We finished Day 1 of the annual UBC Summer Garage Sale and it was a hit. This is actually my fifth one to work at and it was perhaps the easiest. Normally we have aroun 4-6 people show up at 5:00 a.m. to help set up, but this morning we had somewhere between 12 and 15. The hardest work, as usual, was setting up and taking down. The rest of the day, also as usual, was spent sitting on couches, hanging out, and playing Mario Cart in the office. And the annual sunburn, which I am sporting proudly and painfully at this moment.
I'm worn out from it and from watching the kids tonight. 5:00 a.m. will seem earlier tomorrow than today.
So check this out. I've mentioned somewhere before about my time working at Timberline Baptist Camp. You'll find me often bad mouthing many things about my former life in the Christian subculture, but I'll never say anything ill about Timberline. The essence of who I am was forged in the fires of six years at that place. It was that powerful.
One week during the summer, somewhere around ten years ago, the worship at the camp was provided by a Christian group called "East to West."
As far as Christian music went at the time, they were about as good as it got. Great vocals and although the lyrics didn't plunge the depths of God and the human soul, they went a little deeper than that of other Christian artists at the time.
Most Christian "personalities" tend to be total asses, not reflecting the Spirit of Christ in their day to day actions. Not these guys. Neal Coomer and Jay Demarcus, East to West, were genuinely nice guys. They were friendlier than they had to be, even to those of us on the summer staff for whom Christian points didn't count. (Other words-- we were pee ons, they gained no stature by being nice to us.) I remember every day after dinner when the campers left their mess and had a couple of hours before they had to be at the service, these guys stayed after and helped us clean up. Not just wiping down tables either. They picked up brooms and mops and went to work. They talked to us like normal people. They hung out with us. For a week, they shared their lives with us.
Six years in a place like Timberline will put you in contact with many wonderful people for a short time. A few of them you become lifelong friends with. Well, just one for me. But for the most part your lives just intersect for a short period of time. You give your phone number and address to each other, write maybe once, then after a couple of years forget each others name. That happened with me and the band East to West.
Yesterday I read something and the bell went off in my head. Jay DeMarcus. Where have I heard that name before? A little googling and I realized it. Of course. Jay DeMarcus is 1/3 of the Country Music megagroup, one of my favorites, Rascal Flatts.
The lesson to be learned here, kids? Always keep addresses and phone numbers. Keep in touch with people, you never know who they might be.
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Speaking of music, these are my new favorites:
Sugarland
This band produces fun music. Lead vocalist's voice is infectious.
And.....
Old Crow Medicine Show
Alabama sang "Oh, play me some mountain music." It doesn't get any more mountain than this. Heard this group last week on Prairie Home Companion, got the CD two days ago, and I'm hooked.
Got to jet. Five a.m. is much closer now than when I started this post.
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