CAMP: Part VIII - Come To Jesus

     The title of this post was going to be "Temporary Home", from the Carrie Underwood song of the same title, which I did for the talent share several years ago. But even though it could have fit, it just didn't seem quite as good as this Chris Rice song. It was a very evangelistic-minded week this year. Which is good. And besides, this song was playing in my head several times over the last few days.

     The early weeks of July were kind of busy, with a broken laptop keyboard, trying to organize the transportation for our church's people and editing away spelling errors from the camp book, in addition to getting ready for my junior year of college at the same time. We had Courtney, Callie, Laura, Paige and Bennett going, and then Eva, Marie K, Vivian and Erica were all riding up with us as well. Then you add in the rookies: Caleb, Bennett's brother Trenton, Wesley D, Libby, Laura's sister MattieGrace, Marie's brother Eric, Lance and this kid named Micah who used to go the St. Louis church and needed a ride. So that's 17 people.

     Mr. DeSpain and Mr. Buckmaster drove us up there, we met in the church parking lot at  6:15 on Monday morning and were off by 7, making terrific speed. Lance was giving German lessons on the way up, and they talked about shooter RPG video games and other topics like that. Breakfast at a Mount Vernon gas station(the same one we stopped at in 2008), and the annual game of post-Springfield Word Association. We  arrived about 10:45, just after the St. Louis group. Mrs. Boyer immediately put me to work as soon as our guys stashed their stuff in the outer left cabin, I was put in charge of handing out name tags to the rest of the guys arriving.
     There were around 81 people from eight states signed up this year, which hadn't happened for years, since 2009, I think. In a lot of ways (please pardon the cliche) but it seemed like things had come in full circle. Maybe that's cause I've been a part of the camp for seven years, so I've gotten used to the rhythms and routines of life at Beth-Eden. Or maybe it's because it was Caleb's first year, and so I could experience again what it's like when everything is new and confusing. New members of families joining the sprawling yet tight-knit community of SGYC folks, like Ash's brother Zach, Dylan's brother Christopher, and Caleb, Trenton and Eric. Half the guys were new this year, and ten of the girls. So that's 3/8's first-timers, not counting those in their second or third year.
     Brother Larry and Mrs. Boyer weren't sure if they could make it, but they were there. And Tim, Robin, Ryan, Janet, Mary, Janet P, Rachel, Dylan and Grace were also counselors, plus Tom Henry and a guy from Ryan's church named Rick. Trevor Johnson and his family, on furlough from their missionary work in Indonesia, were also attending. The little Johnson kids were immediate favorites of everyone and included as much as was possible in what was going on.
     It was a very weird and not-pleasant feeling that Jed was missing. Most everyone of my generation is gone, now - Daniel and Emily, Jed, Jon, Ash, Ashton and Jake, Shari, Shelby, Jorgi, Josh, Dylan Steeley, Marshall, Jessica and Amanda, Taylor and Andrew, etc. Missed 'em. But there were a couple non-church people I knew from my generation, in their last years there. Matt surprised everyone by coming, got to chat with him several times throughout the week. Chatted some with Madelyn, too; which was nice. And Colton was around, too.
     Registration went well; said hello to everyone and met a couple new folks while handing out camp books. Lunch was the usual burgers and chips, followed by the orientation speech, and then Trevor Johnson spoke, as he did all week, instead of group sessions this year. The girls sang first, so a larger handful of guys than normal swam, a bunch went to play soccer with Dylan, Ryan and Rick set up the archery stuff, and I worked out and taught ping pong in the dining hall. Tim led the singing and Rachel played piano. The volume and enthusiasm seemed weaker than usual, which was kind of sad. I love the singing. (But I'm like Cynthia Coppersmith when it comes to camp; I love everything, so...) Missed Jed and Miss Kathy.
     Once the singing was done it was time to take pictures of the baseball theme(LOTS of Cardinals shirts), and then the costume-judging contest in the dining hall. For dinner there was spaghetti, French bread and salad, which was delicious. Then everyone trooped down to the cabbage ball field for the square dance. The lighting was beautiful, so I borrowed Mrs. Boyer's camera and snapped most of the official square-dance pictures. Almost all the campers danced; and they were fast learners. It went by quickly. Jeff Johnson was the pastor again this year, and the first sermon was from Isaiah 6:1-8. It was kind of an all-over view of what the week's preaching would be about, focusing on God's holiness and man's need of a savior.
     Almost everyone in our(me, Dylan and Tim's) outer left cabin were from Tulsa, and Bennett was the only camper in the room who'd been there before. Thankfully, nobody got lost. That story and more were told to a new set of captive listeners, as were Cody's shattering the light bulb, Marshall's tae-kwon-do kick into the wall and Kurt falling out of bed. Caleb rolled out of his bunk around 11, in the dark there was suddenly this enormous THUMP. Snickers all throughout the room, since he was all right. It was just so funny...and once we'd all recovered from that, there's Caleb half-asleep whispering in a little voice: "Wesley?" "Yeah?" "Are you a counselor over the whole camp, or just this cabin?" I think a bit. "Well, yeah....over the whole camp in general, but more specifically this cabin. Why?" "Could you tell those guys(in the inner left) to quiet down and stop talking? I'm trying to get to sleep." Explosion now of laughter, Dylan finds this extremely hilarious. Tim answers something for me, since I'm choking with laughter, and the rest of the night passed uneventfully.

