Consider the Next Seven Generations

“We should consider in all our deliberations, the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.” Iroquois saying.

The message of “seventh generation” living is to think seventh generations ahead and act in ways that benefit, not sacrifice, the future generations, specifically the seventh generation after us.

We should apply the Seventh Generation Principle to relationships – so that every decision we make results in sustainable relationships that last at least seven generations into the future.

Seventh generation. My dad can remember his great grandparents, his grandparents, his parents, his generation, his kids, my kids and my kids kids. 7 generations!! In that way we can remember our history, our oral tradition and teach it to that 7th generation. I remember my grandpa Greenfield telling us stories. Sometimes over and over again. 

I have four generations of my family alive now and I remember my grandpas Greenfield and Copeland well. I can understand wanting to care for the people the land the relationships for those around me and those who come after me. To make sure that my kids hear stories of my grandpas and Elaine’s mom who started the books of the Bible song. It’s their heritage!

Hebrews 11, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us push on towards the goal.

I’m only looking a few generations past who I can see currently. How do I want the world to be better for them? What don’t I want them to forgot? The fundamentals of course!! For me those include:

  • The Bible as the word of God
  • There is one God, eternally existent in 3 persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
  • The Virgin birth
  • Jesus’ death and resurrection
  • Salvation by faith in Christ alone

As one commentator has observed, “Seven generations is about the longest period of time that we can grasp subjectively. Some of us had great grandparents when we were born. We have known our grandparents, our parents, and ourselves. We may also know our children, our grandchildren, and possibly our great grandchildren. These seven generations are a yard stick of human experience.” 

Nehemiah 9:16-18, 26-31, 37 as part of a sermon series by Darrell Baker, Faith Baptist Church, Muskoka, ON

First, this prayer was a reminder for the Israelite that they are the product of those who had come before them.

  • It wasn’t their generation who had turned their back on God; in fact it was probably their great, great, great grandparents.
  • They were paying for someone else’s mistakes and sin.
  • I think they were wise enough to know that if they had been alive at that time they would have joined the party.
  • We like to think that we would have done things differently but we are only fooling ourselves when we think that way. It may have been their forefathers’ mistakes/sin but they knew they were no different.

Secondly, by reminding themselves of what had preceded them they were also admitting that they would shape the lives of those who would follow them.

  • The decisions and plans we make today will have a direct bearing on those who follow.
  • The church fifty years from now will be built, to some degree on what we do today.
  • Therefore we should be working, not simply for ourselves but for our children and grandchildren.

One final aspect of this prayer that I want you to notice is that they knew that our God is the God of the second chance.

Encouragement is like Spinach to Popeye the Sailor Man!

Who encourages you? I got this note on a day I needed it. 

Good morning brother – hope and trust you have a wonderful day. Just pausing to pray for you ministry, family, and Widji. Blessings, Michael 

Last night my small group wrote encouragement notes to each other. I read my card this morning and was both encouraged and humbled.

We wrote those after watching the North Point Church Life Apps series that included The Encouragement App by Jeff Henderson at. I have copied my notes below.

  • Did you know, the ratio of encouragement to criticism in conversations is 1:6 
  • That explains why so many workplaces are toxic. They follow the conversation. Same for marriages, friendships, church, etc. 
  • The full video is here: www.rightnow.org/Content/Series/562#6
3 circles of conversation: Our conversations are interactions of opportunity. 
  1. Inner circle – family, friends, 
  2. Influence circle – work, neighbourhood, church
  3. Life circle – people we bump in to, widows, single parents, waitstaff, store clerks, etc. 
Proverbs 11:25 he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed 
  • Many people suffer from insecurity and self doubt. They don’t feel good enough about themselves to let you feel good about yourself. 
  • Men: do I have what it takes? World says, no you don’t. 
  • Women: does he notice name, who I am, am I special, what I’m doing… Same for our daughters!! 
Encouragement is a nice thing to do but never seen at critical, yet it costs nothing. 
  • I believe in you. I’m praying for you. You can do this! 
  • Encouragement is critical! The bottom line suffers when the work conversations are 1:6
  • Ask: how are you doing twice as much as what are you doing? 
  • Encouragement is like spinach to Popeye the Sailor Man.
  • Encouragement is never small when you’re on the receiving end of it.
  • Life is so busy we don’t see this. Unfortunately we get this right at funerals. Give Roses of encouragement

What is my encouragement ratio? I have no idea, but I’m going to be focusing on it this week! 

