The News from Camp Magruder 12/13-19

Rain slowed down at camp this week, and we watched the waters recede enough that even the smallest sedan could pass Old Pacific Highway and get to Highway 101. That doesn't mean it didn't rain at all--we still got plenty of rain. For now, though, it feels like the worst is behind us. That said, we got enough rain Thursday night to re-flood a few of our flooded areas. Crazy rain like this is enough to make you paranoid every time you see it return to the forecast. It makes you wonder if this place will ever get back to normal again, though you know people throughout history have wondered the same thing.

As the route to camp opened up, staff members who live offsite were able to return and start the clean-up process. For most of Monday morning, Tommie and Mark worked on the fallen Spruce that took power lines out last week. You could hear the chainsaws and the wood splitter for most of the day at the office. Walking the main road later that day, all that was left of the fallen tree was the mangled stump and piles of sawdust spread out next to the road. There was a strong evergreen scent in the air that made me want to breathe deeper and hold it a little longer.

The tides have continued to be high this week. Both beach access paths have water trails flowing down the paths well before the tree line. Large pieces of driftwood, litter, and bull kelp have been washed onto the trail, and we will likely need to clean them up at some point, but we're waiting for now so we don't just repeat the process after the next high tide. The ocean and the shore look

drastically different from one day to the next. Some days it is brown and littered with driftwood, strewing it all over the beach. The next day it might be a deep blue, then a sort of wintergreen. The sand goes from ragged and rough looking to beautifully manicured. On several days, the water is almost a silver and white color, and lots of sea foam washed up. If you look with just the right window, it seems like it's snowed on the beach.

It's amazing how things shift, grow, deteriorate, grow again. How all these parts of the Earth morph and evolve. What parts will they have all play together? How will we fit into it? How will the sea, the trees, the mountains fit into my story, to camp's story? I'm not sure, but I am trying to grow closer to all these individual parts, trying to know them better.

Each morning on the way to the office, I've noticed smoke rising from the chimney of the Walworth Building. Last week its basement was flooded by about a foot of water. Rik started tearing it apart first thing this week. He pulled out the carpet and had the flooring inspected. He said that he pulled out one of the cabinet drawers after the water receded all the way, and it was still full of water. So, we know those drawers are sealed really well. To get the room completely dried out, Rik has kept the heat turned up and a steady fire going. With the ran last night, the basement flooded again with about 6 inches of water. The ground just isn't able to hold it.

So, our plans have been slowed down even more this week by the persistent rain that won't give us a break quite long enough. We can tell things are getting back to something like what we are used to.

But, they don't always move at the speed we'd like them to. Still, there are benefits to these types of slow downs. We are seeing things we might not have noticed otherwise. We are figuring out a way to fit into this story that's being written right now, trying to find a way we can best be used. Walking by Walworth, seeing the puffs of smoke, it occurred to me that the fire being used to dry out the flooded basement may be burning on logs from that fallen tree that the same storm brought down.

So many players in the story, so many ways the plots may change. There are many unexpected twists the story takes. As we get closer to Christmas, even thinking about that story, there are plenty of ways

characters and places are such a surprise, so different than how we might have written it. Here, during this Advent season, we are doing our best to be what we should be in our part of the story, hoping to offer up something that moves us down the right path. May we live into that mystery, may we see the beauty in every part of the story.

This weekend we Young Nak Youth Group for their Winter Retreat. Keep them in your prayers this weekend.

We'll be taking a break from "The News from Camp Magruder," for a couple of weeks for the holidays. Have no fear, though, we'll be back with more stories of camp life in the new year. Hope your holidays are a great blessing to you.