     Woke up early on Tuesday, as always, and took a shower before heading out to take in the well-known beauty of the dawn landscape. The counselors' meeting went well, outlining the day's events and praying for the campers. Devotions were next, which Brother Larry led, then over a pancake-and-sausage breakfast Dylan, Grace and I settled how the volleyball rules would work. Rally scoring to 21, best-of-three to best-of-five as time permitted, all serves legal, volley for serve, and no touching top of net on spikes.
     Jeff Johnson's sermon this morning was from Isaiah 20:1-6, a strange passage on Israel's transgressions and sin in general. It's one of those "trust not in Egypt" sections. As Solomon said over and over, "all is vanity and temporary." If you set your hope in short-lived things on Earth - money, relationships, good looks, sports, etc - they're all gonna pack up and leave you alone at some point. They're gonna fail. You can love Twinkies, but they won't love you back. Value sometimes comes with longevity, like castles, antiques or 50-year marriages. They survive the hard times and stick around, but even they will be gone eventually. Only Christ is completely trustworthy and can save. Come to Him.
     Then it was AVC Tournament Challenge time. Red and Green played volleyball first, Red, led by Tanner and Bailey and comprising most of the Tulsa campers(including Caleb), soon came up with a rally cry: "Let's get tropical!" Their nickname became the Tropical Fish, of course. Sort like our 2011 White Cubs rally call of "Sharkbait!" Green was led by Matt and Alexa, and they never thought up a nickname for themselves. Green took the back-and-forth first set through a mix of net-balls and good teamwork by a 21-18 score. Bailey was Red's first server, and several aces later Red led 13-0. Matt and Co. pulled Green's deficit down to 9-15, but Red evened with up with the 21-13 win. An epic rally gave Green a 4-3 lead, but Red took command before Green came back to tie it at 18-all. Green won two sets to one by the 23-21 score. Black(the Bears) beat Blue in archery, and Yellow(the Jackets) crushed White 11-1 in cabbage ball. For the BPG portion, White won a tense nailbiter over Red 11 games to 10, Green won mini golf over Blue by two strokes, and Black won Bible Knowledge over Yellow 26,000-24,000. Studied one of my college textbooks during BPG with one ear open for what was happening in the table tennis.
     Lunch was taco salad and brownies, and it was terrific.Great soundbite of the week; talking over lunch with Matt and Audrey - Matt: "You have to really focus to be able to hear anyone in here. And even then you practically have to shout. Don't you guys think?" I agree. Audrey: "What?" We crack up and she joins in before even finding out what was so funny. Got a little bit of ping pong in with Hunter and Zach.
     Everybody stayed put in their bunks during rest time, Tim got to take a bit of a nap. Trevor spoke on the dangers of false repentance, from the remorse of getting caught, rather than truly grieving that you sinned. That's why manufactured public apologies so often leave audiences with a nasty taste. Singing went a little better, though for most of the hymns requested nobody besides the chooser knew. Went down during free time to the hidden meadow soccer field with Bennett, Trenton, Colton, Tanner and a bunch of other guys, we had a good game going(my team lost 4-1). Dylan and Ryan also played. Dinner was chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy and rolls, which is the best meal of the week.
     Blue got to pick first in Worst/First due to a sudden-death table tennis game, and they chose Black in cabbage ball, only to lose 9-6 thanks to a six-run Black comeback in the last inning. Green crushed Yellow in ping pong(which was totally expected), and Red dominated White on the volleyball court. The first set started out close, with a 7-7 tie, but then Red shot out to take the 21-14 win, followed by a 21-9 obliteration in the second set and a fairly-dominant 21-11 set to finish things off.
     The sermon was from Isaiah 40:12-31, chiefly on the glory of God and his majesty and holiness. Behold our God, his infinite greatness and compassion! That sort of thing. Jeff offered lots and lots of very large numbers to try to get sort-of-a-closer idea of how small we are in comparison, but our minds can't comprehend such vast amounts very well. Reminded me of some lyrics that Steven Curtis Chapman wrote: "God is God, and I am man/And I'll never understand all the picture He's painting..."
     Other random bits from Tuesday - the only injuries sustained all week both occurred to Black team members, as Autumn sprained her shoulder during archery, and Kurt deeply bruised a shoulder diving for a cabbage ball. To lead off that cabbage ball game, Bears captain Madelyn almost led off with a double, except she mistook a Frisbee for second base and was thrown out by the time she found it.
     In the cabins after general session things got a little nuts, only marginally helped out by the candy stampede(very minor this year, unlike other times I could mention). Duncan pokes his head in the doorway, watching. "I'm glad I'm not in here this year...but I kind of wish I was." I grin. "It's probably better you aren't. You know how things can get in here..." He rolls his eyes. "Yeah, I know! It's like a zoo."

     One of the main verses we focused on as counselors was 1 Timothy 5:1-2, "Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity." Also 1 Corinthians 10:31-32, "So whether you eat or drink, do it all to the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks, or the church of God." Another, to me at least,  was 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, "Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." Praying continually usually isn't too hard to do, living on a college campus, but being joyful always is quite a feat. And I know happiness isn't found in a place on the map, exactly. But joyfulness is as easy as breathing when it comes to camp...I don't really understand it; but that's just how it works.

     Got to pet Rosie the camp barncat several times over the week, which was nice. Didn't have Rags nearby, so any cat around is a good thing. Reminded me of her importance that night in '12, when Amanda fished her out from under the car.

     Wednesday morning was the same as normal for the most part; wake up early, take shower, counselors' meeting, devotion, French toast and sausage breakfast. General session was from 1 Corinthians 10, on the flaws in the pursuit of happiness. Due to it looking (falsely) like it would start pouring rain any minute and becoming a rerun of '09, I didn't keep notes on our AVC volleyball game between Black and Yellow. But Yellow ended up winning in four sets, 21-10, 18-21, 21-12, 21-9. White bested Green in archery 588-501, and Red won cabbage ball 9-2 over Blue. In BPG, Black topped Red in mini-golf 36 strokes to 44, Yellow triumphed in table tennis over Blue, and Green won Bible Knowledge over White by a 21,300-15,700 margin. I sat in to listen to the Bible Knowledge game while studying, mentally answering all the questions.
     Lunch was pizza. Thankfully, I don't have braces any longer, so it was easier to chew. And it tasted better this year than usual. Bennett and Wesley D. were dared into creating and drinking a concoction of fruit punch, ketchup, brown mustard, salt and pepper, which was quite entertaining to watch. Also reminded me of the story(I didn't see this one happen, unfortunately) of when Sam and Jed dared Jon to eat the ketchup-coated brownie, which he did. Just one of many instances where something reminded me of a story I knew.
     Kept an eye on my group of campers after lunch before heading down to the tabernacle to watch talent share practice. Trevor had a question-and-answer session, then sing/swim time. We had a bunch of the classic camp-book songs in there this year; the camp "Come Thou Fount", "Conquering Now and Still to Conquer", "In Christ Alone", and Daniel 4:35, for example. Plus singing hymns like "Are You Washed in the Blood?", "Holy, Holy, Holy", "Onward Christian Soldiers", "I Will Arise and Go to Jesus" and "My Hope is Built on Nothing Less". I dismissed folks for dinner, thinking of slightly-better questions than last year(if you're wearing Chacos, been here at least five years, have at least four siblings, etc.). Still need to work on that, though. Dinner was ham, scalloped potatoes, rolls and peach cobbler. I didn't eat much; never very hungry on Wednesday night. Always too full of talent-share jitters.
     The night's general session sermon was from Isaiah 42:1-13, where God is speaking of Jesus' role as a servant. Verses 1-4 describe his work, while the rest of the chapter deals with his power and authority. To quickly sum up, we must try to serve as Jesus did, and strive to follow his example. There was a question-and-answer session afterwards.
     Highlights of the talent share included Tim’s juggling, the Knapps’ violins, the Underwoods' quartet and the singing of the GBC-Tulsa youth group. But by far the best act shared was Audrey, Courtney, Forrest, Hunter and Ryan’s skit, “The Triune Tale of Diminutive Swine.” It was FANTASTIC. And it was very good to see Ash and Ashton; Matt and I got to visit with them for a bit. Their visit was a surprise, Alexa's face when she saw them was priceless. A half-serious thought of making another card for Mrs. Boyer, ping pong and volleyball, recap of the week so far, and general catch-up, commenting on the unfamiliarity of those younger and first-time campers. College and coffee dominated the conversations, which every college student knows are related concepts. As they were leaving, Ashton said in a serious, teasing tone, "Be a good counselor,"  implying I get back to and keep up the good work. That's kind of what I tried to do all week. I'm not exactly sure what good  I did, or how useful a counselor I was, but that doesn't really matter, as long as I got my job done. And that job, mostly, seemed that I just needed to be there. Much like the summer in general, it was one of those instances where doing the little things was the clearest way of serving the Lord that showed itself. Refereeing volleyball, making sure folks were where they should be, giving directions, cleaning, shuttling guys to the showerhouse or cabins. My lane of missions, for now at least, seems to be the more local kind. I couldn't teach Sunday School because of, well, school, but I could get involved with the BCM and SWAT. And I'll be helping lead that this year. Watching Amy and cleaning the house over the summer was possible, too. Also visiting for the talent share were Tim's parents, his wife and his kids. 

