Church Camp with Ray Faulkner
A few hours ago, I learned that a good friend of mine, ray Faulkner, passed away yesterday.
Ray was probably one of the best friends I ever had between the years of 13 and 19.
We had a lot of adventures together, and got into a lot more trouble that we ever should have, but this is one of my favorite stories....
I think it might have been that last year when all of the youth group from New Life Free Will Baptist Church went to Church Camp together (some of us were getting tooo old to go, or had jobs the next summer). The whole New Life crew and even a few from our sister church Trinity (a FWB Church in Maryland Heights) loaded up on a bus and drove to Niangua MO for a week of Bible Camp. Even the "cool" kids went that year... Stevie B, Gina Baynes, Carla, Katie Pedigo (youth group leader's daughter, who I had dated twice), etc...
We were staying in Farmington Missouri's older cinder block cabin, because our pastor, Greg McCallister had been their youth pastor in years past and still had connections with them. They were all using their newly built cabin further back in the woods, under teh shade of high oak trees, and with window AC units.
It was so freaking hot that week. We had two fans to keep us cool, and kept the Front and back doors open for just the smallest hint of a breeze. Stevie B (one year older than my brother Stevie M) kept closing the front door because a big light on a power pole just outside the door was shining in his eyes and he couldn't sleep. If it wasn't Stevie B, it was one of the other little kids that we made sleep at the front of the cabin. With the door closed, it got so hot you would just lay there in a pool of sweat, so everyone was making a big deal about open or closed.
I was trying to sleep in the back of the cabin, with my face turned away from the light. Ray and I were the two oldest in the boy's cabin. So we made the rules and enforced lights out. We also wanted to get some sleep, so we could be first in the shower lines the next morning, so to smell good for trying to hit on all the girls from other churches. Church Camp was a great place to meet girls and make out, but only if you didn't smell like the farm boys that they normally went to church with.
I'm laying in my bunk and all of a sudden it got really dark. I was convinced someone had shut the door again, so I yelled out "Dang it! Who shut the door again?" I said it really loud, and all of a sudden, all of the younger boys started laughing hysterically. I had no idea what the joke was, but I wanted the door opened back up.
Unbeknownst to me, Ray had walked to the front door just to look across the field, and he was just big enough to block out all of the light shining through the opening. the boys were laughing, because they thought I had just made a fat joke about Ray.
Just as I rolled over to look at the front of the cabin, I could see the silhouette of ray running straight at me and my bunk. He leapt into the air and did a wrestling dive on top of me and the bunk. We both went sprawling to the floor, and immediately started laughing our asses off.
The very next day, we were so tired, none of us made our beds, or took morning showers...
This Church Camp had a daily contest called Cabin of the Day, that went to the neatest and cleanest cabin.
the person who was chair of the inspection committee was a former drill sergeant who was the pastor of a small country church in DeSoto, MO. More often than not, that cabin would win Cabin of the day, meaning they got to get in the chow line first for lunch and dinner, and were exempt from KP or cleaning duties around the camp.
So as per usual that day, knowing that we had absolutely no chance of winning, we had to hear the announcement at mid day chapel... "And Cabin of the day, DeSoto..." But, then the icing on the cake was the next announcement... "And, with worst cabin of the day, this evening's KP duty, as well as breakfast tomorrow morning and lunch, goes to New Life Church." Great. three meals of getting to eat a bit early, but only because we had to clean up everyone else's slop for three meals.
Ray and I were pissed. Not only was it a hassle to do KP, it meant that it cut into any possible shower time, and meant that we had no spare time to try to hit on girls and find someone to make out with during free time.
I think that was when we made the plan to intentionally make our cabin the worst cabin of the day the next day too. But not by just being a little sloppy, or not making our beds. We messed it up so bad that they almost threatened to send us home for the week.
We strung one bunk from the rafters upside down. We put toothpaste on the door handles so the inspectors coming in would have it all over their hands. We put a layer of shaving cream under the welcome mat, and lightly dusted it with dirt so you couldn't see it until you stepped on it and the shaving cream was all over their shoes. And we strung sewing thread to the trashcan lid, so that when they lifted it to inspect our trash can for candy wrappers, it dropped a water balloon from the ceiling rafters.
Our cabin had KP duty for the next two days in a row, and lost our swimming pool privileges.
But, we made the best of it. Instead of acting upset or defeated, we made KP a game. We sang show and movie tunes the whole time we were cleaning slop off of the trays being turned in, and even took requests. I think we sung the theme from Gilligan's Island at least a dozen times.
that year, with ray, was one of my favorite years at church camp.
