The house is quiet this week as Jesse is away at Church camp. It’s the highlight of his summer which I have a little bit of a problem with since I’m nowhere around! But since Jesus is involved, I guess I’ll let it slide.
It’s the same camp that I went to when I was growing up. My mom got us involved in music and ministry when we were very young and has said many times that it’s been the glue that kept our clan together all these years. Officially it’s “Choir Camp” but it’s much more than that. It’s praying and fishing and sailing and swimming, even Frisbee golf – something I guess they’ve added since I was a camper.
One thing that hasn’t changed is the Talent Show; a showcase of songs and skits from kids in grades fourth through 12th – and some of the counselors, too. It’s an eclectic mix of performances you might expect and some rather out of the ordinary turns like last year’s highlight of my nephew Clay burping the ABCs.
The one provision they do make for parents is opening up the mid-week festivities so that we can visit and watch at least some of the inspired moments unfold in this old YMCA Camp mess hall. The point of this review is less about “nailing it” and more about having the courage to stand up; to take your turn in the spotlight and feel what it’s like to be a performer.
Jesse played his guitar and sang “Stop and Stare,” by One Republic. It’s a brooding pop number that may be a bit advanced in its narrative for an 11-year-old, but he sang it well and more importantly for a shy kid, he looked his audience in the eye – at least I think he did from under all that hair.
Clay sang too, accompanied on guitar by his cousin Erica who also played solo and with her sister Melanie. Cousins Hunter and Ben and Josh appeared in a couple of performances along with the 70 or so other kids who’ve taken up residence for the week at Camp Ohiyesa.
But as the performances went on – amid squealing microphones, forgotten lines and inside jokes – it became clear that there were really two different audiences in the hall; the families that came to visit and the one that had been forming since Sunday afternoon. They cheered for one another; sang and danced together and raised each other up – and made the kind of bond you can only get by mixing religion, marshmallows and bug spray.
For all the pops songs, the dance routines and the silly one act plays, the point to all of this is to show our kids that each one of them has light to shine; to let them know that nobody’s going to laugh – that your mother might cry – and when you’re through, the applause that you hear is really the sound of us sticking together.
It’s the same camp that I went to when I was growing up. My mom got us involved in music and ministry when we were very young and has said many times that it’s been the glue that kept our clan together all these years. Officially it’s “Choir Camp” but it’s much more than that. It’s praying and fishing and sailing and swimming, even Frisbee golf – something I guess they’ve added since I was a camper.
One thing that hasn’t changed is the Talent Show; a showcase of songs and skits from kids in grades fourth through 12th – and some of the counselors, too. It’s an eclectic mix of performances you might expect and some rather out of the ordinary turns like last year’s highlight of my nephew Clay burping the ABCs.
The one provision they do make for parents is opening up the mid-week festivities so that we can visit and watch at least some of the inspired moments unfold in this old YMCA Camp mess hall. The point of this review is less about “nailing it” and more about having the courage to stand up; to take your turn in the spotlight and feel what it’s like to be a performer.
Jesse played his guitar and sang “Stop and Stare,” by One Republic. It’s a brooding pop number that may be a bit advanced in its narrative for an 11-year-old, but he sang it well and more importantly for a shy kid, he looked his audience in the eye – at least I think he did from under all that hair.
Clay sang too, accompanied on guitar by his cousin Erica who also played solo and with her sister Melanie. Cousins Hunter and Ben and Josh appeared in a couple of performances along with the 70 or so other kids who’ve taken up residence for the week at Camp Ohiyesa.
But as the performances went on – amid squealing microphones, forgotten lines and inside jokes – it became clear that there were really two different audiences in the hall; the families that came to visit and the one that had been forming since Sunday afternoon. They cheered for one another; sang and danced together and raised each other up – and made the kind of bond you can only get by mixing religion, marshmallows and bug spray.
For all the pops songs, the dance routines and the silly one act plays, the point to all of this is to show our kids that each one of them has light to shine; to let them know that nobody’s going to laugh – that your mother might cry – and when you’re through, the applause that you hear is really the sound of us sticking together.
Fred Nahhat is DPTV Director of On-Air Fundraising and co-host of “Get Up, Get Out!”
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