     Slept somewhat late Thursday morning, waking up a little before six, then a shower and the counselors' meeting, devotions, and breakfast. In the second Worst/First, Blue chose White in ping pong, Red and Black played cabbage ball and Green and Yellow had volleyball. But before that happened, the whole camp hung around the court to see an unprecedented event. Robin's Challenge was brought back this year, pushed for hard by several counselors, and it was accepted. So Blue would play us Counselors in a fifteen-minute timed game, and if they won would get three points, putting them back into the hunt. We were really hoping they'd win. At the same time....a lot of us are really competitive and we love volleyball. (Me, Dylan, Mary, Grace, Rachel, Ryan, Robin.) Blue had all thirteen members out on the court most of the time, we had nine to ten. Mrs. Boyer kept score, Jacob and Paschal served as the other officials. We won 21-13. In the first set of Green-Yellow, the score flipped back and forth often, but Yellow pulled out a 21-14 win. A lot of balls were crushed into the woods in the second set, so I spent a lot of time chasing them and crashing through branches. Yellow won that set in much the same fashion, again with a 21-14 score. The third set was just as close as ever, and Green was finally pulling ahead, it seemed. But Yellow came back and held off a furious Green charge to take the match three sets to none with the 21-19 victory. White beat Blue in ping pong, and Red won 8-2 over Black in cabbage ball. 
     In BPG, I sat in on the ping pong battle between Green and Black. There were a ton of great players split between the teams in this one, for example, Alexa, Allyson, Brett, Caleb F, Christopher, Courtney and Matt. The score skipped and forth for most of the day, each side answering the challenge of the other. Then Black's paddles caught fire, and they seemed unbeatable. The final score ended up being Black 14 games to 8, Courtney was emphatically the girls' champion and Brett and Matt shared the guys' title. Red won Bible Knowledge over Blue, and Yellow took mini-golf over White by more than two hundred strokes(!). That gave Black and Yellow each 5 points, with Red and Green each having 4 each, and setting up the possibility of a four-way tie for the Challenge title. Volleyball that night wouldn't matter in the standings, between the two last-place teams. It never really matters, to be honest. It's just a game. And games aren't worth life and death. I was having a lot of flashbacks all day Thursday of '11 and '12, wasn't pleasant, but just part of the history of the camp. And an opportunity to give thanks in everything. 
     Lunch was burgers and fries, dinner was roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy and rolls. And that chocolate cake that Madelyn and Rachel W. ate face-first in '12. Reading/rest time went well, most people actually read today. Trevor's session went well, then there was another soccer game while the girls sang. (My team lost again.) Singing went all right, most of the afternoon we were a little bit behind schedule, unlike Tuesday, where we seemed to be running ahead of schedule for most of the day.  
     Red won archery over Yellow, Black won cabbage ball, and the Tournament Challenge title, by defeating Green. Blue was hanging in there in the first set, holding a 13-7 lead, but ever so slightly White crept back up and stole all the momentum, winning the first set 21-14. What followed was the most intense camp volleyball I've ever seen. Blue led early 7-3, but many ties later White had a 19-16 edge. Blue rallied to tie it up and then force overtime, much to us counselor's delight, and from there....almost everyone was down there watching, holding their breath. The air was electric, it was like a Thunder game. Colton and Zach traded aces to tie it at 21, then a pair of errors knotted it at 22-all. Audrey kept her Blue team alive with a clutch ace. It was a slice to the right that skipped off the net and dropped in front close to the sideline. Lance and Nathan and others immediately screamed it out, while the other half of White was asking Dylan what the call was while Blue was asking Grace. Neither could see the ball at all, which they told the teams. So they're asking me what the call was, and the crowd is buzzing - all of this at once - it was very noisy. I yell, "LINE!!" above the din, and play continues at 24-24. The ball had slammed off the rope, inbounds. Colton finally ended the marathon with a kill, and White won the match 21-14, 29-27. And nobody died or were used as human targets. 
     After the volleyball game, I swatted the ball around with Zach, Emily, Laura and some other campers to kill time for a while. That gave me two scraped-up knees and a mouthful of sand, so it was a productive practice session. But that sandy taste made me really have to sneeze…and it would never do to sneeze out loud and interrupt a prayer or the sermon. So I was able to turn them into small yawns instead, which was a slightly better option, though unfortunately contagious. Near the end of the sermon, from Isaiah 48, Ash sort of jumps from her seat beside me on the counselors’ and visitors’ back row against the wall. I stare curiously. She turns to me, her eyes wide in panic, as she whispers urgently, “There is a bug IN MY HAIR.” I quickly swipe the bug (which turns out to be a wasp) out and we spent most of the lengthy question-and-answer session afterwards nervously worrying about where the wasp disappeared to. 
     Ash was talking to Trevor and got a lead on a much-hoped-for opportunity for overseas medical mission work while everybody was walking up the trail, and she and Matt and I talked outside the dining hall porch for half an hour. We talked about colleges(Northeastern OK State, Missouri State and Bob Jones) and pondered what it would take to make a movie. Also, for obvious reasons, bugs and hair, and dorm rooms. Guys' general discomfort with phone calls, cats(all conversations with friends seem to land on this subject), and somewhere me and Ash leaped back into work-mode and began bouncing story ideas/progress reports off each other. Matt looks at us confused. "We're writing partners, in the middle of a couple projects right now." Over-explanation of this from both of us. Then "...That sounds really lame when you just say it... " "Yeahhh, it does..." Matt, thinking a bit: "Nah, it doesn't. Sounds really cool, actually." "It's fun." That's where we started dreaming about movies. Making one, if we wished, seemed completely possible, given the skills between the three of us(writing, acting, graphic design, organizing and teamwork, among other things). It was a really great time. Visiting chances are rare as a counselor, snatches of hurried conversation while traveling in opposite directions, so to have that much time to hang out like old times was amazing. 
     The book-signing time went well; ping pong was played, laughter frequent amid a din of talking. Mrs. Boyer had us get everyone out at 12:40, most folks fell asleep after one.  

