Pearls Before Breakfast

by Carl Nash
(LAUNCH Pad Article)

Snopes.com is bookmarked on my browser.

Like me, I’m sure you get plenty of emails forwarded to you from the best friend of your great aunt’s neighbour – who can personally vouch for the authenticity of an attached spectacular story. I’m a dreamer. I wish that virtually all of these emails were accurate and true. Sadly, they are not. Usually I don’t need to investigate the matter to come to that conclusion. When I do, Snopes comes through big time, investigating rumours and urban legends on my behalf to help sort out fact from fiction in this information-crazy world. More often than not, Snopes denies my wish, proving that the story was exaggerated or altogether false.

So, I turned to Snopes a couple weeks ago when a good friend (who also happens to be my boss) sent me an email with the subject line “Something to Ponder.” The message told the story of a cold January morning during the midst of the rush hour commute in a Washington subway. A street musician in jeans and a ball cap was playing a violin for about 45 minutes that morning and collected $32 from over 1000 commuters who hustled by. A grand total of six individuals paid him any attention. Nothing too compelling about that, right?

We Called It Bouldering

[A post-event report]
by William Raposo, LAUNCHee Coordinator

LAUNCH held its first LAUNCHee retreat day on Saturday September 26 at a small cottage in Bowanville, Ontario. We had five LAUNCHees attend. The day was all planned out to the tee with a gentle flow and with meals being provided that would have encouraged all. But as most of you know, things hardly happen the way we expect. As the rumors of rain mounted we decided to change our schedule and made our “bouldering” adventure the first part of our day. You might be asking: “What is bouldering?”

In communicating with LAUNCHees and alumni about this retreat day I advised them that we would be going rock climbing in the afternoon. Yet upon our arrival to our cottage location, I was quickly reminded by Carl Nash (our “climbing” expert) that climbing would imply going vertical up rocks and we would actually be crossing big boulders horizontally. And so the great debate started regarding the proper term we would us. The wittiest of the group, Anne, suggested that the appropriate word to describe what we would doing was called “bouldering”. And so we headed to the lake on our bouldering adventure.

Confessions of a Camp Girl

by Diana Skinner, Regional Coach Manager

Okay, I admit it. I’m a camp girl. For those of you out there who have been a part of a camp environment for the majority of your life, can understand the allegiance that develops between yourself and “your” camp.  For me, the ways in which God has used that camp environment to grow, challenge and change me are almost immeasurable.  So you can’t help but grow an attachment to such a place in your life, and though you acknowledge there are other Christian camps out there, you’re heart can’t be swayed.  You are loyal.  Your camp is “the” camp.

But sometimes, you grow up a little.  This summer I had the opportunity to observe two “other” Christian camp programs and God had a way of opening my eyes.  And through the opening of my eyes, I was thoroughly encouraged, but most of all humbled by the realization that God is in the midst and working powerfully at a variety of summer programs where He is at the centre.