RBTV Messages, The Great Paul Burton
If I am not
mistaken I did mentioned a little about motivational speeches as one of RBTV’s
common activities. Well these speeches are mostly prepared and presented by the
great, the one and only, the legendary Paul Burton. A quick bio about whom this
man Paul is. Paul Burton is the youngest of the Burton brothers and sister. One
of the hardest working men I know. Why is he such a hard worker? I mean, his
educational Statistics prove it all. He has “BA in Communications, Masters in
Journalism, and Masters in Divinity and Doctorate in Ministry”. Anyone who is
associated with the Burton camp and is familiar with PB’s camp responsibilities
and commitments would wonder, when and how in the world did he find the time?
As a journalist, Paul is the major face of Ron Burton Training Village. If Paul
isn’t doing his normal everyday motivational speeches, he is either preaching
his one of a kind sermons on Sundays, recording camp activities for the end of
the year conclusion video, organizing important camp events like Ron Burton Day
(Mr. Burton’s birthday celebration with all sponsors), or even mowing one of
RBTV’s 300 acres lawn! Taking about humility huh? Did I also mention his yearly
Boston marathon running events in behalf of the camp? Well there you go; he
truly is the face on the Ron Burton Training Village. Aside from being the
legend that he is, Paul is personally my mentor, my father figure, my go to
guy, my friend, and my inspiration. Clearly someone I want to be like when I
grow up. Anyways, just thought I should display how valuable PB is to the
Burton camp before talking about the messages, his messages that had made such
a great impact on many of our lives over the past years. For as long as my
young mind can remember, Paul has always been the major motivational speaker at
camp. One of my favorite messages of all time by Paul is “stepping in the wheel
barrel”. The message behind this quote is about trust and faith. Never in life
are you given a visual outlook of your future. Even more profound, life doesn’t
guarantee success. As any good individual, you learn to live life according to
faith, hoping and trusting that your hard work and dedication will pay off. The
key words are Hope, Trust and Faith. By stepping in the when barrel,
you are basically saying yes, I am willing to have faith in God and trust that
he will make it happen. Whenever the word faith comes to mind, I think walking
in the maze of life, blind-folded. You can’t see anything, but you just hope that you are walking towards the
right direction. This message was presented my possibly 2nd or 3rd
year of camp and it stuck with me all these years. Proximately four years ago,
PB discovered the idea of creating a yearly theme. Themes such as “Not Without
A Struggle” “Maximize The Moment” and “Embrace the R.A.C.E (Reaching After
Christ Everyday)”. This year’s theme was “The Urgency of Now” The urgency of
now in my understanding is basically maximizing the moment. Realizing that life
is short; I mean, according to the books, “A man’s life is nothing but a
breath”. Literally, a BREATH. In other words, any second can be the end; so why
not live best of the life that was given? The URGENCY, meaning now! Not next
year, not next week, not tomorrow, but now! Wanting something, now! Setting a
goal and going after it now! There’s really no other way to explain it. How
does he come up with these themes? I have no clue but it really gets you
thinking about your place in life; where you belong and how you’re going out.
AKA your legacy. I guess that’s where Masters in Divinity and Doctorate in
Ministry takes you. Throughout the five weeks, Paul incorporate messages
in his sermons relating to the theme; messages that would allow campers and
staff to fully comprehend the true meaning of “Urgency of Now”. “Living on both
sides of the fence”; “you have one walk in the garden (the garden of life). If
you do it right, one walk is all you need”; and my personal favorite, “Busted
and Disgusted!” These are all my favorite quotes from this summer’s sermons.
Living on both sides of the fence is phrase for lukewarm Christians; living a
double life. This phrase pretty much relates to all young adult Christians.
Paul’s explanation was, basically one moment we are living a holy life, we are
the perfect child at home, in the presence of our parents; the second we leave
the house, back to school, at parties, everything changes. “You become the
master your domain”He said. The truth and nothing but the trust, what else can
be said? Reality check really. The garden walk quote really goes back to the
urgency of now. We realistically don’t have many lives, neither are we always
given second chances in life. The first walk you get in the garden might be
your only walk. And like Paul said, if that walk is right, one walk is all it
takes. And there is “Busted and Disgusted!” a phrase supposedly used back in
the days at camp when a person was caught in the “act”; the act, meaning doing
something wrong of course. The word “disgusted” in the phrase on a personal
note is the overwhelming feeling you get after being caught in the act. The
guilty, uncomfortable feeling no one ever wants to come across. This phrase is
pretty much what happens when we’re caught on the wrong side of the fence.
“Busted and Disgusted!” And of course I’ve abused the phrase all summer and I
most likely will all year for my own amusement. Got to love it!
Huddle 5: 2012’s Best Huddle!