     Slept more fitfully than usual, waking up at four, then again at 5:20 for good. Initiated packing up throughout our cabin(it was awful. I was appalled by the amount of messiness. Anyone who would have seen a picture, had I snapped one, would have been as well.) The counselors' meeting went well, and Ryan led the devotion before the goodbye-cinnamon-roll breakfast where you finish collecting camp-book-signings. Then there was the final general session, sermon from Isaiah 50. After that I oversaw Blue's cleanup of the volleyball court and visited with Miss Kathy, she told me about an internship opportunity with her music ministry that sounds exciting and worth looking into. Cleaned up the showerhouse and our cabin, then walked with a handful of mostly-GBC people to swat around the volleyball for a bit until it was time to leave. Somebody to me: "Dude, you're great!" "'Thanks! I play a lot." "Wish I could. But I don't have a volleyball court at my house." "Neither do I, but...." (pause while an offensive attack takes place, ending with a spike) "Wait, actually, I do..." After that we said our goodbyes and loaded the vans.       
     Dad and Mrs. Mueller drove us back to Oklahoma(that's how my brain phrased it, in that detached way, which I thought was odd. I mean, it felt like I was leaving home.) We ate a dash-and-go lunch at McDonald's in Springfield and made gas-station stops at a Joplin Flying J and Claremore QuikTrip. The zoo animals were loose and active on the way home....I just kind of ignored them and thought over the week, planning out how this post might be written. Rags was very glad I was back; she pranced/pounced into my lap and went to sleep, making sure I couldn't go anywhere for a while yet. 

     This year's buzzword seemed to be creative substitutions for duplicate names; for example, I was often called "Mr. Counselor" for some reason, and then we had two Trentons in the same cabin, two counselors named Janet, plus several Rachels, five Jons and four Abigails.

     I'm just so very thankful to be able to have been a part of SGYC again this year, and I hope and pray that the campers' lives were impacted and they will return to the topics and ideas discussed in the teaching frequently over the next twelve months. I'm pretty sure most had a good time as well, so that's also a good thing. It was a great honor to work alongside the other counselors this week. Was it busy? Of course it was, and a little taxing; near-constant activity either physically moving from place to place or mentally staying alert and focused for that long. But, oh, it's so worth it. I wouldn't trade a minute, and will joyfully serve as long as the Lord allows. He has been and is working through this camp, and He will in the future, as well. 

### (CAMP BOOK SIGNINGS) 

"Wesley! Again, you did well. :) Thanks for keeping us in check! Laura" 

"Dear Wesley, thank you for your joyful service to our Lord this week. It truly is a sacrificial service to these young men and women. I did miss you sharing a song. May the Lord bless and keep you until we meet again. Love in Christ, Janet" 

(Marie Keilbarth's signature) 

"Wesley, you(')r(e) an awesome counselor! Libby" (punctuation corrected by Paige) 

"Wesley, thanks for serving as a counselor again this year! Hope you had a blessed week. - Paig(e) :)" (she misspelled her own name, then corrected it) 

"Wesley, thank's for a being a good and patient counselor. Forrest" 

"Wesley, thanks for being such a great counselor! Come back next year. Jacob" 

"Wesley  - You did a GREAT job! Don't outgrow us and come back next year! It has been a pleasure serving our Lord with you and getting to know you more and more! Love, Miss Terry :)" 

"Johnathan Kobb - Had fun!!" 

"Wesley, so great to serve with you again! Keep the faith, my friend! Ryan" 

"Good to see you again. :) Eva Sadowski" 

"Wesley, thanks for being such an encouragement. You have such a servant's heart. :) God bless! Grace" 

"Thanks for keeping things more or less control in the cabins. :) Trenton Cox" 

"Brother Wesley, how sweet the fellowship of fellow believers in Christ. I am so thankful the Lord allowed us all to get together and worship Him. He alone is truly worthy. May we not soon forget what we have learned and considered in His Word this week. I hope to see you next year. :) Mary Freeland, Romans 8" 

"Hey Wesley! I was really blessed to get to be counselor with you this week. I hope you were as spritually blessed as I was. - Dylan" 

"Wes, you are a great bro and a fairly good cousler though you'd be a better one if you could play ping-pong....haha, no really we need to play more. Love, Courtney" 

(Caleb Coburn's signature, in huge letters) 

"Stay cool! - Colton" 

"I didn't see you much this year, Mr. Counselor. :) But I am still glad I got to at least SAY hi. You already  know how much I value our friendship. I hope, Lord willing, to see you again. Madelyn D." 

"Wesley! You are my favorite councilor! I hope God is good to you! - Tanner B. Juch, Red Team" 

"You are a great councelor. :) Thanks for that! - MG" 

"Thanks for keeping things sane in the cabin. Wesley DeSpain" 

"Thanks for maintaining the peace among the chaotic. - Bennett" 

"Thanks for being a counselor! Matthew" 

"Have a great Christmas, Wes! Duncan Worthan"  

Story Songs

     I'm not really much a fan of most modern books; I prefer my author-friends to be mostly dead for a while. But one of the current areas I really enjoy, because the art of storytelling is practiced and valued, are the story songs of country music, and sometimes there are story songs from other genres, as well.

