MAN CAMP, Spring 2024

We're going away, Miss Allison. I'm saying goodbye.

Yes, I heard. Getting bye-byes. Be safe, okay? Be safe. Be a good boy.

He's gonna miss him. Whoa, don't fall over. We're here. Johnny did good. Hi boys, is that your truck? Set up our 10 by 20 here.

All right, that's, that's good.

Okay, so it's rapid away setup. Maybe that'll warm us up. This is a tent that will not collapse. We went camping last time, probably got all these little 10 by 10s collapse. This is the only table we brought, Papa. We can eat on the picnic table. We might bring— he's got a little cab in his truck and he remembered a table. Bring a tarp. And we brought a tarp too, didn't we?

I think we did.

Yes, you need stakes.

For what?

You think you put the bottom of the tent down and then you put the stakes in, because if you don't, when you pick it up, all the— it just comes off.

Door towards the tent.

There's two doors.

Yeah, we have to have stakes.

I don't think you need stakes.

I don't think you do.

The stakes are just for like wind so it doesn't blow your tent away.

You guys want to bet?

Let's look. I'll bet you a lot of money for that.

You will?

Oh yeah, I know for sure. You just need the poles.

I'll bet you a lot of money this tent is not freestanding.

Be sure to securely stake the tent or it will collapse.

Austin, you'd have been out a lot of money.

No, I bet you I can I can make it work.

Setting up.

Uh, yeah, we borrowed the Abundance Pods tent. We're a living advertisement. That's a double.

Yeah, you and Austin can share it. I'm joking. No, you and Henry, Papa.

Look at that, this is our pantry. How do you like it?

I like it.

You're in a paradise, aren't you?

Stop raining, then we can talk about what fun we did. I don't know, what time are we at? About 4 o'clock?

We're 4:30, 4:40.

Well, we should prepare to eat. Okay. Because I don't think by the time we get anywhere it's gonna be dark and it's been raining all night.

I totally forgot cooking oil. I bought this for Bulletproof Coffee. Like, that means I could probably use about that much oil cleaning this stove if I have to. I don't want to use my precious A2A2 raw butter to clean a rusty stove. Burning Up Cooking Show. Jonah, could you tidy up the front of the truck? Wise young men once taught me to clean up as you go. Doing broth even camping. Burn It Up cooking show tonight. Hot dogs and hamburgers. How's the first meal camping?

Good.

Henry's set up nice. Is that good? Are you still happy we went camping? Nobody say MOM after dark. Nothing like cooking outdoors. After working hard to set up a tent site. Jonah wanted to go to the rec room. Word is there's ping pong table. Well, the guys are gonna go play ping pong, and Henry has caught wind of the playground. That's a big slide.

You sure?

I'll be down here to catch you.

I'm here, I'm here.

Yeah, but then I won't be down here to catch you and stop you from going into this puddle. It's gonna make me climb this thing. You want to go? I'll get down there and catch you.

Woo!

It's very slow. Hey, you gonna do it again?

Fun!

You don't want to go play ping pong? Wasn't too much to that playground. Now it looks like we're able to go join them at ping pong. If he misses your table, you let it go and it's his point. Uh, 10. You got 10.

10-5.

Game point.

Alright.

How's it feel to get whooped by your old man, son?

It's normal. The most important thing is get good stuff to start with and set all your wood up before you begin. So you want to start with something that's really easy to catch a flame. Okay, well, on a wet day it's really hard. If you're out in the woods, you can get cattail. You know what a cattail is? They grow in swamps. They have a long cone kind of thing, kind of around like a hot dog looking thing. In a bind, you can take your pocket knife and run it on your clothes. Scrape a bunch of stuff in there and you try to throw the— it's really just act like you're trying to throw it right at it. Throw a spark and hit that little pile of stuff.

You're real good.

