Well, I've been to two practices so far for the upcoming play, and now I understand why my other friends who are in it have no lives. It kind of sucks your life away. Lame.
The busy week is almost over. I've finished an audio project, sang for the Board of Trustees, and practiced for the play next weekend. Tomorrow I am singing in a vocal music lab, and then WE BE GONE! That's right, tomorrow is Center Lake Bible Camp's annual staff reunion, and I'm driving up a bunch of my homies in the Man Van. I won't be posting anything until at least Sunday evening, so this is my last for now.
I'm tired.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Postponed, for now
Well, I seriously lack motivation tonight to write a long story about last summer at Center Lake. I've been writing a lot today on peoples' notes and statuses about politics and the Bible and it's worn me out. Ugh. Too many people are way too freaked out about this right now. I got tagged in a note that talked about how this pastor was told by God before the election that Obama would be the most ungodly president yet and persecution against Christians would start and that there would be "horrible negative effects on the Gospel throughout the world." I wrote out this big ol' discourse about why I disagreed strongly with some stuff that he was saying, and then accidentally exited off the page and lost it...of course. Didn't bother to rewrite it; it was dang long. Obama may or may not be the most ungodly president yet...so what? Persecution against Christians may or may not start happening...is that a completely bad thing? Horrible negative effects on the Gospel...really? You mean, like in countries like China and others where Christians are persecuted, and the church is GROWING because of it? Ugh. Do we really think that just because we live in America we will be able to escape it forever? I have friends who are just waiting for the persecution to come, haha.
UGH. I am justdisappointed in peoples' attitudes. A bunch of my other friends have already addressed this issue, so I won't make you listen to more.
Blah. Let's live for the kingdom coming. Anyone with me?
UGH. I am justdisappointed in peoples' attitudes. A bunch of my other friends have already addressed this issue, so I won't make you listen to more.
Blah. Let's live for the kingdom coming. Anyone with me?
Busy Week
Man, I will be very happy when this week is finally over, and not only because of the STAFF REUNION at camp this weekend...although that is a large part of it, haha. I have a lot to do this week before that. I think I am officially "in" as the acoustic guitar player for our school's production of "Baptist" (ask me about it sometime if you want to know what it's about), which means I'll have to be at a lot of their practices these next two weeks. I'm also singing a solo for a Board of Trustees meeting this Thursday...still kind of unsure how that's going to turn out....AND I have to do a project for my radio production class, which I am not happy about, because the audio lab hours are weird...anyways, enough of me being selfish and complaining; this will just help me to manage my time better.
Politics: I love Jesus. The end.
Anyways, short post tonight; I need to spend some good time with God and in His Word before I go to bed. I'll hopefully have time to post the third part of my Center Lake story tomorrow.
Night.
Politics: I love Jesus. The end.
Anyways, short post tonight; I need to spend some good time with God and in His Word before I go to bed. I'll hopefully have time to post the third part of my Center Lake story tomorrow.
Night.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Grampa C-But and the King of the Wild Frontier
Wow, that could be a great story title...anyways, I wanted to use this time in the middle of my Center Lake story to share with you my two favorite nicknames, Grampa C-But and Casey Butler: King of the Wild Frontier, and how I came by them.
So, during my second summer working at camp, I was sitting with a table of my campers. I said "Hi," or something to D-Wag as he passed by, and my little junior campers wanted to know why I called him that. I explained that we all call him D-Wag because his name is Dan Wagner; we just take the first letter of his first name, part of his last name, and stick them together to make a new one. Foolish as I was, I decided to give them an example. "If you did that with my name, it would be C-But." Keep in mind, these were junior campers. Dumb idea. I tried to tell them not to tell anyone else...in vain. I was officially C-But as soon as the words left my mouth. It was lame...but I got over it. Now, fast-forwarding to the after-camp part of the summer: a group of us, led by my Uncle Wookiee (we ALL have weird names at camp, don't we!?), took a trip up to Neebish Island for a few days. During that time, I found a closet in the cottage we were staying in that contained a bunch of old clothes 'n' stuff. I proceeded to put on said old clothing, hike up my knee socks, grab a cane, and pretend that I was everyone's grampa in front of a camera (yes, there is video footage of this). The "grampa" label was put on the front of C-But, and thus Grampa C-But was created. Before that summer, I had actually informally adopted my two friends Matt and Jon as my grandsons anyway, since their grandparents live far away. Last year I adopted the entire floor of Ormston 3 as my grandsons as well. Except for Jon Wills and Travis Traxler; they're my sons.
