Several times each summer I would be walking through the kitchen and Wazican, who was with the kitchen and other staff 12 hours a day, would greet me with a smile, almost a laugh, and say “Chief Chuck, we need to talk.”

Immediately I knew Wazican was going to tell me something I needed to hear. If it was between meals, he would leave what he was doing and we would walk out the back door of the kitchen.

Still with his smile/laugh, Wazican said “Chief, the guys knew Hutch was a mess, (20 support staff had bunks there) but it was not too cool to go up there and throw the clothes on the floor into a huge pile in the center of the room! Chief…!!!! It was your first visit after you warned them. If you had just put the stuff on the floor on the closest bunk, they would have gotten the message. If they didn’t, then go make your pile!”

“Chief, the DL staff really wants to play Camp-Of-The-Woods in basketball! The Camp-of-the-Woods staff says we beat them in soccer twice, but could never beat them in basketball (they run a basketball camp). Can I take our basketball players over Friday, right after lunch? I think we can beat them!” And we did.

“Chief, when ____ drove a maxi-van to the island bridge (Never drive to the bridge!) to drop off Island staff laundry and got stuck in the mud and rubbed the side of the van against a tree, he knew he was in trouble!

Why come down on him so hard? He’d learned his lesson. The damage was done.”

“Chief, some of the guys are getting in pretty late on their days off.”

“Chief, let me have____ in the kitchen for a session. Don’t send him home. I think I can get him to be on time, to work harder. Let’s not let anyone go home without having a good experience at DL. He needs a lot of help.”

Wazican knew my heart, and I knew his. We both wanted DL to be a great place for the DL staff and campers, a place where young men would have fun and learn a lot about all kinds of stuff – about life. We both knew godly young men are not born that way.

Life is short! Pride is awful!

I want to hear God say “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Who wants you to be their “Wazican”? Have you accepted this responsibility?

For whom should you be a “Wazican?” Can you do this while building your relationship with the person?

Who should be your “Wazican”? Should you ask people in different areas of your life to be your “Wazican”? A trusted friend from church? Your spouse? One of your kids? A person who really knows you from work?

Invited feedback is much easier to receive than correction we need, but would like to ignore.

Living In Partnership With God requires that we live in partnership with people.