Yeah, it does like— oh man, if it gets— you got a little flame here. Put sticks on, put sticks on, put the little ones on. You got to be ready. Careful, put the little bitty ones on. There you go, there you go. Keep it going, keep it going, keep it going, keep it going, keep going. Got to keep going, keep going. We got to keep it going, keep it going, keep going, keep going, keep going. This isn't out yet. It didn't out. You might make it, you might make it, you might make it, you You might make it. Okay, you did make it. Oh, well done. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Put them on it, put them on it. There you go. You're a team, you're a team. Keep going, it'll go. Keep going. There you go. Keep putting on. You got to get that thing to— that's good, boy. I believe you. Let's look at our fire starter, give him the salute. Hoorah! Hoorah! Come on, together. 1, 2, ready! Hoorah! Morning, as Henry would say.

And it's chilly, so we're all happy to get up and going. You know what's funny is, uh, Henry is in denial that last night he was wanting Mama, and I think he's trying to act like back. It's been happy. The boys are calling him on it, but he's excited. They're all excited to go fishing today. I offered, I offered Henry, you want to go home?

No, I want to go fishing.

Last night Steve used the example of the boys starting the flame. Well, I guess he taught us something from that. He said, you notice how that little spark, that little, just the littlest tiny spark, can turn into a big flame? The biggest flame. Do you know anything else that does that? Just kidding, just kidding. Not gonna go there. You guys wait right here. I thought as soon as he said that The tongue. It's little, but it can be so powerful, he went on, you know, for the good or for the bad. Fire can be a wonderful thing, but it also can get out of control. Then he gave us the example of compliments or using our tongue for the good. One, it could be flattery. It can be saying something like to our wives, hey, you're beautiful. To our sons, you know, you're handsome, you're strong. I know That's flattery, and there's nothing wrong with flattery. But he compared it to a compliment, the difference being compliment addresses the character, which can even be a more powerful use of words than flattery. The example of that would be when the boys were starting the fire, the example of I decided to compliment Jetta and say, you know, you didn't give up. That's a characteristic. You took one for the team. You took a sacrifice for everybody else and put your head down there in the smoke. That's a characteristic, taking a sacrifice for others. Are you just unfazed by this cold? It must be mid-30s. Jacket, sweater. What snack did he get? Last night was a hair on the edge because he started wanting M-A-M-A.

We put food on you last night, but then we got worried that a bear might eat you. We put a whole bunch of food on you.

Did you really?

I saw the paper towels on the ground.

Wait, who unplugged my phone?

That's weird.

Did y'all unplug my phone and put the Energizer, the charger, way over here? So I tried it on Mama and sent her this text last night. You're great about nurturing our children, and it shows in the real world. Thanks for the hard work there. Dressing characteristics. So good. Little golden nuggets from Mr. Meeks. All right, got a place for you by the fire, Henry.

See these lines?

Can you see where it's already got some that are broken? All you got to do is try to hit it, but usually you hit it on the outside of it. Ah, wait a minute, you're gonna get it.

Hey, that wood's not green, it's rotten. You get a shot of testosterone doing that. Steve is teaching them to cook in a paper bag just in case you're alone in the wilderness and all you've got is a stick, an egg, some grease, and a paper towel.

Thing is, you don't want to get the flame on it. You just want the heat. You want to keep it about this high above, and the heat begins to make the stuff inside get hot.

The new survival checklist. How's your egg coming along? Oh, it's coming, Jonah.

It's actually working.

This is more like I forgot to skillet at home.

The first rule of manhood is a man is a giver, a boy is a taker. Boys are about me, me, me, I, I, I, all about me. He could be 50 years old and he's all about me as a boy. He could be 12 and he's thinking about other people. Yep, he's a giver.

Hey Steve, I think the stuff—

oh, that's good. I got to talking to somebody about it.

If you like char, are you looking for some charcoal?

I think there's one spot I need to put a little more Right there. So how was it? Good.

Ate it all.

Is it just a— tastes fine.

Tastes good.

Yeah, there's very little of it. It's hard to get out of the bag.

We're just talking about stud muffin. I guess we should talk about around the fire and the campfire in the morning. He said you got to make him a— what did you say?

Like an icon, imager, whatever. Have you already done it?

How about this?

Yes! He's cool. He's got it.

Now you can be a stepdad.

You be a stepdad.

I feel, I feel better. With 5 kids.