Going a week
late to camp this summer from orientation as a Peer Mentor, I did not know what
to expect. I felt anxious, I felt excited. Excited for what the 2012 summer was
to bring. I was excited for who I was to
have in my huddle, my partner or partners for the summer as well as my
roommates. My hopes were really for a great group of guys on and outside the
field. 14 group of guys who are willing to be good listeners, hard workers and
great competitors. Everyone knows I hate to lose. Upon my arrival, people told
me, you have a good huddle but your co-huddle leader is a clown. “He jokes
around a lot, he acts like another camper”. My response was pretty much, “we’ll
see”. When I finally got to meet with my huddle members as a group, I promised
them we were going to be the best huddle at camp despite what other thought. And
if they do their jobs as campers I was going to do my part as their huddle
leader and nominate them for whatever award they felt like they deserved
towards the end of camp. Not to be cocky but we were sure enough one of the best
huddles at RBTV 2012. Realistically we were not perfect of course. We did not
always have neatest beds, nor did we have the best bunk area. We may not have
come first in order for breakfast every morning but we sure were up there
majority of the time! And yes, at RBTV we eat in the order according to how
neat and uniformed our huddle’s beds are. Bed making and good hygiene is one of
the major disciplines at camp, an everyday norm. Besides, I did not promise them perfection.
Being one of the best I believe doesn’t mean perfection; it means consistently
competing to be on that podium when appropriate. It might not always means
first place, but at the end of the day you should make that podium no matter
the cause; and that’s what we did, majority of the time. As for my co-huddle
leader Dorian Hunter, he turned out to be nothing like everyone said. I mean,
he is naturally a jokester; that’s his personality and it should not be taken
away from him. When it mattered he stood up and did his job as a leader, better
than I ever expected; especially as a young leader at that rate. I could not
have asked for a better partner to replace by brother from another mother and
ex-partner of two years Austin Alfredson. Well “replace” is not the exactly the
right word to use because two years of sold brotherhood can obviously never be
replaced. But only an upcoming junior in High School, Dorian was there whenever
I needed him. I did not ever have to tell him what to do; he knew his place as
a leader. Almost as if he read my mind every time. The communication itself was
off the chart! It was over all an outstanding partnership between Dorian and I
and it could not have gotten any better.
Then there
is my huddle! Huddle 5, 2012. I cannot express in words how much I love those
kids and their personalities. We had our ups and downs, we fought like every
brothers do, but by the end of the day we were family. But then again out of
every great family, is a black sheep. And out of every delicious garden, is a
bad apple. Why the analogy? Well…that’s exactly what happens. There is always
that one kid who drags the rest of the group. That one kid who refuses to
follow orders, that one kid who refuses to cooperate, that one kid who is
always negative, and then there is that one kid who’s constantly starting a
fight. Oh my goodness, headache! This little individual truly tested my
patience as a leader. I loved this kid to death, but I hated his rebellion ways!
I just couldn’t get him on my side. It came to a point where I was like, “you
know what, I give up. You’re on your own buddy; I no longer have your back. You
do what you pleased and if you do get kicked out, then let it be”. But then I
couldn’t do it, I didn’t have the guts to look him in the eyes every day and
just not care. I remembered telling myself, Dorian and the rest of the huddle
towards the last couple days of camp, “There’s is no way on this planet is he
getting an award, he doesn’t deserve it!” But then once again, me and my soft
hearted self couldn’t commit. As we went down a long list of awards, we couldn’t
find any award that represented this little individuals’ character. Not sportsmanship,
not sweetness, and God knows not Ron Burton award! And then there was “Ironman”.
The Ironman award is presented to someone who pretty much is physically an Ironman;
someone who goes hard on the run, on the obstacle courses, and someone who consistently
goes hard in the gym. Well, although this little trouble maker wasn’t consistent
on the run, he no doubt was an Ironman. If there was one award he deserved, it
was the Ironman award and I could not deny him of it. I somehow managed to convince
my co-huddle leader Dorian and the nomination became official. But then of
course the award wasn’t guaranteed because it still had to go through the
Burton family and the rest of the head staff. Apparently they did agree with me
because at the end of the ceremony Mr. Ironman came up to me and said, “Thank
you for the award!” It was almost as if he was also saying, thank you for not
giving up on me. What do you say to that? I don’t even remember what exactly I
said to him but I surely am glad I did not give up on him. I am not sure if he
took anything away from this entire experience but I know I did. What did I
learned? I learned that I am one step mature than last summer and I am a better
leader and overall a better person than I was a year ago. As for the rest of my
campers, I would love to talk about every one of their individual personalities
in details but that’s just craziness. There’s way too many of them, 10 to be
exact. Shout out to huddle five! Dorian Hunter (Ohio), Zac Coaston
(California), Owen Boucher (Newton), Sabree Edwards (North Carolina), Leo
Kotomori (Boston), Nate MacDonald (Hopkinton), Angel Machicote (West Borro),
Kane Medina (Newton), Luis Rivera (Boston), Freddy Simones (Framingham) and my
big boi aka future NFL star, Jeff MacArthur (Natick)!
