Three weeks and Interns

Three weeks...

...length of time since my last post.

...length of time until I leave for Savannah - my first trip of the summer.

Moving on...

All 23 Summer Conference related interns are now in town and beginning the audacious task of building props, preparing merch, housing students, packing equipment, etc. that must take place before the first events begin. I am generally amazed by the amount these dedicated students get done in the short time they are here. Tasks that would tie down 2 or 3 staff members for weeks can be knocked out by a platoon of interns in mere hours in some cases. Certainly they are key to the successful execution of our events and have a big hand in the ministry that takes place at those events - which is the whole purpose of what we do.

I remember being an intern, doesn't seem that long ago (although the gray hair beginning to show around my temples must mean it wasn't as recent as I'd like to think). The summers I spent as an intern were awesome. I traveled to places I'd never seen, met people who have had a big impact on my life, was a part of a life-changing experience for the students who attended, and had the course of my life changed in the process. The summer is pretty short - 12 - 13 weeks here at CIY - and it feels even shorter because of all that happens, but looking back there is more packed into that brief time period than you can even imagine.

My prayer for today: "Father, thank you for this year's interns. Please strengthen them today and throughout the summer as they labor and serve. Please protect them physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Give them comfort and peace when they are tired or things don't go the way they would like. I pray use them this summer and let them see just a glimpse of what you can do with a surrendered life. I pray that none would leave here unchanged, that they would all grow closer to you through this experience - whether they realize it at the time or not. I ask all of this in Jesus name, Amen."

Leaving a Legacy

This week we received a list of names of people and churches that had recently given monetary gifts to the ministry of Christ In Youth. This is an update we get periodically and in most cases I don't recognize the names of the people, some of the churches are familiar to me, rarely the people. This time, however, there was a name on the list that stood out to me.

Sometime after I came to CIY on a full-time basis (circa 2003) the president of the CIY at that time (Paul Smith) told me of a letter he had received back in the spring of 2000 from a regular donor imploring him to hire someone named Ryan Claborn as an intern. At that time Paul had no idea who I was, this was prior to my first summer as an intern. By the time the letter was received and Paul checked into it, I had already been asked to intern that summer (and had accepted). The letter came from the grandmother of a friend of mine from OSU.

This friend of mine, who knew that I was applying for the internship had clearly said something about it to his grandmother, who felt compelled to write a letter on my behalf. I never had the pleasure of meeting the sweet lady who wrote the letter, but have always had a sense of appreciation for her and for her grandson who thought enough of me to give such a recommendation that others were stirred to act.

I post this now in her honor as the gift she recently gave to CIY was from her trust as she has now gone on to be with the Lord. I have recently corresponded with my friend (her grandson) who expressed that the last few months had been difficult for his dad (her son) in dealing with her passing and the estate details that inevitably follow. I don't know much about her, only that her faith prompted her to act on more than one occasion. My prayer today is that my own faith would be one that prompts me to act - whether that is in a matter of giving, sharing my faith, serving others, or something else. Clearly she leaves a legacy of faith for her family and was willing to show the depth of that commitment by entrusting some of the resources God had put in her care to the ministry of Christ In Youth. I pray that this ministry will always strive to be faithful in the stewardship of those resources and that God would continue to raise up men and women of faith who are willing to support the vision and purpose of CIY.

[I have intentionally withheld the names from this account because I have not asked the permission of the family to reveal them. While I don't think they would be offended by me using the names, I want to respect their privacy.]

And The Oscar Goes To...

Continuing my NASCAR theme from yesterday, I wanted to comment on why Days of Thunder is definitely among the top 5 movies of all time. (MD, relax, I like it, but I understand that it's really not that great) I happen to catch part of it last night on TV (edited version of course).

First, the cast. You've got everything from a guy who might be running for President (Fred Dalton Thompson) to a lunatic Scientologist (Tom Cruise). Let's not forget the legendary Robert Duvall or Keith Urban's wife, Nicole something. John C. Reilly plays a fairly significant role. Randy Quaid, Michael Rooker, and several NASCAR notables (the late Neil Bonnett, Harry Gant, Rusty Wallace, Dr. Jerry Punch, and Richard Petty) round out the known cast members. Whether you like the movie or not, the cast is impressive.

Second, the action. Most (I said Most, not all) of the driving sequences are moderately believable. They do abuse the cars more than they could really have done and still raced competitively, but the cinematography at least doesn't look cheesy. I've seen documentaries on the making of the movie and several of the stunts they did were very real and the results were fairly unpredictable.

Third, truth in presentation. From all I can gather, the presentation of the material is fairly true to what the sport was like in that era. NASCAR comes from very southern roots, but with the help of TV coverage (Cole: "ESPN, the coverage is excellent, you'd be surprised how much you can pick.") and exposure from things like this movie it began to emerge onto the national scene in the 90's. While there are still lots of good ol' boys in NASCAR, talented people from all over the country have emerged in every capacity - drivers, crew chiefs, owners, etc. All of this has contributed to make it the fastest growing sport in the country. Keep in mind, it's about the only sport where the equivalent of AAA games (using a baseball comparison, AAA is the level right below the majors) are all shown on TV and some of what would be AA (one step below AAA) are also televised.

You may have no use for Days of Thunder. I don't condone everything in the movie - there are certainly a fair number of off color words used. But the cast alone makes it worth watching.