What is YOUR encouragement ratio? 

A Day in the Life of a Widji Camper

Ever wondered what it’s like to be at Widji for a day? Here’s our daily schedule. 

Special Programs include Cabin Special on Thursday afternoons, Mortal Combat for Sizzle, Cabin Special, NOPA Friday at dinner, Fruit Social every Sunday night, Signing T-shirts on Saturday mornings

Chapel at Widji

Chapel times at Widjiitiwin are a long standing tradition. As a Christian summer camp, we feel it is important to teach campers about God and to have them experience a worship service. We have contemporary music and the songs vary depending on the age group at camp. 

You can expect each chapel time to have prayer, Bible reading, singing and biblical teaching by our weekly camp pastor. You might also see a drama or video intro/clip. We have even done video singing for TNT.

At the end of chapel someone will close in prayer and we may do a final song. There may be time set aside as a response or reflection time or the camp pastor may be available to ask questions.

All our chapel times are lead by our passionate and dedicated summer staff. Their talents, gifts and abilities are given for the glory of God. Staff play guitar, drums, bass, keyboard and sometimes we have a banjo, violin or cello. Words are projected onto a large video screen. 

Following chapel we have our evening program or cabin time.

Hey Alumni! Where Are You Now?

Have you ever wondered what happened to that special staff member you remember from Widjiitiwin? We do too. And we would love to know what they and you have been up to. SO, we are starting a project to share updates from as many alumni as possible. 

Want to share what you’ve been up to? Complete the questions below and email them with current and a camp photo to moose@mycamp.ca. We’ll showcase you in an upcoming blog.

We would also like to get copies of any pictures and stories you have of Widji, staff, activities, buildings, old brochures, camp shirts, even prank stories. 

For a Widji alumni Facebook group click here. For Widjii Old School click here.

  • Camp name & positions held 
  • Years as a camper & staff
  • Ministry now, life verse
  • Where are you living now
  • Post secondary education 
  • Impact at camp
  • upload a picture of you from camp and one from now
  • Career(s) history 
  • Family (spouse, kids, grands)
  • What would you tell the current summer staff
  • Creativity, hobby, favourite book
  • Who was your role model at camp? 
  • What is something that has been different since you left Camp, a life lesson, friends, etc… 
  • What did Widji mean to you
  • Most memorable moment
  • Best prank
  • What did you wish you had known before being on staff? 
  • Links to your website, blog, social media you would like to share
  • Who should we interview next and what is their email address?

Modern Day Mentoring

Modern day mentoring of the next leader or generation of leaders may not always look like or be what it should be. As camp leaders we spend our years (many springs and summers), that all run together, leading teens and young adults to discover their faith, work hard, build character, be leaders and follow Jesus. We set the example to follow and high expectations and then expect that they will follow. A simple exercise to determine the lessons we learned from other leaders, would be to consider each leader, coach and mentor we’ve had and the lasting effect they have had on our lives.

As an example, the man in the picture had influence in the way I now lead at camp. He took a 21 year old guy, still in Bible College, with ALL the answers and showed him how to teach and live the out Gospel in front of people! Plus work hard, get up really early, eat well and much more. Thank you Bruce Chapman!

Further, I need to thank my dad and mom, T.E.E.Greenfield (my grandpa), Jack Speck, Keith Copeland, Adolf Reiserer, John Wilkinson, Tim Duffield, Paul Whittingstall, Laurie Elliott, Neil McRuer, Darrell Baker, Greg (Bear) Fraser, Dr. Jim Fraser, Ken Davis, Roman Kahoot and Burt Elliott (the best wagon ride driver ever), Mr. Enns, Peter Purvis, my grade 8 shop teacher, Mel Stevens, John Friesen, Bill Chapman, Howie Grossinger, Peter Bloom, Howard Knight, the whole Chapman family at Rocky Ridge Ranch, Bruce Dunning and many more!!

Who are/were the mentors and influencers in your life? I’m in the process of writing a few letters.

Who do you need to thank?

They Call Me Moose

I have been called Moose since I was 16 and was first on summer staff at Camp Ambassador, outside Owen Sound, now the site of Word of Life Camp.  Many camps have a tradition of assigning staff camp names. That summer each new staff was named for an Archie comics character. Yes, I got the big dumb jock. Go figure right. Admittedly, I was the biggest guy.