ANYWAYS....the story of how I became the King of the Wild Frontier is somewhat simpler. Basically, my friend Mike Johnson (Canadian-Arab-Christian-camp counselor/storyteller extraordinaire-Moose brother) discovered one day that my name fit perfectly in Davy Crockett's theme song...and also that I had fought rocks and trees and clouds and leaves and birds and snakes and flowers and bees and beetles and bugs and Volkswagens and rakes and spoons and forks and sporks and knives and SHARP knives and bowls and plates and deers and mooses and saskaskewans and nessies and krakens and Jacks and Joels and Pats and Mikes and Kiels and Wookiees and ZOMBEHS and rabbits and squirrels and chipmunks and non-existent woodchucks and mustaches and FAKE mustaches and GREAT BIG BUSHY BEARDS and Simeons and common sense and boulders and grass and shrubs and bears and lobsters and dinosaurs and lakes and ponds and streams and oceans and the seven seas and deserts and forests and mountains and hills and movies and run-on sentences and the English language and ravens and crows and scarecrows and dogmans and the Cochranes dogs and cats and tortoises and wild raspberries and woodchips and birch bark and foul creatures and my own fear of the dark and Flesheaters and Pokemon and campers and counselors and SMTs and lazy core staff and Monkey Kings and trends and hardcore dancers and black socks and rated R movies in the staff lounge and Pride and Prejudice and television in general and Tennesee and sand and raptors and Gollums and t-rexes and pterodactyls and Transformers and Chuck and Jeff Kassuba and grounds and dirts and arks and boulderins walls and mosquitos and Neebish.
Mike enjoys breaking out into songs similar to that when he sees me.
So...yeah. That's about it, and it's so random that I don't really need to add anything to spice it up...haha.
By the way, I can't wait for the DANG election to be over already...and soon after it is, I won't be able to wait for all the COMPLAINING to be over with. Just thought I would share that.
So, during my second summer working at camp, I was sitting with a table of my campers. I said "Hi," or something to D-Wag as he passed by, and my little junior campers wanted to know why I called him that. I explained that we all call him D-Wag because his name is Dan Wagner; we just take the first letter of his first name, part of his last name, and stick them together to make a new one. Foolish as I was, I decided to give them an example. "If you did that with my name, it would be C-But." Keep in mind, these were junior campers. Dumb idea. I tried to tell them not to tell anyone else...in vain. I was officially C-But as soon as the words left my mouth. It was lame...but I got over it. Now, fast-forwarding to the after-camp part of the summer: a group of us, led by my Uncle Wookiee (we ALL have weird names at camp, don't we!?), took a trip up to Neebish Island for a few days. During that time, I found a closet in the cottage we were staying in that contained a bunch of old clothes 'n' stuff. I proceeded to put on said old clothing, hike up my knee socks, grab a cane, and pretend that I was everyone's grampa in front of a camera (yes, there is video footage of this). The "grampa" label was put on the front of C-But, and thus Grampa C-But was created. Before that summer, I had actually informally adopted my two friends Matt and Jon as my grandsons anyway, since their grandparents live far away. Last year I adopted the entire floor of Ormston 3 as my grandsons as well. Except for Jon Wills and Travis Traxler; they're my sons.