My dad is a missional person. He enjoys seeing people thrive. He enjoys watching, he enjoys figuring out what makes people tick and knowing how to foster that and and help them to grow. Here's what moves from boy to man, okay? Self-control. A boy is kind of like, you know, whatever I want to do, I do, and I don't even think about it, and I'm just bouncing off the walls. And that's okay, that's a boy. You're made for that. You're wired to just be— not sit still, hold your hands, be quiet. That's kind of like torture, right? But when you move into being a man, you learn to control those energies that you have and those thoughts, and you do them at the right time in the right ways.

That's self-control.

Gatlinburg! I don't think the kids have ever seen this, have they? Man, this is like— how do you describe this? A roller coaster. There's a Ripley's Believe It or Not here. There's crafts, there's t-shirts. We just saw the Trump store. There's the Pancake House, Hillbilly Golf. I think Rebecca and I have successfully avoided Gatlinburg with you kids so far. How would you describe Gatlinburg? Austin. I mean, it's just a kind way.

It's just another touristy—

ah, the new era of hillbilly. It's definitely touristy. It's like a— it's like the town has been built for tourists.

Everything is just so touristy.

There's nothing you can enjoy.

Touristy is a good way to put it. The redeeming quality for Gatlinburg is that Smoky National Park is literally on the edge of it. Gatlinburg is like the Myrtle Beach of the mountains.

Right here, and there's, um, 2 places that you guys who are 12 and under can fish. This part, uh, the whole arc. The rest of us, anybody can fish in these other places. So he marked them all along this road in here and then up.

Show them how to reel it in. Reel it in.

Bug's just not going to continuously just swim up in the water. You want to— maybe it's Maybe it's bouncing around a little bit, you know what I'm saying?

Just a little bit.

Maybe the bug's freaking out.

Oh my gosh, this is the kids' only fishing spot. This must be right where they release the trout into the waters. I just saw a guy with 6 fish, he and his son. We're not 50 feet from where he was.

Even the preparation, fishing, getting ready, getting all the bait ready, getting the line ready, getting all our snacks together in the all that. I enjoy the simplicity of it, just learning to be— also learn to be patient with something. That taught me a lot because I had to sit there, see the guys here, and sit there and just cast out and waiting until it's like, why isn't something happening? But over time of realizing that you are patient, you catch something.

You got one? I think it's one. Or is he hung?

No.

Piece of trash. Good job, you're cleaning our waters.

That's a good one, that's a great one.

Hey, Hudson, hold him. You gotta hold him like this, right here. You hold him with both hands. Oh, you gotta hold him with two hands. Only two hands.

Let's support Gideon now that we see it's possible. Get him the tool he needs, which is a bigger rod. You think this is the trick right here?

Well, it's something different, so nobody else is using it.

All right, let— you have to let him reel it in. What's up with pink? Sometimes they want something bright. Yeah. How many guys does it take to fish? Gideon's the only one allowed to fish in this area. It's kids only. He's found the playground. He's lost patience for fishing. Bye-bye playground, going back to fishing. The big boys want to fish too, so they've gone upstream where they're allowed to. Wish them all the luck. It'd be really neat to have some trout tonight.

We went down first and then we didn't catch anything, so we just had to come back and go up.

3?

Oh wow, I think we're allowed 5 per person. Look at that. Oh, boys have come back about 45 minutes later unsuccessful. You know what is successful? Your patience, Gideon. Man, I hope you get one.

Not really anything out here.

It's been—

we've been fishing for a while and it's not really paying off.

Gideon, I'm so proud of you.

Oh, you're the most courageous thing.

Are you gonna be okay if you don't catch one?

I thought you were talking about me.

Another fishing spot. Hopefully you can have more good luck here. I hope you have some good luck here.

We, we tried a few other places with the adults down near Gatlinburg and we struck out. It's got a little harder to catch them in the daytime, so now we're back and we're about to get our fish cleaned to prepare a meal for tonight.

All right boys, let's clean off the truck and start prepping everything for dinner. Just got back from fishing all afternoon. Unfortunately, this crew didn't catch any. Our— the Meeks crew did, so hopefully they're going to share some fish with us tonight. But if not, we got plenty of stud mutton.