     For example, Two Sets of Joneses, a mid-90's tune by Big Tent Revival, is simply a tale of two couples, one with it all and the others scraping by. Contrasting their spiritual lives and how that impacts their fates.

     Brad Paisley is like the O. Henry of story songwriting; there are a staggering amount of examples. We Danced is the best-ever he-meets-her story; so ordinary and plain, and there lies the charm. Waitin' On a Woman, of course; for the commitment of the old man and his advice. Whiskey Lullaby isn't the greatest content-wise, but man, as far as story quality....  Two People Fell in Love is just wonderful. And Little Moments shows what marriage ought to be about. Part II, Letter to Me, Welcome to the Future....really, everything in varying degrees of effectiveness.

     Kenny Chesney has a good selection of story songs and reminders, too. There Goes My Life shows how plans and priorities can change in an instant, The Good Stuff is an especially well-crafted tale, beginning with the familiar setting of the bar but going into a completely unexpected direction. Don't Blink, slow down and enjoy the good moments of life with people you enjoy; all too soon it'll be gone.

     Rodney Atkins gives parenting advice in Watching You, reminding us that people are always watching your behavior, and part of setting that example would be Just Fishin' with Trace Adkins. Chuck Wicks has Stealin' Cinderella, Blake Shelton his Austin.

     Miranda Lambert is very good at these as well. Over You is about grief and dealing with loss, while The House that Built Me is about returning to your home-place. But before you can return, even if you are Famous in a Small Town, you have to install some New Strings. And sometimes that means finding yourself on a Greyhound Bound for Nowhere.

     And of course Keith Urban. He paints the feelings and emotions of events as they're happening in his music, so they're not exactly songs that tell a story; but more like the feelings and reactions of the players in this show called Life. Making Memories of Us, Tonight I Wanna Cry, Kiss a Girl, I'm In, Hit the Ground Runnin', Put You in a Song, Without You and Long Hot Summer are examples of this. (He and Brad Paisley are my favorite guys in country.)

    And Garth Brooks, gosh. "The Beaches of Cheyenne", "Unanswered Prayers", "Thunder Rolls", "More Than a Memory", "Ireland", so many others. (Which aren't online except for covers,  but anyway...)

     And Taylor Swift. The Story of Us, Never Grow Up, Long Live, Mine...basically everything she's ever written. Which is a good thing. I may not like all of them, but there's something nice to say about most of her stuff.

     Carrie Underwood has some great story songs, too. Temporary Home, Jesus Take the Wheel and See You Again are the first that spring to mind.

     And the huge collection of brilliant 90's-country hits....David Ball's Riding With Private Malone, the Dixie Chicks' Travelin' Soldier, John Michael Montgomery's Little Girl, Jason Michael Carroll's Alyssa Lies(heartbreaker to end all heartbreakers) and Where I'm From.  Diamond Rio gives us One More Day to Meet in the Middle. Colin Raye's Love, Me, Little Red Rodeo and One Boy, One Girl. 

     70's/80's rock had a bunch of good story songs, like Bryan Adams' Summer of '69, Bon Jovi's Livin' on a Prayer, John Fogerty's Centerfield, Journey's Don't Stop Believing and Faithfully, or Richard Marx's Right Here Waiting.

     And American Idol alumni have, too. Besides Carrie, there's also been Kelly Clarkson, with Breakaway or My Life Would Suck Without You. David Cook's had Time of My Life. Daughtry's had Home, among others.

     There's Christian music that tells a story, but you have to look hard to find it. A lot of Eli's music is story songs. Tunes like Grace Walks By, The Lumber Song, Things I Prayed For and Valleys. Some DC Talk and Steven Curtis Chapman and FFH.

     And then there's those songs that may not tell a tale themselves, but serve as the soundtrack to memories and stories from the past.

End of Summer 2014

     Summer's almost over already. Well, for me, anyway, because I'll be a counselor at church camp next week and then turn right around and begin the new semester the week after that.

     It was very good to be at GBC on a regular basis again and encourage/be encouraged by the folks there. That's something I really miss when I'm in Tahlequah.

     Mostly stayed at the house, unlike most of the folks posting on FB and stuff about the different places they've been to. But through books, I've visited early 1900's Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia(everything Lucy Maud Montgomery), late 1500's England(Sackett's Land) and 1840's Alaska and San Francisco(Sitka, Louis L'Amour), the mountains of far western North Carolina(Mitford series, Jan Karon), not to mention Chincoteague Island ,Virginia(Marguerite Henry) or Harmony, Indiana(Philip Gulley) or jaunts across England and the Middle East with Agatha Christie.
    Explored a South American cave in this adventure story(first part linked) that Ash and I worked on. And also got a bit farther on a handful of other projects.
     Made several pilgrimages to the rather-unfamiliar territory of the movie theater, which is always a really interesting experience, and from there went back to D.C. with The Winter Soldier and saw New York with The Amazing Spider-Man's new adventures.  And explored the sometimes-bizarre world of imagination with The LEGO Movie. Through Netflix and DVDs, went to WWII with Captain America, saw Greenland for the first time with Walter Mitty(strange movie, but good), visited New York again with The Avengers and again in the Amazing Spider-Man movies, as well as trying to figure out "...but What About Bob?" The Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs sequel was unnecessary(though the first was surprisingly good). New Mexico in Thor, Tennessee and Miami in Iron Man 3, and London in Thor: The Dark World. Elma, Texas again in The Big Green. Paris with The Aristocats. Chicago for both A League of Their Own and While You Were Sleeping. And PBS is fantastic, with specials on the National Barn Dance radio show, the early years of TV sitcoms and Saturday night movies of the week like Fiddler on the Roof or The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. 

     Spent a lot of time with Amy, getting pretend haircuts and pretend grocery-shopping and Hot Wheels or driving PlasmaCars, reading The Animals of Maple Hill Farm and other books to her, that kind of thing. That's been nice.
     Ping pong with Courtney and Caleb, lots of that, and then quite a bit of volleyball on the new court we set up in the yard. (Regulation-size court and everything, we'd been talking about it for years before actually setting it up. It's pretty awesome.)
     Trevor's really liked sharing a room the last couple months.

