Not a teenager.

Last week, I went to church camp with the youth group I've been working with all year.  Ah church camp and how it brings back memories of my awkward teenage years.  I fondly remember one church camp afternoon in which my friends and I walked around with towels wrapped around our heads.  You see, we enjoyed thinking outside the box.  We were so hipster before hipster was even a word.

This all started last year when my pastor's wife asked me to go to a leadership camp with some of the youth.  That fantastic experience morphed into a full-time gig.  All year, the 11th grade girls and I bonded over a variety of odd inside jokes.

Anyway at the start of camp, I basically knew the 11th grade girls and a few random others.  Through lack of effort and the whole 'I actually have a real job' thing, I never connected with the rest of the youth.  Hello church camp.

I spent the last week of my life with 60 youth, half of whom knew me as either their former teacher or as a random teacher from their school.  I always laugh when people get to know the 'real' me.  My students usually get it pretty soon.  I am crazy-weird and completely confident in my weirdness.  I also suffer from acute sarcasm.

So during camp, the 11th and 12th grade girls became my best friends.  There was much laughing and laying around on bunk beds.  I find it interesting that I can mold so well with different ages.  When I'm with sixth graders, I am a sixth grader.  When I'm with teenagers, I am a teenager.  I seriously wonder what being a 27-year-old looks like.  As I don't have major self-esteem issues, I think this ability to become like these groups can be looked at as a blessing.

My girls and I had been discussing the fantastic-ness of ribbon dancing all year long.  Since there was a talent show, we decided that we must perform a ribbon dance.  So we did.  We laughed the entire time.  I wish you could understand how skilled we are at the dance of ribbons.

The camp was not the best camp I've ever experienced, but I am amazingly biased when it comes to camp ministry.  What I enjoyed more than anything was bonding with the youth.  Earlier in the year, I had made some pretty quick judgements on some of the guys.  After I got to know them, I realized that these kids are pretty solid.  They are all crazy complex with some big issues, but they are also genuine... and hilarious.

We have all these weird inside jokes and I feel like I've suddenly become the popular kid.  I often have to stop and remember that I'm not in high school and I don't need to be popular.  I'm glad the Lord blessed me with quality time with quality teenagers.  I like this ministry.  I like that I get to share my life with them and be as genuine and open as I can be.  That's all my sixth graders ever needed; I can't imagine that teenagers are much different.