ANYWAYS....the story of how I became the King of the Wild Frontier is somewhat simpler. Basically, my friend Mike Johnson (Canadian-Arab-Christian-camp counselor/storyteller extraordinaire-Moose brother) discovered one day that my name fit perfectly in Davy Crockett's theme song...and also that I had fought rocks and trees and clouds and leaves and birds and snakes and flowers and bees and beetles and bugs and Volkswagens and rakes and spoons and forks and sporks and knives and SHARP knives and bowls and plates and deers and mooses and saskaskewans and nessies and krakens and Jacks and Joels and Pats and Mikes and Kiels and Wookiees and ZOMBEHS and rabbits and squirrels and chipmunks and non-existent woodchucks and mustaches and FAKE mustaches and GREAT BIG BUSHY BEARDS and Simeons and common sense and boulders and grass and shrubs and bears and lobsters and dinosaurs and lakes and ponds and streams and oceans and the seven seas and deserts and forests and mountains and hills and movies and run-on sentences and the English language and ravens and crows and scarecrows and dogmans and the Cochranes dogs and cats and tortoises and wild raspberries and woodchips and birch bark and foul creatures and my own fear of the dark and Flesheaters and Pokemon and campers and counselors and SMTs and lazy core staff and Monkey Kings and trends and hardcore dancers and black socks and rated R movies in the staff lounge and Pride and Prejudice and television in general and Tennesee and sand and raptors and Gollums and t-rexes and pterodactyls and Transformers and Chuck and Jeff Kassuba and grounds and dirts and arks and boulderins walls and mosquitos and Neebish.
Mike enjoys breaking out into songs similar to that when he sees me.
So...yeah. That's about it, and it's so random that I don't really need to add anything to spice it up...haha.
By the way, I can't wait for the DANG election to be over already...and soon after it is, I won't be able to wait for all the COMPLAINING to be over with. Just thought I would share that.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Center Lake Bible Camp, part two
So, my senior year, I was old enough to apply for the counselor position at camp, technically "junior counselor," since I would have just graduated high school. Junior counselors basically are the same as "senior counselors," except they get paid less. Pretty much. I applied, got the position, and started an amazing summer. I was among a good group of counselors all my age and grade...which was awesome, yet unusual, for me since I was the only GUY in my graduating class of FOUR (yeah...small Christian school...) and I was the only kid in my grade in my church. Not to mention, half the people I was working with were good friends of mine from the previous summer, which made it even better (we joked about it because nearly the entire staff was made up of returnees, so it was like a camp reunion all summer long!). I learned a LOT that summer of how to counsel, what it means to really serve when things are getting rough, and how to listen to God's direction for my life. The good things came out of what seemed pretty bad at the time, however. The first four weeks of camp, I had junior campers (elementary-aged) while it seemed that everyone else got a good variety of ages...and each week felt like it was getting worse. The cabins in general would be really good, but there would always be the one or two...or three...that would cause enough trouble for the rest of the cabin. Things were going well between myself and God...but I was getting worn out FAST. During the fourth week, I was just about ready to be done. I was sad because I was one of the few counselors who got stuck with junior campers (once again) during senior high week. The way the week itself went didn't help; however, God fortunately had put me with Neil Blake as my co-counselor, and sent Dan Wagner (from here on referred to as D-Wag) as well to save me that week. By Thursday evening, I was completely exhausted. D-Wag saw while I was with my cabin, and took over for me with Neil for the rest of that night until our cabin campfires. He sent me back to my cabin after dinner and let me nap all the way through the evening game. That single nap, in combination with God's providence for me, saved that week. My energy was almost completely restored...and the next week afterward, I got a cabin of JUNIOR HIGHERS! Not only was it a different age group...BUT, my cabin was made up of kids from my church and really laid back, cool kids who knew how camp worked...AND Mike Carpenter, a very good friend of mine from back home, was my co-counselor...that week was amazing. The next week, I had junior campers again, but it was OK. God pretty much saved my summer.
After the regular camp season was over, I returned for a week during the rental camp season, where various church groups rent out the camp and pretty much run everything themselves, with help from summer camp staff who know how to run the camp equipment and have been counselors all summer. That week I grew even more in my relationship with God, and I was very in tune to what He wanted me to do. Also, those of us who were there became very well acquainted with the chapters in I Corinthians regarding spiritual gifts...speaking in tongues in particular...ask us about it sometime.