     Rags has been happy that I've been home for a while. And her kittens have been great to have around, they really like Amy and allow her to drag them around for some time longer than you'd expect. Full of personality. Licorice has always been very curious, a careful observer of life and growing up to be a laid-back tomcat. Drysa is beautiful and she is very aware of it, but she also likes hunting and pouncing things. May and Glory are kind of like twins, and both just those types that you really enjoy knowing.
     Of the bucklings, Thor is the calmest, most easy-going goat you could imagine. (I'm biased, though - Nubians have always been my favorite goat breed.) Shenanigans is a handful, really lives up to his name. Trick is something else....he might be a handful when he grows up, too.

     Well, it's a beautiful July day outside, sunshiny and cool, so I'll wrap this up and go spend some time outside in nature. 

Joy to the World

     Joy to the world, the Lord has come; let Earth receive her King! He comes to make his blessings known far as the curse is found, far as the cure is found...

     Well, I really like Christmas songs. And I really like that that hymn. And most importantly, the J key is now working, since my laptop keyboard has been replaced. So I'm jumping for joy and singing "Hallelujah!"....and all those other J-words.

     Thanks, Dad.  (And Logan.)

Missing Sunshine

     It's been a year.
     Seems like a lot's happened.
     Or maybe it's only that "the curtain falls down and everything goes dark, an' that means time passes", as Andy Griffith said.

     And I know she was only a dog. But she was my dog.
     And it still really, really hurts.

     There's not really much else to say.
     I survived two more semesters of school, with straight-A's intact, and got to know some folks from the BCM a little bit.
     And there's been Rags. She's sitting on my arms right now as I'm typing this paragraph, half-asleep and purring. She's a very good cat, and I wish I could take her to Tahlequah with me. She even sometimes obeys when I tell her to do something, which is proof she's a wonderful cat, since as everyone knows, cats are their own masters and will only occasionally do something for someone else out of altruistic motives, and only because they really like that person.
     Banjo and Captain are all right, but neither is a real Race-of-Josephy dog. Banjo is extremely timid and spends most of the day hiding under the bed, and then exuberantly bounding all over the place too overstimulated to think when he's happy. It's like he has two settings; Petrified and Ecstatic, with no in-between. Captain is super friendly to everyone and loves to be petted, but doesn't aspire to any great ideals.

     The backyard is full of half-grown goat bucks, cats who spend their time either playing together or lounging as only felines can, chickens of all colors and sizes and ducks, whose very existence is entertaining. So that's better than an empty yard. But it's not quite the same.

     Yeah, life keeps going on. There's still work to do, projects that need to be completed, small bits of joyfulness, deep places of frustration and loneliness, and mostly the rather flat expanse of everyday experiences. That's not to say that it gets any easier; it seems like things get harder the longer you travel. But you get through everything, leaning heavily on the Lord's help and the prayers of other siblings in Christ. And you kind of just try to take it one hour at a time, and then when that hour is gone, start over with the next. Guess 2 Corinthians 12:9 could kind of be a summary of this last year, as well as Philippians 3:12-14.

   It's just kind of been a hard, long week, with the Fourth of July and most of the family sick, then the one-year anniversaries of Skeet and Sunny, and trying to get everything ready for camp and then everything for school.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

     So I've written a review of the first trilogy(and those are spectacular movies). And  then when The Amazing Spider-Man came out, we(as a youth group) had to go see it. And so, since we(as a family) missed the sequel the first time, we thought we'd go see it at the dollar theater. Which me, Mom, Courtney and Trevor did yesterday afternoon. But first we re-watched The Amazing Spider-Man before we left. It turned out to actually be a very well-made film. True, like I've said before, the acting was overdone and the storyline was shallow, but it was an action movie more than anything else, and being so, the other aspects could be forgiven, somewhat. My favorite scenes are still the ones where Peter asks Gwen out, and then Aunt May commenting that Gwen was pretty right after Captain Stacy's funeral.

     In an interview between the first and second films of the rebooted series, Emma Stone said that while Peter was the muscle of their team, Gwen was the brains. And that's a very good summary of their interaction and roles.

     TASM2 opens with the same scene as the first, but from a different perspective, focusing on Richard Parker, instead of four-year-old Peter playing hide-and-seek like the first movie. (I love that trick of storytelling.) As I said about two years ago, "It's a darker, more realistic world....The dialogue feels more true-to-life, which somehow loses points, even though technically it should be better."
     After dropping Peter off at Uncle Ben and Aunt May's, Richard and Mary hop onto a private jet and plan to stay as far away from Oscorp as possible. An assassin murders the pilot and an intense fight follows, including a pistol going off, someone hurtling through a window, and a massive file transfer, before the plane crashes.
     Fourteen years later, Peter has been bitten by one of Richard's leftover spiders, Uncle Ben's been shot, Captain Stacy has died and Curt Connors has been incarcerated for his actions as the Lizard. And Peter's gotten used to this do-gooding Spider-Man gig. It keeps him busy, though. So busy, in fact, that he nearly misses his own high school graduation, a fact which valedictorian Gwen isn't too happy about. But there was this Russian thug named Alexei Sysetevich hijacking an Oscorp armored truck. During this chase, Spidey both delivers, well, amazing snarky commentary(sorry, I couldn't help it) to the criminal and saves the life of a pathetic Oscorp engineer named Max Dillon.
     During the fight, Peter sees a vision of Captain Stacy and remembers his wishes for keeping his daughter safe. Peter is twisted between his striving to keep his promise and yearning to be with Gwen. Exasperated from this well-worn internal battle, she breaks up with him that night.
     Harry Osborn comes back to New York to see his dying father Norman, who in addition to bitterly expressing his disappointment in his son, also tells Harry that he too has the hereditary retroviral hyperdisplaisia disease. Norman gives Harry a cube which apparently contains his life's work. Norman dies the next day.
     A now-Spidey-obsessed Max is pitifully lacking anything close to a life, feels invisible, and is extremely, unbearably sensitive(he makes Danny Rebus from The Electric Company look normal). Especially annoyed at no one noticing (or caring) that it's his birthday, a slip while doing maintenance work becomes a massive catastrophe. It's a big headache for top people at Oscorp, given the already-shaky investor confidence following the Connors episode. Following an awkward board meeting where newly-installed CEO Harry meets the board members and an even worse reunion scene between Harry and Peter, some unnamed board member hushes up the Dillon accident, citing the already-shaky investor confidence levels after the Connors episode.
     Gwen tells Peter that she might move to England for school, as she's one of the finalists for a hugely prestigious Oxford scholarship. While they're talking about it, Max, now a human power station, wanders into Times Square and inadvertently causes a blackout. The police show up, and Max defends himself animal-like, scared and with no idea what's going on, lashing out at anyone seen as a threat. Spider-Man attempts to calm him down, but those efforts fail when he doesn't remember who Max is. Enraged, Max, now calling himself Electro, attacks everything in sight, and the police fire at him, which doesn't help matters, and Spider-Man has to rescue the numerous civilians watching the scene. Electro is taken to the Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane, where he's experimented on by a German named Dr. Kafka.
     Harry decides that Spider-Man's blood could possibly save him, but is turned down both by Peter and Spider-Man, and the Oscorp board fires Harry after framing him of covering up Max's accident. Harry's assistant Felicia tells him about secret equipment that could save him, so he makes a deal with Electro to get inside the building. In the Special Projects hidden lab he finds a glider and flightsuit, as well as antivenom, tentacles, a rhino-like exoskeleton and mechanical wings. This all hurriedly creates the Green Goblin, and Harry races off to find Spider-Man.
     Throughout the movie Peter's been trying to uncover more about his parents' disappearance(Aunt May doesn't much like this) and he discovers a hidden subway station lab where Richard hid the information about his work, knowing that Oscorp would use it as a biogenetic weapon. Gwen finds out she got the scholarship and plans to head to England immediately to get a head start on her studies. She gets stuck in traffic, which gives him time to say "I love you" dramatically, They get back together and make plans for him to come with her when they see Electro heading to the main power grid to take the entire city's power and they rush away to stop him.
     With Gwen's smarts and Peter's skills, they defeat Electro by overloading his electricity charge, only to have Harry/Green Goblin come sailing in and kidnap Gwen as revenge for Spider-Man not cooperating with a blood transfusion. The following fight takes them to a clock tower, and in the melee Gwen hurtles towards the ground and Peter tries to save her, but she dies.
     Months pass, and Peter is still deeply grieving her loss, he's stopped crime-fighting he's been so depressed. Harry is in Ravencroft, his condition improving, and plans are made to take out Spider-Man for good. Inspired by Gwen's graduation speech and a little boy's courage, he gets back into the superhero game by again taking on that Russian thug Sysetevich, now dressed in a heavily-weaponized rhino-themed exoskeleton. The end.

