Changes

1-27-11

I wanted to call this post "Kicked Out of the Nest," but seeing as I've jumped instead of having been kicked, it would not have been entirely accurate.

I said in an earlier post that camp staff retreat had been stretching. Well, it was. There it was, New Year's Eve, and my camp director slings an arm over my shoulders and says, "Ashlee, you're a girl with options."

First thought: What the heck does that mean?

But I sat and listened to him as he explained that I had been asked for. Basically, two of the best teen camp pastors that I've ever had the privilege of working with had been promoted to being youth directors of other conferences, and one of them wanted me to come work as administrative staff, as the ceramics director, at his camp. Charlie told me that he would be happy for me either way (whether I stayed at Timber Ridge or went to Wakonda), would respect my decision, and that I had to tell him before he went recruiting at Andrews. He, Trish, and I prayed about it and we went about the weekend.

Well, the choice before me bothered me. I mean, it bothered me in a good way. Sometimes when God wants me to do something, He doesn't allow it to settle in my mind. Instead it whistles like a tea kettle until I've decided to act one way or the other. By the end of the weekend, I had already come to the conclusion that God wanted me to go to Wakonda, but I decided to wait until I had talked to Pastor Greg and done some more praying about it. That was the decision I had come to after an brisk early morning hike around Timber Ridge's lake.

So I Skyped Pastor Greg and talked with him, and we prayed. I got ready for classes to start and went to classes and what not. A couple days later, I Skyped Greg again and said, "You've got yourself a ceramics director."

"Yeah, I need one," Pastor Greg said.

"No, what I'm saying is, you have one," I said, feeling a little dumb that I couldn't just verbalize the choice and had to speak around it.

"PRAISE THE LORD!" was Pastor Greg's response (and when he and his wife were here this week for recruiting and I interviewed with them, he kept saying, "I'm so excited you're going to come work with us." I think he said it like five to seven times in about ten minutes.)

Later that day, I Skyped Charlie and Trish and said, "When you go to Andrews, you'll be talking to your new crafts and ceramic director." Charlie's response was,"I had a feeling that was going to be it. It's a tough decision for you, isn't it?"

And yeah, it was. I love Timber Ridge Camp, and I believe that it's one of the best places in the world. It's a God-place. I get onto the grounds and my whole self relaxes there. It's been my home for fifteen months (if you take three months a summer and times it by five, the number of summers I've worked there), and that's longer than the time I spent as a student missionary. I've invested a lot of hard work into that place and the kids who go there, and the camp has invested a lot of hard work into me. I went from being the kitchen aide to the crafts and ceramics director, a position I never thought of being in, let alone surviving through. Once you're part of Timber Ridge's camp staff family, you're always a part of that family. It's like a good version of the Mafia. I have grown so much through my time there.

And now God's making me move on. He wants me to take the training I've gotten, the growth I've attained, and use it. Once again, He's pushing me outside my comfort zone, and I'm starting to be  more excited about the prospect of working at Camp Wakonda this summer. (I'm not sure how I'm getting there this summer, but that's a different topic for a different post, especially since this one's long as it is.)

Charlie and Trish were also here recruiting this week, and I got to go out Tuesday night with the rest of TRC's staff to Tony's and Rembrandt's. When they dropped me off at my apartment, Charlie said, "Ashlee, we're proud of you, and you'll do a great job this summer at Wakonda," and Trish said, "Yep, we are." (And I'm pretty sure they know how much it means to me to hear something like that. Let alone the stuff he told me when I sat down to have a chat with him. I'm so words of affirmation.)

So, if you've just skipped to the end of the post to see my summary, it's this: This coming summer will be my sixth one of working at a camp, but the first one at Camp Wakonda, a place I've never seen, but God wants me there, and so I'm going.

More later.