Takin' The Short Bus to Town

So we jumped on the bus and hit the road to the bowling alley.

What I like about the bowling alley ....

.... is the strange way people bowl.

No two bowlers have the same technique.
Will threw side-armed, below, and bowled great.
I thought he was horsing around.
He wasn't.
And B, well, I'm sure nobody bowls like B:
And it's kind of fun, too, to see how people act after they score.

But sometimes it's all just a bit too much for anyone.

FBC Youth in Ministry

One great thing about our youth is that they usually are ready at the drop of a hat to help someone out. You have to ask them to help, mind you, they might not notice you requiring assistance, but when asked, they're there.

And a great thing about Billy and Doug leading our youth is that they are teaching our men to be men. To jump in and do the dirty jobs. To rescue a damsel in distress. To work.... hard.... even in the rain.

Even on a football-esque Sunday afternoon.

So when a single female in our church had been without water a few days, wasn't sure what was wrong, wasn't sure what to do.....


... our guys jumped right in. Replaced her pump in the rain at no labor cost to her.

That's what a church family is all about.

And, of course, the guys found a little time for a quick game of Ugg Ball

in which they used an old tire for a ball.

FBC Youth.... at your service.
In His service.

Bonfire & Bible Study

It's the time of year when our youth group takes their Sunday Night Bible Studies on the road. Usually, they end up at Busbee's around a bonfire.

Last night was their second bonfire this season.

For the first hour, there were only two girls present.

They were outnumbered.

Overlooked.

Bored.

So B dug out the tractor and took Marj on an innocent little redneck hayride.

While the guys were enjoying a manly round of the Hokey Pokey.


The girls roared through their game, hair flying, screams bellowing.
Hokey Pokey interrupted.
Guys: "Oh no. We are not gonna stand idly by while they ruin our fun."

The Hokey Pokey Hayride became a game of redneck dodge ball.

Marj yelled "Retreat!" and B had the pedal down the whole way back to the shed.


And I'm sure once all that energy was expended, Billy could settle them down around the fire for Bible Study time.

Rivalry in the Youth Group

It was kind of like Ohio St. vs Michigan.

or Alabama vs Auburn

or Clemson/Carolina

But 'cept smaller.

Wagener vs Pelion.

It's a faceoff.

The oldest rivalry in FBC Youth Group history.

Raymond Middleswarth took on Garrett Wood.

The bets around here were on Garrett.

However....

Middleswarth led his team to a 38-18 victory favoring a steady rushing attack with Pelion capping the game with 375 yards rushing.

And Pelion's kicker?

Yeah. She's a girl.

Sure. We have the whole thing on tape.

And for the news.... A fire in the concession booth at Silver Bluff has resulted in new county laws requiring all deep fryers to be used out of doors only.
Thanks to these kind gents for keeping the fries on our menu.

click here for more on college rivalries

Look Up '09: Skits & Activities

The youth are allowed a T-tiny bit of free time each day at Look Up Lodge.

During their free time, they can do the zip line, the high swing, trampolines, play basketball or tennis, do pedalboats or kayaks, go fishing and swimming, hike around the lake, visit the canteen.....etc.

Below are some of the photos from free time, take your time and browse through them.

We got Jon to agree to pedal our pedalboat while Morgan, Connie and I rode leisurely. Then we tied three kayaks to the back to see if he could pedal them, too. He did!

Yay Jon!
Paddle faster.... I hear banjos playing.

The Swing:

The Zip Line:

If they didn't want to do any of the above, there was one more thing a lot of the guys liked to do: Stand around and dazzle the ladies.

Each night in Funapalooza, the staffers would perform silly skits. There were one or two week-long skits, like a series, each night's skit building upon the previous night's.

In one of these serial skits, Jamal played a character who was a high-style Hollywood Talent Advisor who gave great advice to artists on how to improve their act. Not shown in this picture are the sunglasses he usually wore. Jamal was awesome.

More Funapalooza. . .

And here's our very own Laura Wise in a skit. She was awesome, too.


Here's Jamal in another skit of a family on a long car ride stopping for fast food. Jamal was in the back seat, all prim and proper and grownup with his baby sister and pesky kid brother who wouldn't sit still.

Thank you for viewing, please exit to your left.

Look Up '09: The Games

Another major part of Look Up Lodge was the after-lunch games. Upon arrival at camp, campers are divided into teams and assigned a "color." Our color was black. Everything we did at camp, we did with our color group and made most of it a competition. Of course, Black team was the best.After lunch each day the teams would compete in crazy games. First, we'd have to put our war paint on - in our team color.--Sara and Doug (below) are showing you how fierce we looked in our black war paint.

Well... Doug doesn't look much different than a normal workday. But you get my drift.

Now, Mo, here is experiencing a transformation moment. You can see it in her eyes, she is being transformed into a machine.

A fighting machine.

Marj was born for the war paint. Brielle doesn't seem too sure, but Marj's into it all right:

For the water game, each team took a trash can in the lake and put some team members in the water and some team members back up on the docks.

The players on the docks were to throw balls into the trash cans. The ones in the water were to catch stray balls and toss them back to the dock teammates to re-try. Each team could post one "guard" around an opposing team's trashcan.

We didn't do so well....

With this next game, the object was to protect your "castle" (the alien looking silver ball object). Marj and Brielle are doing a great job guarding our castle while Chessa stands behind with our staffer, Chris.

So each team throws balls hard at the castles to knock them down.

(Not sure how Marj and B got this job)

We were hot with this game, baby, HOTT.

The best game, the one in which I threatened to leave camp if they involved me..... was the mud day.
They had an obstacle course to complete, most of which was covered in mud, covered in mesh to crawl under, and had staffers scattered about to trip you up or throw mud on the kids.
-
Marj was in the lead for our team, or maybe second, I don't remember, but you can see Grayson rapidly approaching and when she jumped in the mud hole, a kid jumped right on her back and slowed her down & Grayson took the lead. I'm not sure which one completed it first. Before they got near the finish line, Connie and I had taken off at top speed so as not to get slimed by the kids post-run.
Here's Brittney (red) and Sara (blue).

"If we have not quiet in our minds,

outward comfort will do no more for us

than a golden slipper on a gouty foot. " - CS Lewis