After that final week was over (and after a trip to Neebish Island up north with others of my camp family), I finally went home. This was soon before I left for Spring Arbor. Now, my mom had been trying to sell out home for most of the past year, since she got re-married and my step-dad lived in the next town over (you can ask me about that later as well, if you wish), and had been working on one of his rental houses for us all to move into. About two or three days before I came to Spring Arbor, we officially moved out of the town and house that I had spent nearly my entire life in, and then directly afterward I left again. I really felt like I had no home...that feeling didn't go away until probably the end of this last summer. My first year at Spring Arbor was definitely an interesting one, and most of the friends that I have now don't know much about my first semester...but that's a different story. During that fall and winter, I wasn't really sure at ALL if I was returning to Center Lake the next year...that's probably a surprise for most of my camp friends who may read this. Even with all of the good things that happened, I felt like I was totally inadequate as a counselor. I felt like I relied too much on my co-counselors all summer to lead the Bible studies, tell funny stories, handle conflicts within the cabin, etc... I really felt like there was no way that I could do as well as they had, or could handle the responsibility of leading the younger staff who would be somewhat under me, just as I was under the older staff. I'll continue that story later.
I went to a night of testimonies upstairs in the Ormston lounge this evening. We sang worship songs, gave and listened to testimonies, and took communion. There was also a time for confessions, and I ended up confessing some serious stuff that God put on my heart to speak up about...I didn't think I would be doing that when I went.
Anyways, I'm going to bed soon. Last night I didn't sleep very well, so the extra hour from the time change wasn't as amazing as I had hoped it would be.
By the way, I'm really dang glad that this auto-saves while I'm typing...I just tried posting this, and it totally failed and I thought I had lost it.
Peace.
After the regular camp season was over, I returned for a week during the rental camp season, where various church groups rent out the camp and pretty much run everything themselves, with help from summer camp staff who know how to run the camp equipment and have been counselors all summer. That week I grew even more in my relationship with God, and I was very in tune to what He wanted me to do. Also, those of us who were there became very well acquainted with the chapters in I Corinthians regarding spiritual gifts...speaking in tongues in particular...ask us about it sometime.
After that final week was over (and after a trip to Neebish Island up north with others of my camp family), I finally went home. This was soon before I left for Spring Arbor. Now, my mom had been trying to sell out home for most of the past year, since she got re-married and my step-dad lived in the next town over (you can ask me about that later as well, if you wish), and had been working on one of his rental houses for us all to move into. About two or three days before I came to Spring Arbor, we officially moved out of the town and house that I had spent nearly my entire life in, and then directly afterward I left again. I really felt like I had no home...that feeling didn't go away until probably the end of this last summer. My first year at Spring Arbor was definitely an interesting one, and most of the friends that I have now don't know much about my first semester...but that's a different story. During that fall and winter, I wasn't really sure at ALL if I was returning to Center Lake the next year...that's probably a surprise for most of my camp friends who may read this. Even with all of the good things that happened, I felt like I was totally inadequate as a counselor. I felt like I relied too much on my co-counselors all summer to lead the Bible studies, tell funny stories, handle conflicts within the cabin, etc... I really felt like there was no way that I could do as well as they had, or could handle the responsibility of leading the younger staff who would be somewhat under me, just as I was under the older staff. I'll continue that story later.
I went to a night of testimonies upstairs in the Ormston lounge this evening. We sang worship songs, gave and listened to testimonies, and took communion. There was also a time for confessions, and I ended up confessing some serious stuff that God put on my heart to speak up about...I didn't think I would be doing that when I went.
Anyways, I'm going to bed soon. Last night I didn't sleep very well, so the extra hour from the time change wasn't as amazing as I had hoped it would be.
By the way, I'm really dang glad that this auto-saves while I'm typing...I just tried posting this, and it totally failed and I thought I had lost it.
Peace.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Center Lake Bible Camp, part one
So, for those of who you know little about it, I'm going to start sharing my camp history with you since it's had such a big impact on my life. I found Center Lake through my church, Calvary Baptist of Webberville, about when I started high school. I went the next two summers for a week each with my friends Matt and Jon, and it was amazing! I'd never been to a camp before, or away from my family and with just my friends for that long. Center Lake had so many fun things to do, and it was out in the wilderness, just where I like to be. The counselors that I had were really cool too; one of the cool things they did was sitting each of us down and having a talk with us about our lives and how we were doing with God at the time (which I later found out as staff that they are required to do, ha!). That always got me thinking about God more, which was a very good thing at that time.