Ray was probably one of the best friends I ever had between the years of 13 and 19.
We had a lot of adventures together, and got into a lot more trouble that we ever should have, but this is one of my favorite stories....
I think it might have been that last year when all of the youth group from New Life Free Will Baptist Church went to Church Camp together (some of us were getting tooo old to go, or had jobs the next summer). The whole New Life crew and even a few from our sister church Trinity (a FWB Church in Maryland Heights) loaded up on a bus and drove to Niangua MO for a week of Bible Camp. Even the "cool" kids went that year... Stevie B, Gina Baynes, Carla, Katie Pedigo (youth group leader's daughter, who I had dated twice), etc...
We were staying in Farmington Missouri's older cinder block cabin, because our pastor, Greg McCallister had been their youth pastor in years past and still had connections with them. They were all using their newly built cabin further back in the woods, under teh shade of high oak trees, and with window AC units.
It was so freaking hot that week. We had two fans to keep us cool, and kept the Front and back doors open for just the smallest hint of a breeze. Stevie B (one year older than my brother Stevie M) kept closing the front door because a big light on a power pole just outside the door was shining in his eyes and he couldn't sleep. If it wasn't Stevie B, it was one of the other little kids that we made sleep at the front of the cabin. With the door closed, it got so hot you would just lay there in a pool of sweat, so everyone was making a big deal about open or closed.
I was trying to sleep in the back of the cabin, with my face turned away from the light. Ray and I were the two oldest in the boy's cabin. So we made the rules and enforced lights out. We also wanted to get some sleep, so we could be first in the shower lines the next morning, so to smell good for trying to hit on all the girls from other churches. Church Camp was a great place to meet girls and make out, but only if you didn't smell like the farm boys that they normally went to church with.
I'm laying in my bunk and all of a sudden it got really dark. I was convinced someone had shut the door again, so I yelled out "Dang it! Who shut the door again?" I said it really loud, and all of a sudden, all of the younger boys started laughing hysterically. I had no idea what the joke was, but I wanted the door opened back up.
Unbeknownst to me, Ray had walked to the front door just to look across the field, and he was just big enough to block out all of the light shining through the opening. the boys were laughing, because they thought I had just made a fat joke about Ray.
Just as I rolled over to look at the front of the cabin, I could see the silhouette of ray running straight at me and my bunk. He leapt into the air and did a wrestling dive on top of me and the bunk. We both went sprawling to the floor, and immediately started laughing our asses off.
The very next day, we were so tired, none of us made our beds, or took morning showers...
This Church Camp had a daily contest called Cabin of the Day, that went to the neatest and cleanest cabin.
the person who was chair of the inspection committee was a former drill sergeant who was the pastor of a small country church in DeSoto, MO. More often than not, that cabin would win Cabin of the day, meaning they got to get in the chow line first for lunch and dinner, and were exempt from KP or cleaning duties around the camp.
So as per usual that day, knowing that we had absolutely no chance of winning, we had to hear the announcement at mid day chapel... "And Cabin of the day, DeSoto..." But, then the icing on the cake was the next announcement... "And, with worst cabin of the day, this evening's KP duty, as well as breakfast tomorrow morning and lunch, goes to New Life Church." Great. three meals of getting to eat a bit early, but only because we had to clean up everyone else's slop for three meals.
Ray and I were pissed. Not only was it a hassle to do KP, it meant that it cut into any possible shower time, and meant that we had no spare time to try to hit on girls and find someone to make out with during free time.
I think that was when we made the plan to intentionally make our cabin the worst cabin of the day the next day too. But not by just being a little sloppy, or not making our beds. We messed it up so bad that they almost threatened to send us home for the week.
We strung one bunk from the rafters upside down. We put toothpaste on the door handles so the inspectors coming in would have it all over their hands. We put a layer of shaving cream under the welcome mat, and lightly dusted it with dirt so you couldn't see it until you stepped on it and the shaving cream was all over their shoes. And we strung sewing thread to the trashcan lid, so that when they lifted it to inspect our trash can for candy wrappers, it dropped a water balloon from the ceiling rafters.
Our cabin had KP duty for the next two days in a row, and lost our swimming pool privileges.
But, we made the best of it. Instead of acting upset or defeated, we made KP a game. We sang show and movie tunes the whole time we were cleaning slop off of the trays being turned in, and even took requests. I think we sung the theme from Gilligan's Island at least a dozen times.
that year, with ray, was one of my favorite years at church camp.