and looked. Brown, with a hint of white. Yes, that's right, bird poop. On my face. On the way back to the cabin after breakfast, I hardcore twisted my ankle. During classes, Becca and I got to drive the golf cart around and take pictures. As we were driving, we noticed this smell. It smelled like something burning, but we figured it was a campfire (which we did think was a little strange, because it was pretty early and we didn't see one). When we got to the paintball class, my boss Kyle said he was going to ride back with us. While we were walking to the golf cart, I was telling Kyle what had happened earlier. A few feet from the golf cart, we realized that it was smoking. Kyle summed it up nicely: "Well, that's not good..." He walked up and picked up my bag. Now, you need to understand, I've had this bag for a year. It's hot pink with black cats all over it, and I love it. It's a cinch top backpack that my friend Leah's mom made for me. When Kyle picked it up, we saw that one of the straps had been singed off. Kyle and Becca looked at me, and I didn't know what to do, so I started laughing, and so did they. What kills me is that Becca and I SMELLED IT BURNING, we just didn't know what it was. No wonder the smell was following us around camp. After stomping out the rest of the embers on the strap, we got back on the golf cart and went down to the main part of camp again. On the way back to the cabins to get ready for lunch, I was telling Jon my day up until that point, and I was showing him where I twisted my ankle, and lo and behold, I twist the other one on the following step.

All this before lunch.

The next day, Tuesday, I was out taking pictures again. I was wearing a bright orange shirt when I went out to the paintball course. I thought it would be cool to get some pictures out in the field, so I informed all the boys that I would be out there, wearing my bright orange shirt and a white towel tied on my arm (theirs were red and blue to mark teams). I told them I wouldn't be hiding, I'd be out in the open, and asked them to please not shoot me because I had the camp's camera (although sometimes I wish we had a different one...). All was well for a while, until I got between the two teams. The blue team waved me past them so that they could shoot at the reds, so I walked right past them. They knew I was there, they'd just waved me past. And it was literally right past them, we were barely ten feet apart. So I got past their line, and then someone from the blue team turned around and shot me. I yelled, and everyone was like, "Who shot the girl?!" The boy said that it was an accident, but I don't know. The thing is, he didn't fire like, four shots and one of them hit me. It was a single shot, square on the shoulder. He totally aimed, and he HAD to see that it was an orange shirt. Plus, I JUST walked past them. It splattered in my hair and all over my neck, and some even made it into my mouth. It was loooooovely.



However, other than that, I had an amazing week. That was my best week counseling out of this year and last, and I wouldn't change a thing.
:)