You Know You Are Tired When . . .

While on day five of camp, you think that you can actually get ready in 10 minutes before the scheduled meeting time in the morning.

When standing up to sing another song during the morning celebration is just too difficult.

When a youth who normally likes to stay up as late as possible says to you, "Can we make our last activity shorter so that we can just go to bed?"

When your youth actually ask to take naps during free time.

When you fall asleep the minute your head hits the pillow even though the light are on and there is plenty of noise to keep you awake.

When you begin to get more crabby at one another about things that are just too stupid to be picky about.

When the youth begin to tell you how many hours they are going to sleep in when they get home.

For all of these reasons and more, we are all glad tomorrow is our last day of camp. However, the kids have already told me they are sad to leave. They've made new friends in their small groups. They've enjoyed being away from their parents and spending tons of quality time with their friends. They've enjoyed watching their youth leader be really silly in the mornings (well, maybe). They have some great stories to tell about all the strange things they were asked to do during their service projects. They've had more fun here than many of them do on a daily basis around the house. And, hopefully they've also done some self-reflecting through their Bible studies and mission projects about how truly blessed they really are!

This is why we go to all the trouble of tiring ourselves out for camp week. The lasting effects are unmeasurable! The lack of sleep part is temporary.