Sunday, June 13, 2004

5:10 PM Nick has been scrounging around trying to find a sleeping bag. I think we have one or two but at the moment, he can’t find any of them. He needs one because he is leaving for a weeklong trip to Camp Victory in Zumbro Falls, MN. That’s in southeastern Minnesota, 20 miles north of Rochester. He’s going there with John Mark Edwards, Josh Edwards, Noel Birkey, Marshall Birkey, John McGuin, James Slagle, and Sean Kidd. It all started a few months when John Mark and Nick decided they wanted to spend time mentoring a few of the older Allied Force guys. So they decided to take them on a weeklong trip to work at a Christian camp. But where? They really didn’t have any leads so Nick went on the Internet and somehow found Camp Victory. Until a day or so ago, I had never heard of it. In fact, until a day or so ago, I had no idea where the guys were going. So I asked Nick, “Had you ever heard of Camp Victory before?” No. “Do you know anyone who has ever been there?” No. “Have you personally talked to anyone from the camp?” No, but John Mark apparently talked to someone at the camp. Basically Nick found the camp on the Internet and emailed them, asking if they needed help getting the camp ready for the summer. The camp said yes, so the guys are leaving right now for Minnesota. They get free room and board, and they help with whatever needs to be done. They couldn’t leave earlier because Josh Edwards just graduated from Oak Park-River Forest High School this afternoon. I asked Nick yesterday, “Do the folks at the camp know you’re coming this week?” Yes. “What will you be doing?” A vague answer that had something to do with maybe building cabins or maybe setting up nature trails. “Do they know you’re coming in around midnight on Sunday night?” Yes. I’m sitting here laughing to myself and thinking, “Oh, to be young again.” So Nick and his buddies are gone for the week on an adventure to Minnesota. We put new tires on his car yesterday so he’s ready to go. I’m sure they will have a blast. Meanwhile, I’m in the final countdown for the Civil War tour, which leaves at 7 AM Monday. Josh leaves for China a week from tomorrow. So the Pritchard family is officially “in transit” at this moment. I haven’t heard from Mark all weekend but I assume he’s doing fine—unless he signed up to travel with the NBA superstars and forgot to tell us about it—which is a distinct possibility, at least the forgetting to tell us part. Meanwhile, Marlene remains the most stable person in the family. She’s the one who keeps the rest of us in line—as much as she can. At lunch I mentioned that I had quoted novelist Franz Kafka in my sermon today. The quote is all I know about him; I haven’t actually read any of his books. Marlene wanted to know who Franz Kafka was, so I tried to tell her but basically my answer was, “He’s this guy I quoted today.” So I said, “You know who Camus is, don’t you?” Camus is pronounced Kah-Moo, BTW. Nick had a wise look on his face and said, “I think we read one of his books this semester—or we were supposed to or something like that.” Marlene chimed in and said, “I don’t know Camus, but I do know Shamu,” the famous whale from Sea World. That cracked me up. I’m still laughing about it three hours later. 7:18 AM Highlights from last night’s Faith and Freedom Concert: Video interviews taken at the Family Fun Fest last Sunday featuring our own people talking about what freedom means … Devon Hollingsworth on the organ … Clapping for the veterans who stood while the organ played the songs for the Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force and the Marines… . Reading of the names all those in active service related to our congregation … “Brethren, We Have Met to Worship” … “O God, Our Help in Ages Past” … a jazz version of “The God of Abraham” … All of us singing “God Bless America” … Fadge Pincham and the choir and orchestra performing “Let Freedom Ring” … It was the perfect way to end an extraordinary week in America… . I think we should repeat the program in a few months. It’s so good that I want the whole church to be part of it. Perhaps we could add the children’s choirs and have a cookout before the program. That would make for a fun evening. 7:18 AM Today’s entry in the Crosswalk weblog is called The Prayer of General Confession.