     I enjoyed it(but it's hard to not like superhero movies, unless it's The Fantastic Four or X-Men), but this was a strange movie. Several times I had to stop and wonder, "Wait....what's happening?!" There were way too many undeveloped characters, and there were huge plot holes that were skipped over or extremely poorly-connected. (Like Norman's death, how Peter-Gwen-Harry knew each other, or why Peter was under surveillance.) And most of the dialogue from the previews was absolutely nowhere to be found, which is always extremely annoying. Norman dies immediately, and Harry rapidly becomes the Green Goblin and then just as quickly is in jail. It's the second movie of a planned quartet, so that obviously leaves lots of questions unanswered, but still....this story was not very well done. And it's really long....two hours and 21 minutes. I did like Max, though, his character was well-written.

     There were some good bits of dialogue, though; like Peter and Aunt May arguing over whose job it is to wash his clothes. Or when Spider-Man knocks on the door of the runaway semi. Or repeatedly calling Electro "Sparkles". Gwen's graduation speech is good, and when she says that yes, he is Spider-Man, and she loves that, but she loves Peter Parker more, and that makes all the Spidey stuff worth it. Or when she accidentally screams out "PETER!" to a retreating Spider-Man and then instantly clamps a hand over her mouth, looking horrified. And I really liked the way they filmed her falling and then him standing by the grave as the season change.

     Peter says at one point in this film,  about Spider-Man, "I like to think he gives people hope." And he does. Andrew Garfield's portrayal is different than Tobey Maguire's, but it's a completely different take on the same character. Garfield plays a better Spider-Man, but Maguire was a better Peter Parker. But they're two different takes on the same story. So that's all right. And Spider-Man, and all superheroes generally, gives people hope, inspires them to keep going, keep fighting, trying to improve their speck of the world.

Song on May Morning

     This poem was written in 1632-33 by John Milton, and I found it in a 1909 copy of the Vol. No. 4 of the Harvard Classics "Complete Poems in English" series.

"Now the bright morning-star, Day's harbinger,
Comes dancing from the East, and leads with her
The flowery May, who from her green lap throws
The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose.
"Hail, bounteous May, that dost inspire
Mirth, and youth, and warm desire!
Woods and groves are of thy dressing,
Hills and dales doth boast thy blessing.
"Thus we salute thee with our early song,
And welcome thee, and wish thee long."

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

     Yesterday afternoon me, Courtney, Trevor and Dad went to the dollar theater in Tulsa to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier for the second time.

     This movie, of course, is the sequel to Captain America, and also in a sequel to The Avengers, as everything else is in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is tied back somehow. It also ties in extremely closely with the first season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which is an incredibly amazing feat of scriptwriting. In my opinion, it's one of the best MCU movies so far, right up there with Iron Man 3. 

