Laughing from Head to Toe

Tristan, our new intern, and I have been laughing most of the afternoon. He is searching the Ultimate Camping website for skits that we can pull together as a resource. As a camp counselor during the summer of my junior year, I know the agony of coming up with a skit week after week. Maybe not agony but it definitely was a challenge.  My favorite skit though was one that really hit a deep truth with the kids. It had to do with the temptation of sin. 

It went something like this. On the stage is a bench with a sign, “Don’t touch.”  The first kid walks by unaware but then immediately returns and takes a second look. He reaches out and touches the bench. Trying to remove his hand, he realizes he is stuck. A second camper walks by and the first kid tries to pretend like there is no problem. Confused, the second camper walks slowly on but keeps looking back. When he realizes the other camper is stuck, he laughs at him. In a fit of hilarity, he puts his hand on the stuck-kids shoulder and then becomes stuck himself. A third camper enters the scene and then a fourth, the scenario plays out in a similar way – playing with the sign, laughing at it, even trying to help the campers become unstuck and themselves getting stuck. Finally, someone with a Bible enters the scene and points to a few verses. They all pray together and are free.  As they leave the stage, one runs back and turns the “Don’t touch” sign over so it now reads “Sin.”

 I was thinking about this skit even as I left the office to help paint the Hilltops. Just so you know, I am a terrible painter. To welcome us, the camp staff generously painted our place.  Ben, my husband, relegated me to the inside of the closet. After an hour of painting, he maybe has one drop on his hand where I am covered with color literally from head to toe.  So as I was painting the brown trim of the doorways this week, I found myself frustrated with the stray paint that insisted on getting on the white walls. At first, when I carefully wiped up the paint with the wet rag, I was successful in removing any trace. But as the rag itself became more and more saturated, I ended up smearing even more paint on the pure walls. This made me think of the skit and the nature of sin.  Only that which is clean makes clean.  Thank God for our Savior who covers us from head to toe! May this thought bring you the kind of laughter that only comes from the awareness that you are free -joyfully,colorfully, truly, free!