During my second summer there, Jon started talking about working there next summer as an SMT, which stands for Summer Missions Team. We talked to one of the SMTs, Kiel Hamlet, about it, and it got both of us really interested. After we left and had been home for a while, we decided that we were going to apply for it. That winter, I filled out my application and sent it in, and in the spring I found out that I was accepted into the program (this was during my junior year, by the way)! However, Jon didn't get in, because he sent his application in too late, and I was going there for the summer mostly by myself, other than some friends that I had met at camp the previous summer.
At the beginnng, the SMT coordinator, Bri Simpkins, got all the SMTs together for a campfire, and we discussed our goals for the summer. I don't remember what mine was exactly, but I think it had to do with getting a lot closer to God over the summer.
After the camp season officially started, I found out that SMTs did a LOT of stuff around camp...and it was a volunteer position, so we didn't really get paid for it. Over the course of the summer, the SMTs would get to do a little bit of every other job that exists at camp: kitchen work, maintenance, housekeeping, and even a bit of counseling. It was a pretty fun summer overall. Near the very end of it, Bri sat us all down again and we discussed our goals at the beginning of the summer and if we had reached them. The sad part is, I was pretty much the only one who could honestly say that I hadn't really reached my goal, and that I hadn't even put much effort into accomplishing it. I was about the same leaving as I was when I had come. Realizing this was kind of rough. We used an analogy to describe this during the summer, and I found that it applied very well to myself: It's like a gas station. You can pull into somewhere where you can be filled, but if you just expect it to happen by itself, you're in for a surprise. If you're not making an effort to seek God out, you won't find Him. That was my lesson for the summmer. I left for my senior year of high school wanting to learn to follow God, which is a good thing to want, by the way.
That's year one in a nutshell. Now, back to the present: I will be reading through the letters of John today. I've been reading through them already, but I would like to spend today going over stuff, because they're really good. Also, I auditioned yesterday for our school play, "Baptist," and I think I am officially "in" as an acoustic guitar player. I'm happy about that, but I need to put some good practice time in for it, since it's coming up in only two weeks.
Hope y'all have a good weekend!
During my second summer there, Jon started talking about working there next summer as an SMT, which stands for Summer Missions Team. We talked to one of the SMTs, Kiel Hamlet, about it, and it got both of us really interested. After we left and had been home for a while, we decided that we were going to apply for it. That winter, I filled out my application and sent it in, and in the spring I found out that I was accepted into the program (this was during my junior year, by the way)! However, Jon didn't get in, because he sent his application in too late, and I was going there for the summer mostly by myself, other than some friends that I had met at camp the previous summer.
At the beginnng, the SMT coordinator, Bri Simpkins, got all the SMTs together for a campfire, and we discussed our goals for the summer. I don't remember what mine was exactly, but I think it had to do with getting a lot closer to God over the summer.
After the camp season officially started, I found out that SMTs did a LOT of stuff around camp...and it was a volunteer position, so we didn't really get paid for it. Over the course of the summer, the SMTs would get to do a little bit of every other job that exists at camp: kitchen work, maintenance, housekeeping, and even a bit of counseling. It was a pretty fun summer overall. Near the very end of it, Bri sat us all down again and we discussed our goals at the beginning of the summer and if we had reached them. The sad part is, I was pretty much the only one who could honestly say that I hadn't really reached my goal, and that I hadn't even put much effort into accomplishing it. I was about the same leaving as I was when I had come. Realizing this was kind of rough. We used an analogy to describe this during the summer, and I found that it applied very well to myself: It's like a gas station. You can pull into somewhere where you can be filled, but if you just expect it to happen by itself, you're in for a surprise. If you're not making an effort to seek God out, you won't find Him. That was my lesson for the summmer. I left for my senior year of high school wanting to learn to follow God, which is a good thing to want, by the way.
That's year one in a nutshell. Now, back to the present: I will be reading through the letters of John today. I've been reading through them already, but I would like to spend today going over stuff, because they're really good. Also, I auditioned yesterday for our school play, "Baptist," and I think I am officially "in" as an acoustic guitar player. I'm happy about that, but I need to put some good practice time in for it, since it's coming up in only two weeks.
Hope y'all have a good weekend!
Movie
Sooo, I was just out half the night with some friends of mine making a movie, and I'm tired, so I'm going to bed now. I'll post tomorrow morning when I wake up.
No-shave November just started. Woot.
Goodnight.
No-shave November just started. Woot.
Goodnight.
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