     Steve Rogers is living in a Washington D.C. apartment now and working for S.H.I.E.L.D. as he struggles to adapt to the modern world of today two years after the Battle of New York. Not so much the technology; more like the societal attitudes and shifted alliances and ethics of people in general. The Internet is very helpful for things like that, and the food is much now than it was back in his day, where they boiled everything. (He mentions these in conversation.) Running is a good way to get away from thinking about problems for a bit, I've found. Steve knows this, too, and on one of his early-morning gallops he repeatedly sails by this guy and chats with him afterward. This other guy is former military, too, his name's Sam Wilson, and he's working at the VA as a PTSD counselor. They chat for a bit, until a text on Steve's phone signals it's time to get to work.
     He, Natasha Romanoff and the S.H.I.E.L.D. special-forces unit(S.T.R.I.K.E., led by Agent Rumlow) head to a ship called the Lumerian Star, which has been captured by French mercenaries led by Georges Batroc. Agent Sitwell is one of the many hostages aboard this vessel needed to be freed. Cap and the S.T.R.I.K.E. team take out the mercenaries effectively,  while the Black Widow has a mission of her own to complete: extracting S.H.I.E.L.D. data from the ship's computers. And, also in a self-tasked role, giving Cap a hard time about getting him to date somebody.
     "You know, I bet if you asked Kristen out, from statistics, she'd probably say yes." "That's why I don't ask." "Too shy or too scared?" "Too busy!"
     A pretty ticked-off Steve angrily questions Director Nick Fury at the Triskelion(S.H.I.E.L.D.'s bureaucratic headquarters) about Natasha's information retrieval, and Fury explains about Project Insight; a plan to use three upgraded and improved Helicarriers linked by satellite designed to take out threats before they ever happen. Steve's not too happy about this new method of warfare. (It seems very NSA-like. And when the movie came out in April, the NSA leak stuff had been only a few months before, so still very fresh on audience's minds.)
     Once Steve leaves, Fury attempts to access the files on the memory stick, only to be told that they had been sealed - by himself. Suspicious, he asks longtime friend and member of the World Security Council Alexander Pierce to delay Insight's implementation.
     On his way to a meeting with Commander Maria Hill, Fury is ambushed by a company of fake D.C. police and a mysterious man with a metal arm known as the Winter Soldier, a ghost-like assassin with over two dozen kills over the years. Fury escapes to Steve's apartment, only to be shot by the Winter Soldier. Cap's neighbor Kate the nurse turns out to actually be S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Agent 13, assigned to protect Steve. She gets Fury to the hospital, but the wounds are too bad and he dies at 1:03 a.m. Fury gave the flash drive to Cap, who hid it in a hospital vending machine.
     Pierce commands Steve to divulge Fury's intentions and reasons for coming to the apartment, an order Cap refuses. Pierce declares Steve Rogers to be a fugitive and sics the S.T.R.I.K.E. force after him and Natasha. They find a clue via the flash drive and a nearby mall's Apple store that directs them to Camp Lehigh, New Jersey, which they then travel to after avoiding the hunters.
     At Camp Lehigh, where Dr. Abraham Erskine's super-soldier experimental training was conducted, Steve and Natasha find the secret base of operations for S.H.I.E.L.D., and inside the bunker basement they discover a supercomputer with Dr. Armin Zola's preserved consciousness. Dr. Zola recounts the rise of HYDRA throughout the years, as they've been hidden in plain sight ever since the beginning. A missile destroys the building, and Steve and Natasha barely escape.
     They go to Sam Wilson's apartment, with nowhere else really to go. "Everyone we know is trying to kill us." "Not everyone." Over breakfast the three of them devise a plan, to steal/borrow Cap's old suit from the Smithsonian and get Sam's Falcon flight suit.
     Those tasks completed, the trio sets out to interrogate Agent Sitwell, who explains that Zola created an algorithm that predicts future threats to HYDRA, which is the base of Insight. The new quartet, counting the now-detained Sitwell, is ambushed on the freeway by the Winter Soldier and Rumlow's S.T.R.I.K.E. team, an intense fight follows. They escape to a safehouse with Commander Hill's help, where they discover(much to their relief) that Fury is still alive, though heavily wounded. There they come to the difficult conclusion that in order to stop this HYDRA takeover, S.H.I.E.L.D. basically has to be blown up. The first step of that plan is to bring down Project Insight through replacement of the Helicarrier's targeting chips.
     Steve reveals the HYDRA plot to everyone at the Triskelion during the Helicarrier launch, and from there, everything S.H.I.E.L.D.-related is in major disarray, to say the least. (Trying not to spoil Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. here....but if you haven't seen it, by all means, WATCH!!!!) Natasha leaks all S.H.I.E.L.D. documents and files out to the general public, which instantly starts trending. Fury shoots Pierce, and Steve and Sam manage to replace the chips of two Helicarriers before the Winter Soldier destroys the Falcon's suit and grounds him. Captain America and the Winter Soldier struggle inside the third Helicarrier before the final chip is replaced, and Hill resets the targeting so that the ships will destroy each other. As they're crashing down back to Earth, bringing the Triskelion down in the wreckage on the way, Fury and Natasha rescue Sam, and in an effort to save his old friend, Steve quits fighting the Winter Soldier and is thrown out into the Potomac River.
     The unconscious Steve is pulled form the water by the Winter Soldier, who then slips away. The Black Widow is brought before a Senate subcommittee and explains her actions, both as KGB and S.H.I.E.L.D. Hill interviews for a job at the Human Resources division of Stark Industries, and Steve's neighbor starts over with the CIA.  Fury creates a new disguise and burns most unneeded personal articles, intent on staying in the shadows to take out the other HYDRA cells that must surely be in Europe. Rumlow is hospitalized and well-burned  following the explosion. Steve and Sam decide to go after the Winter Soldier, while the Black Widow sets off to piece together as best she can a new life and identity. "Will you do me a favor; call that nurse?" "She's not a nurse." "And you're not a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent." "What was her name again?" "Sharon. You'll like her. She's nice."

     There's a lot of good quotes to think about scattered throughout this movie. Like Sitwell's commentary on the digital book that is the 21st century. Or Steve and Natasha's conversations about truth, lies and ethics. After purposely knocking herself out with her stingers, Black Widow muttering "Ow....that does sting." This is a very hard story to summarize without giving too much away; as all terrific tales are a challenge to sum up. There is too much, as Inigo Montoya said.
     My three favorite superheroes are Captain America, Spider-Man and Iron Man, I think. (Does Phil Coulson count as a superhero?) Steve's just kind of easy to relate to, somehow. (I've taken a couple of those "Which Avenger are you?" personality tests and gotten Captain America.) And Dad, Courtney, Caleb and Trevor all make weekly comments about finding a girlfriend or getting married. So has Amanda, too, for the last several months, she's been Black Widow-like trying to talk me into going on a date with somebody. Guess I kind of have Steve's attitude on those types of things.

     In the mid-credits scene, Baron Von Strucker is talking to someone else at a secret HYDRA base somewhere in Europe, one of many. They have Loki's scepter, and have been running experiments with deadly results. There are, also, two prisoners that survived: the crazed twins Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch(played by the Olsen twins' little sister). "HYDRA and S.H.I.E.L.D. are two sides to the same coin....one that is no longer currency. This isn't the age of spies anymore. Not even the age of heroes. It is the age of miracles....and there is nothing more horrifying that a miracle." This sets up nicely into Avengers: Age of Ultron next May, and Guardians of the Galaxy(in early August) will also set it up in some way. So that could lead to superhero discussions with other Marvel fans like Ash, Jon, Mr. DeSpain or the Perrys.
     The end-credits scene features the Winter Soldier, in darker versions of almost the exact same thing Steve was wearing earlier(that seems significant in some way), visiting the Smithsonian Captain America exhibit, staring at the Bucky Barnes memorial.