Legacy – what’s yours? We all leave some type of legacy in every place we form relationships. People remember us for something that we said or did. Here is the legacy that will forever belong to Mr. Matt Kennedy at Cascades Camp, its two small words: “Jesus Farted”. I feel like out of context they should appear on a tee-shirt sold at the mall skate shop. The other day when I was out at Frontier Village, a camper said the phrase “Jesus Farted” when asked a question during chapel about who Jesus is. She said that in their bible study class, her counselor told her that Jesus farted, just like everyone else…its supposed to be one of the human like traits that shows how Jesus was 100% man, and 100% God. The girl’s counselor then spoke up to say how she had heard that from Disco, at a chapel a number of years back. I was there that night, Matt “Disco” Kennedy was giving the message at a timber rock chapel one evening, and while relating Jesus to man, he said something that I assume just rolled off his tongue without much intentional thought, it was the phrase “Jesus Farted”. Everyone in chapel erupted into laughter…Matt says lots of funny things, and lots of things even more poignant than that….however this is the one that stuck around, for over 4 years.

What am I doing that could make an impact? Is it the way I’m treating the guest groups? Will they remember the very nice, polite host from Cascades 2004 who made their trip great…or will it be the mean jerk who handled their outrageous requests impolitely. Will they remember how they saw Christ’s love through me, or will they remember my “Jesus farted” type comment for something I said or did, thinking it wouldn’t make an impression, or even be noticed at all.

Frontier Village was great Thursday night, I really had a blast hanging out, attending FV chapel. Cephas spoke, and really did well. There were some really great s’mores afterwards, and I got to show some salts my great new “flambe” s’more trick. After all the kiddies went to bed, Cephas, Keiko & I broke out my favorite Frontier Village tradition…..MRE’s.
They had never had one before, and were very impressed. It was all good times. I slept out there, and drove back to work in the morning while still wearing my camouflage.

Here is the weird thing about Friday night…..I wore myself out so much at work during the day, that I totally fell asleep around 6:30pm, and was out for the night. It was crazy.

So far Saturday is going pretty well, I’ll add more details later, but its been great.

Check out the pictures added from my recent trip to frontier village on June 24th. it was a fun trip, and just the first of many.

This morning, like every morning, after cleaning Nisqually for half an hour, we had devotions. However this morning I was not prepared and I quickly grabbed the devotional that camp gave each of us a few weeks ago. I opened it up to the ready made devotional for the day, and decided that it would work. Normally I like to prepare for devotions, at the very least picking out a topic & scripture to discuss. Today I had to wing it. The topic was “Forget about Yourself”.

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”. Matt 6:33.

The devotion went on to about denying ourselves to put God first and how if we do that, we don’t have to worry about what happens, God is in control and will provide. I don’t think that I could have picked a topic that was more applicable for me today. With such a hectic week at camp, fundraising at home, etc.. I feel like I have a lot to be worried about. However Philippians 4:19 talks about how God will supply all our needs according to the riches in Christ…It was the right thing to hear at the right time. I can only hope that for being unprepared, everyone else was able to get as much out of the devotion as I was. God reminded me that each day I need to lift up our morning time up to him, and he will bless it. It sometimes is easy to see “devos” as something that I’m in charge of leading each day…however I know that I need to give it up to God, he knows far better than I what each person on our team is dealing with, and he knows what they need. I’m just a vessel.

In other news, I’m very excited today, because this evening I get to return to my favorite place at camp….fun-teer village. I’ll make sure I document this trip well with lots of pictures to put online.

Speaking of pictures, I took one earlier as I was writing this entry, its kinda funny to be typing on my little fold out pocket pc keyboard out in the middle of the woods. Enjoy.

Like the new glasses?? They are my “metrosexual glasses” (says Lydia). I like ‘em. They were free from the insurance company, I went in for my eye exam about a week before I lost my benefits!!!

Alrighty, Lydia & I have been here at camp for almost a month now, and over the course of our time, there have been several things that popped out and indicated that “the summer is coming”. First it was, once the staff gets here, then it will really be the summer…and that helped make the whole team feel more whole, but then it was once the kids get here, then it will really be summer. However, for me I feel like the summer starts today. I’ve got the pre-summer nerves like I haven’t had yet this year…I’m not sure of what’s going to happen, the day is shrouded in surprise. I’ll fill you in. Today kicks off a massive weekend for me, a weekend that will for the first time resemble what the rest of the summer might look like. I’ve got four guest groups coming in this weekend, the first one arrives in just a few hours. Then one comes on thursday, then another on friday… There won’t ever be more than two at a time, but its still pretty intimidating.

Yesterday Lydia & I had a day off, it was pretty crazy because since the beginning of the summer, we have been planning on taking wednesday off, well…monday afternoon, I was looking at the schedule, and noticed that I had a group coming in wednesday, and the only day left that we weren’t working was tuesday. So, we left that evening for our day off. Before going home we attended Barista training so that we can run the espresso machine at camp if needed. I like coffee, I drink it, I goto starbucks every so often, however I learned WAY more than I need to know… But now I’m an officially trained fancy coffee maker.

We got home around 10:00pm, for dinner we had stopped in tacoma and went to dinner with nicole. Good times.