Just take his head off and you come down the stomach and open it up and pull out all the organs inside. And you can cook him like that. You can cook with put his head on, but we just don't.

I think this has been a good trip, uh, with Mr. Meeks, my mentor, my children's godfather. Just a time to get away and do something different, have an adventure. Sure, one of the main focuses was fishing. We didn't catch any fish, but the Meeks did, and they're going to share— they're sharing it with us, but I think the key things, and I've wrote down a few things in my notebook, are just the little golden nuggets that Steve gives. The, hey, the difference between a boy and a man is that a man gives and a boy serves. Let's upgrade our flattery to compliments that touch on the character of a person. If they don't pick up on this, I am, and now I spend the other 363 days with them. So at least I'm, I'm charged and reminded from Steve, and now I can carry that on to them. After dinner, or— Henry's back on the playground. I'm gonna slaughter the boys in some b-ball. That feels a hair higher than 10 feet, but maybe that's right. Okay, so we're gonna play 2 on 2. Or are we gonna play— oh, are we gonna play goat? First to spell it out loses.

I played that little part.

I said goat, but it's horse, isn't it? Okay, it is horse.

We can do whatever word you want.

Go ahead. You can shoot from anywhere. Mind you, this is these boys' second time playing basketball. Oh, Austin got a layup! Yeah, so he's got a P, so now you get to start. You could shoot from wherever you want. And where's your shoe?

My elbow.

Jonah for PIG.

Oh. Block him, block him!

I can't jump that high.

Those are quite the basketball shoes there, bud.

Yeah, I know.

I don't know which is better, yours or rubber boots. They got us. How's it feel to be a loser together?

It's fine. All right, so what I want to tell you guys about is a story that I made up that tells about love. Real good about it. It's a made-up story. First part is true, okay. So here's the true part. The true part is my wife is really careful and really wise and really good about eating good food. She makes sure that we eat good foods and that we don't eat bad stuff. And so she makes good food. It's wonderful. It's healthy. So she's really into that. Here's another truth. I didn't used to be. I was the sugar maniac. I was— ice cream was my best friend and soda was second to it. And if I could put them together, all the better. So I was really a sugar guy too much. So all of that said, yeah, all that said, she has changed me over the years and I'm happy for it. But, um, my story is going to start way back there. I'm also going to start back with 3 kids. I have 5, but I'm gonna start back with 3. So Daniel, we're going to say he was 12, and Caleb, we're going to say he was 10 in the story, and Hannah, we're going to say she was, I don't know, 8. Okay, so we're just going to start there. The rest of it we're going to make up. So let's say that I come in and it's a weekend and, and my wife Miss Donna has gone and she's out of town and it's just me and the 3 kids. And so I think ice cream, soda pops, all the fun foods, we're going to have a party. So I come in with tubs of ice cream and syrup and sprinkles and canned crumbs of whatever they put this— the cookie crumb. I mean, everything. And I bring it in and I tell the kids, hey, guess what? Mom's out of town. Party time! Dad is here. Come on in. So I call them in and they come in to have ice cream. And I'll call them in to have ice cream. Let's say it's around lunchtime, so we're gonna have ice cream and soda instead of lunch. So I say, come on in. So I call in and Daniel says, oh Dad, I'm on the phone, I'll be there in just a minute. So I said, okay, but hurry because we don't want it to melt. And then I call for Caleb and Caleb says, Dad, I'm on the video game. I'm on like What, level 9? I'm almost to level 10. I've never been this far before. So Dad, I need to— let me play the game. Well, hurry because it's a melt and it's a fun time together. And here comes Hannah, and she comes running in. She's got blonde hair, kind of got a little bit of sunburn on her cheeks. She's a, you know, outdoor girl. And so she comes in, oh Daddy, you're wonderful! And she gives me a big hug and she's, Daddy, I love it when you have fun like this. You're so cool. And I'm thinking, yeah, good girl. And so I asked her, do you want ice cream? Yeah. So I dip her some ice cream, and she comes in, uh, with the ice cream. You're gonna come through? Yeah, boy, be careful. So she comes in with the ice cream, or I comes in and I serve ice cream to her. Okay, so I give her everything she wants, sprinkles, whatever it is, and we're having a great time. Then after After about 15 minutes or so, the boys have not come in. And so I asked the boys, I say, Daniel, where are you? And Daniel says, I'm on the phone, Dad. I want to be on the— I want— I don't want any ice cream. I'm gonna be on the phone. And I think, oh, it's kind of a bad attitude, right? Talk to your dad that way, you shouldn't do that. So I think, hmm, I'm not so much worried about ice cream now. We're going to talk about something else later about attitudes. So I say, Caleb, come on in, hurry, we got to go. And Caleb says, Dad, oh, I'm on level 9, I finished level 10, I'm on phase 3 or whatever, some new level I've never been to before. Dad, I was going to play this. Thanks for the ice cream, but I'm just going to play the game. And I think, well, that is a better attitude and everything, but it's a bad choice. And so we'll have a little talk later about making good choices. Choices. That's all. Because he could have put it on pause and we get a good experience and then gone back and played his game.