A few years later at Camp Ganadaoweh (now closed), I thought it would be nice to have a new camp name. Staff that year were being named for animals and as it turned out, bear was taken. Yup, I got Moose again. From that time on, I have owned it and made it my own. 

I once had a camper shout “Moose!” across the Burlington Mall. It was great! Having seen a couple other camp people with caricatures, I decided I would like one. So, let me intro my new Moose character. Adults, other camp directors and friends all use my camp name. 

This is the creative genius of my niece, Elizabeth McQuarrie. Check out her work at www.redheadsupervillain.com. 

Rock Facts!

2016-08-21-18-32-25Rock Facts! Bueller & Madre introduced these to us as a method of staff intros this past summer. Rock facts are meant to be indisputable facts that staff know. Some of them are just fun and meaningless. Here are a few for you to enjoy. 

  1. Geology is the study of rocks
  2. Light falls off at the square of the distance (Moose)
  3. Bologna is deli meat for people with eyes (Gaston) 
  4. The average woman uses her height in lipstick every 5 years
  5. Gaston & Bueller are twins
  6. A lion’s roar can be heard from 5 miles away!
  7. The Titanic was the first ship to use the SOS signal.
  8. The Twitter bird actually has a name – Larry
  9. The CN Tower has 1776 steps
  10. Bubble wrap was originally intended to be used as wallpaper.
  11. Movie trailers were originally shown after the movie, which is why they were called “trailers”
  12. The expiration date on water bottles is for the bottle, not the water.
  13. The average person spends 6 months of their lifetime waiting on a red light to turn green.
  14. Hippopotamus milk is pink.
  15. If you started with $0.01 and doubled your money every day, it would take 27 days to become a millionaire.
  16. Human eyes can distinguish about 10 million different colors.
  17. Outer space is only an hours’ drive away – if your car could drive straight up
  18. Flamingos turn pink from eating shrimp
  19. Lemon and Oma are sisters
  20. Leonardo Da Vinci was the first to explain why the sky is blue.
  21. A handshake transfers more germs than a kiss.
  22. Lemons ripen after you pick them, but oranges do not.

What is your favourite rock fact of your own or someone else’s?

If you could live at any time in history, when would it be?

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If you could live at any time in history, when would it be? There are two time periods I am interested in.

First is the wild west. I’m thinking late 1800’s. I love the stage coaches, horses, steam trains, trail rides and cattle drives. I’ve had a love of western stories especially Louis L’Amour since early in high school. Naturally, I have the boots, hat, spurs and even a six gun. When we do a western theme at camp, I think it’s mostly for me. I like that in the old movies, it’s easy to tell the good guys from the bad guys by their hats. My hat is black. Not sure what that says about me. I have to admit though, I wouldn’t be too excited about the lack of indoor plumbing. 😉

My second choice would be medieval times. I have been a fan of King Arthur for many years and love the idea of kings, knights, princesses, armour and of course, swords. I have three swords of my own and nay camp theme is a good reason to get another one. I also like the leadership lessons we can learn from the Round Table like collaboration, working beside each other, having synergy and a Code of Chivalry. 

When in history would you want to live?

Here’s Your Sign

Bill Engvall has made a very funny comedy show about handing out signs to stupid people. Essentially stating the obvious things they missed. You can look that up for yourself. 

What I have in mind is a different. My daughter and son-in-law have some signs in their house. One of my favourite signs they have says, “All Because Two People Fell In Love“. It’s from a Brad Paisley country song where the chorus says,

There ain’t nothin’ not affected
When two hearts get connected
All that is, will be, or ever was
Every single choice we make
Every breath we get to take
Is all because two people fell in love. 

Elaine and I recently were at the St. Jacob’s Farmers’ Market and at one booth, Dublin Mercantile, we saw a lot of signs. Here are a few of my favourites:

  • Sorry for what I said when I was hungry
  • Worry ends where faith begins
  • My tools, my rules
  • You will forever be my always
  • Love like there’s no tomorrow
  • Families are forever
  • Grandkids spoiled here

But of all the signs we saw, my most favourite was, “Your first breath, took ours away“. This was true for the births of each of our three girls and of course our granddaughter Olivia! We are eagerly awaiting the same reaction when our next grandchild is born this May. 

What would or does your favourite sign say?