Back in Khaki

As Dust pointed out, it's been over a week since my last post and I want to apologize to all 6 of my loyal readers for letting you down. :o)

For the better part of last week, I attended the National Training Camp for Royal Ranger leaders. I must say that it was both more and less than I expected in that I was challenged to grow some of my camping abilities to a point (something I was a bit intimidated by) but I found that the most profound experiences had to do with how to teach boys problem solving skills and teamwork while modeling what it means to be a Godly man.

We left at 4am last Thursday, so I was a little off balance when I got to the campgrounds. 20 minutes later I entered into the role of "trainee" and began to experience a Royal Ranger training camp from the boys perspective. That meant being part of a patrol with 7 other "boys" and being issued out camping gear, pointed to a campsite, and told to get all expectations from the Senior Guide (a faculty member playing the part of head-boy).

Senior Guide was a large black man from Dallas. A former Navy officer, he knew how to do the Drill Seargent thing. This guy made my old Band Drill Instuctors look weak. It was genuinely fun to do some of the activities ... like lashing tables together, cooking meals, and standing inspection. We also got to make a Patrol Flag, bolo ties, a yell/cheer - even a patrol song (it was a re-write of a country song that all the other guys on my team seemed to know.... so that was a bit tougher to learn) I even did the coreography for our presentation.

Like I said earlier in the post - I expected all that. In fact I thought we would spend more time standing at attention, tying knots, or repelling down a cliff face. What I didn't expect was the very practical teaching tecniques for handling boys and real life accounts of how the ministry has worked in countless lives. I was exhorted to pray for the boys and men in my outpost - to use every oportunity to share the gospel (and shown several neat ways of getting there that I had never thought of) I was also cautioned to keep my own family life in balance; not to ignore my own first priorities or my own walk with Christ. The instructors, from all over the country, made an impression on me and I hope I can do a better job in my own outpost.

One of the fist items I was issued upon arrival was my NTC blue beret. I was instructed to have it with me at all times (it took me a while to flop it the right way so I didn't look like some hack french painter.) I brought the beret home - along with a new patch for my uniform - saddly many of you will never see it.

You'll also never hear the cool "Blue Beret Anthem" that we sang at graduation. I know you're dying to .... but you'll have to settle for seeing me in Khaki on Wednesday nights. Berets aren't allowed inside the church building. :o(