Okay.

And then Hannah's there and she's talking away, Dad, this is so fun. And we're just chatting and having a great time. And she gives me another big hug and, Daddy, this is so great when you do stuff like this. So we have another bowl of whatever of ice cream and we've cleaned up and she gives me another hug and she goes scooting down the hall back to to the house and I go have my talk with— after I clean up, I have my talk with Daniel and kind of say, you know, change your attitude. And I have my talk with Caleb and say, you need to make better choices, put it on pause next time. And we end the day. So it goes on, and let's say in the evening now, dark outside, and I come in to the kids, I say, guess what, another surprise, movies, ice cream— I mean, movies Soda, popcorn, I got it all. Chips and dip. So I bring in all the stuff— chips and dip and sodas and the whole thing— and they're like, wow, Dad, this is great! And we put on a movie. So we're all sitting there eating our stuff in the living room, watching the TV show. It's dark outside, and all of a sudden I hear this— I hear this knock, knock, knock, knock at my door. I look up, there's the door. I think, who could be here at 9 o'clock at night knocking on the door? But before I could even get up, I hear this bam, bam, bam hitting the door. What's going on there? Somebody is hitting on my door. And then all of a sudden, kick, kick, wham! Somebody kicks the door and the door flies open. And standing in the door is a guy in dark clothes with a gun, and he aims the gun over at my daughter. Now, all the dads at this point, I say, think about what would you do if this was your daughter and some stranger is at the door with a gun and he points the gun at your daughter. What would you do? We all know we would either jump in front of her to protect her, or we'd jump at the guy to get the guy and get the gun away from him, right? We would protect our daughter. Okay, now let's rewind our story just a little bit. Go back to before the gun and the knocking, and we're sitting there, we're watching TV, video's going, watch TV, everybody having a good time. Drinking sodas, having our chip and dip. Knock, knock, knock. We look at the door. Bam, bam, bam, kick. The door flies open. Guy standing there, dark clothes, with a gun, and he aims it at Daniel. Now Daniel's the one on the phone that was kind of rude to me today. He names it Daniel. Well, what am I going to do? I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to say, you know, he was rude today. Can you like, you know, in the knee or something, kind of he's raised, can you just kind of nick him a little bit? And everybody grins like you guys. Everybody laughs. It's like, that is laughable. Nobody's going to do that. You're not going to do that to your kid. You're going to jump in front of your kid, or you're going to jump at the bad guy, right? That's what you're going to do. And I tell people, that's the way love is, real love. It doesn't matter. It's silly to think that because my son was rude that I wouldn't jump and lay my life down to protect him. That's silly. He was rude to me, so kill him. This is how crazy you wouldn't do that. Love would say, I don't even think about— I don't even think about he was rude to me. Do you? That— it's just like Satan, because that's where real, real love comes from. It's just from how I made him. He's mine, and so I love him the same way. I don't, I don't jump fast in front of my daughter because she ate ice cream. That's silly too. Because she did good, because she gave me a hug, well, I'll save her. No, that's not why you do it. Because here's the point, guys: love comes from a different place. Love is not based on You did good, so you get it, or you did bad, so you don't get it. Love is based on me, who it comes from. I made them, they're mine, and I love them. Now, they might get a scolding because they were rude, and they might get instruction because they didn't make a good choice, or they might get a hug because they did the right things. Those are rewards. But salvation, rescue, is based on who I am, not on who you are. So there's a scripture that I tell people that says this same thing, and it says neither height nor depth nor angels nor demons nor the president, the pastor, anything in all of creation can separate you from the love that God has for you in Christ Jesus. God is saying it too. Love comes from a different place. You may get rewards, you may get some negative consequences based on your decisions, but love will not change. You can't undo it. So guys, a lot of people try to earn love by doing good, good, good, good. You can't earn love. It's a gift. And a lot of people think, well, I'm too bad, I've done too many bad things, so I'm not loved anymore. No, you might get some bad consequences consequences, but it doesn't take away love, because love doesn't come from doing good or doing bad. Love comes from here, not here. And that's the truth about love, about real love, unconditional love. You two guys in particular, you guys are really men. Yes, you really are. You're behaving and helping and doing things.