So, I guess now Its off to breakfast… The guest group will be in around 11 or so.

ever wonder what KICY sounds like?? Well, a few months ago KICY interviewed iditarod musher Ellie Claus, and posted it online. Ellie is the youngest musher to ever compete in the iditarod. She turned 18 just two weeks before the March 6th start.

Ellie Claus Interview MP3

Being a few weeks removed, it is even clearer how much of a leap of faith we took when we decided to leave our jobs. Especially now, because we still aren’t sure how much support we are going to receive for Nome. Its pretty amazing how much courage God gave us when we needed it. I didn’t even consider giving up the chance to go to Alaska, and leaving our homes, jobs, family and friends here. If we hadn’t received God’s peace, it would have been a pretty stressful decision. However, Lydia & I still need that peace, and still need to be calling upon the lord for it. We may have already left our jobs, but we still have homes, family & friends to deal with . Keep praying for us.

So, we called and talked to Dennis, the station manager up at KICY the other day, during our day off. We got some great, and useful information. We got a finance update, things are going well, however we are still only about 1/4 to our goal. we found out that there might be a possibility of us living in one of the staff houses, instead of the apartment over the studio. That would be great! Lydia also got some information about finding a job once we get there. If you ever want to hear more about what is going on the station before we get there, you can read the KICY “Call Letter”, there is a online copy in PDF format at:

http://www.kicy.org/callettr.pdf

I took a look yesterday, and found some pretty cool information.

Last night Lydia & I watched part of a movie I picked up last week; Comedian, a documentary about two comics, Jerry Seinfeld, and a lesser known newcomer, Orny Adams. It was pretty interesting to watch the behind the scenes frustration, anxiety, and general insecurities that both of these performers had. While watching the movie I could relate to the passion for entertaining. I think its an area of my life/personality that I have hardly scratched the surface on….Some of my favorite moments came while being on stage at church, in front of people at camp, playing an instrument at youth group. I’ve always been interested in entertainment/media, I think that’s part of my attraction to our KICY adventure, its a chance to be on the radio, to give it a shot… I get the opportunity to see if it is worth risking anything. I think it would be great to be on the radio, or on TV as a career. I suppose I hold back because I’m know its tough to get into, and that I don’t have much of a shot. It’s something that I’ve dreamed about, since I was in 1st grade. Anyways, I feel called to KICY, and I know that is where God wants us, but I’m also really excited about this opportunity to live out a dream, and see how far it goes.

added: pictures of Mother & Daughter Horse Weekend, Staff Retreat, Staff Training/Camp Setup, Our new Home!

Also, look for more some new entries, and more updates daily in the BLOG section.

Alright kiddies, sorry for the long delay in posts. I’ve been waiting for my internet connection to become stable over here in the trailer…hopefully in the next few days it will get going. However, until then I have decided to keep journaling on the computer, even if I can’t post it right away.

Well, as you probably gathered from that last paragraph, we have moved into our permanent residence for the summer, it was about a week and a half ago now. its pretty nuts, a lot has happened since then! we are living in a amazing 70’s-something “airstream” trailer. Let me tell you, its pretty schnazzy.

Take a look over at the cascades gallery sometime, there are more great pics. So, we are all settled, and so is camp! All of the summer staff arrived last Friday (6/11), and after a nice little two day retreat, we finished an intense week of staff training.

Again, this summer Lydia and I are doing something that is pretty new to us, and is out of our “camp comfort zone” we are working on the operations team, and we have always been involved directly with the kids (via program team, counseling, etc..). It has been great though, we have really been able to jump in with both feet forward, and things are going wonderfully. Part of why we were so willing to take these positions in a part of camp we are unfamiliar with, is because of part of our job is to ensure that the other staff on this team (about 10 others), get sheparded. We have been intentional about building relationships, and asking questions. Also, we are leading devotions. Its something that I really enjoy, because it forces me to spend time in the word each day, as I prepare. On top of that, I get to share something that I found insightful, and receive comments and feedback about it.

So, Lydia & I are working on the weekends while others are off, it turns out not to be that bad of a deal. We work with everyone on Saturday morning, and then after lunch when everyone leaves, I head up to the waterslide, and Lydia goes down to the waterfront. We are each there for a number of hours, and then at 5 we are off. I’ll need to continue checking on the guest groups every few hours until the end of the day, but that’s not to big of a deal. Sunday mornings are pretty relaxed, still checking on the groups, emptying trash, cleaning bathrooms, etc.. Everyone else gets back to work at 2, we have staff worship, and then go back to work! This weekend is especially cool because it is our first run at it, parents come to drop off their kids Sunday afternoon!

I’ve got some great KICY news I’ll post tomorrow, keep praying for us, keep letting me know you are reading these posts!

here is a good topic for discussion. I’ve been thinking about putting the “blog” entries out on the main page… that would mean you wouldn’t have to click on the top banner to get the good stuff. HOWEVER, that does mean you would also be getting the website updates and stuff mixed along in there. I’m debating back and forth…I’m not really sure if I’m ready for northslope.net to become the “Josh’s BLOG” website…I was happy with the blog being just one of the sections.

Any thoughts?