Church Camp and Crowbars

My two teens spent last week at church camp in Colorado. It was a quiet week at home, except for the sounds of explosions, gunfire, and total carnage. I spent most of the week's free time playing Mercenaries, a game of incredible violence in warfare. And incredibly fun. Yes, it's true, I played games and did nothing really productive.

When they came back on Saturday, I was eager to hear the stories they brought back with them. When I sent them on their way over a week ago, I gave them these three instructions:

1. Do nothing to get thrown out from camp, I can't come to get you.
2. Do nothing stupid to get yourself or anyone else hurt, I can't come to get you.
3. Push the limits and have fun, I would like to be there too.

So I was naturally interested if they had fun. And I also was a little worried that they may have taken my instructions a little too seriously, specifically #3, and had done something to get in trouble.

Well, I won't go into all the details here. I just want to leave a teaser. My daughter started a story with "we had to steal the crowbar from the boys' cabin". Well, that was quite an opener. Essentially they needed the crowbar to do a little .... stealthy acquisition of team flags and provide secure storage of said flags over the following days. Yeah, they stole the team flags :-)

And to cover tracks, they "stole" their own flag as well. Clever. Really it was just a harmless prank involving several of the girls. I thought it was hysterical. Especially hearing how one of the kids at camp had "developed a weird emotional attachment" (my daughter's words) to their team flag.

So I asked my son, "why did you guys take a crowbar with you?" He said "oh we didn't take one, bought one on the way." There is only one response to that. So I said "That makes sense. But next time you guys need one of those all-in-one tools with screwdrivers and a hammer as well. Some pliers may come in handy also."

I know that many of you would disagree with me and say that I am encouraging sinful behavior that could lead my kids to a life of sin and crime and they spend the rest of their lives in prison for stealing national treasures to sell on the Russian black market or end up as members of a terrorist organization. Yes, that is a ridiculous exaggeration. Life for teens does not have to be so serious, IMHO.

Life should be fun. My kids have had a lot of un-fun this year. This year, their mother walked out on us and now now we are divorced. Early on in the year, we didn't have much extra cash for doing fun things. They are going to start public school for the first time this fall. And in general, it has been a rough year. Yes I encouraged my kids to explore the rules and find how to poke holes in them a bit. Yes I encouraged my kids to have fun.

Yes there is satisfaction and fulfillment in being model citizens and model Christian children. But often, the standards set by many legalists offer no joy, no satisfaction, and no fun. They mostly offer only guilt. And they are typically unsupportable by scriptures and represent the mantra of the modern Pharisees.

Jesus laughed. Jesus smiled. And I believe that at times, Jesus had a bit of fun talking smack with the established religious leaders and the Pharisees. He is clever and witty. He is a model citizen of God's kingdom. He is merciful. He is not a legalist stick in the mud. Jesus is cool. So more than anything, I encourage my kids to be like Jesus.