We learned on this trip they're actually men now. I mean, they're giving more than they're taking.

Yeah, you are a servant at heart. You want to please, you work hard, and you want to help. Yeah, you're a servant. You are attentive to people, especially— I noticed how you were so attentive the other day to Henry. You made a really manly choice. You're over here and everybody else was doing some kind of game or cleaning the fish.

We were clean his dish.

That's what it was, kind of. I think that's what it was. We got home and you were watching Henry for Dad. My dad was doing things and I could tell it was— I said, hey, come on over, and I knew it was like, I'll have to let somebody else take care of Henry, or I have to— and you were in the middle and you chose to go ahead and be responsible with him and catch up with us later. Yeah, it was great. I want you to know, so you're— you also are a servant, quiet, and you You really are attentive to people. Very good. So that's good. You don't talk a lot, but I know there's a lot in there. I know it is. Go ahead and speak up and don't be afraid to share what's in there when somebody asks, because you have a lot in you and it's really good.

You go deep.

That's good. Gideon, my goal on this trip was to be your friend and to have you as mine, and I think we did it. So good for us. And I want to tell you, Gideon, here's the I'm quitting on the kids. Here's the thing about you, Gideon. Here's the deal. You will become a leader of your brothers. Not the leader, but a leader with your brother. You're this big now, okay? And they're like up here, okay? That'll change. And over time, you're going to be a leader of— when you're in the room, when you're around, what you say and think is going to be important to everybody else. They're going to kind of key off of you to some degree, okay? So here's the thing for you, Gideon. You have leadership wired into you. It's a good thing. You can use it for good, or you can use it for bad. Here's a way to make a difference. Be a listener. Become a listener. Listen to what other people are thinking, and then you'll know how to lead them. If you just listen to your thoughts and your will, then you might lead them the wrong way. So you listen to where they are and what they need and then you move that direction. You'll lead them well. So you have leadership wired into you. Henry is— he is going— he is an independent man. He is what, this big? But he thinks he's this big, okay? Caleb was that way. Our Caleb was that way. And he— Henry's going to grow up, you guys need to know this. Henry's going to grow up and he's going to be his own man, make his own decisions in his own pace and his own time. That's okay, provided he's not against you, right? Now, if you're in the wrong, he needs to be against you, and he'll keep you straight. But if you're in the right, hopefully he'll join in with you, and he'll have to bring a lot of talent. He'll bring a lot of ability, a lot of strength to your clan, to the Rhodes clan. And so fashion him so that he goes after what is good, and if you do, then he'll be a big part down the road. He's the littlest one now, but he's going to play a big role in the family. So Henry's got a lot of good independence in him.

I think it's good.

Fashion it. That's our job as parents, is just to fashion it, shape it, point it in the right direction, and then let it go. I know he'll do well.

We are, Henry.

We're home. Oh, maybe they want us to come in. Santa comatic.

Hey, Winnie.

Hey! Did you miss me? Oh, you did!