As I write this, I’m sitting on the somewhat grimy floor of a well-used room at a Christian camp. Normally I wouldn’t be lounging on the floor in a “rented” room. I generally feel like hotel floors are pretty disgusting, and there’s no doubt that this camp’s carpet has seen a few things. But, I don’t know what it is. Snuggled up here in one of those sandpaper-y wool blankets that they stash for cool nights, typing by the light of a bathroom strewn with wet clothes and dirty towels, it just feels cozy.
I’ve always loved Christian camp. Baptists are quite the campers, and our camps just always seemed awesome to me. I grew up going to the oldest Christian youth camp in the world (no kidding) in Lueders, Texas. And, I don’t know if it was the archery or the canoeing or the fact that there always seemed to be a snake sighting, or maybe it was the puppets or the funny songs or the skits, but I thought the whole thing was wonderful.
Everything about camp this week, where I am sitting in what smells like a decade’s worth of mildew, feels familiar.
As a kid you come to these camps and you’re faced with a truckload of truth, which is genially sandwiched between the most fun stuff you’ve ever done in your life. You hear the truth of your sin problem and the good news of Jesus, and then you head outside where the heat hits you like a sweaty punch to the gut but you don’t care because you want to be first in line at the snack shack. You buy a giant pickle and three candy bars and whatever else your mom would never let you have, and you enjoy it while getting in a few rounds of tetherball. I mean, it’s just the perfect combination of eternally significant truth and pure enjoyment.
And, even though it’s hard to sleep at night on a camp bed and it’s unbearably hot all day, I am still just a little bit giddy about the prospect of getting up tomorrow morning and eating a big all-the-fixins breakfast in the dining hall, singing some crazy songs with plenty of dance moves, and maybe playing a little laser tag before lunch. And, all of this is happening because kids need to know that they need Jesus. Somehow the Holy Spirit works here, in the midst of the great fun and the mosquitoes as big as Texas itself. And, I feel blessed to know what Christian camp is like, and to really love it.
Maybe that alone is just grace from God. Because, y’all, my kids are little, and I’ll be camping for many, many more years to come. Better brush up on my archery skills tomorrow!
This was so timely for me as I just dropped my 12 year old at Bible camp for the first time on Sunday. I have not been the best Christian role model for her and have been anxious about her experience. I am divorced from her Dad and she told me on the trip to camp that her Dad is very upset with me for “making” her go to that kind of camp. I can only hope she has the time of her life and is introduced to the most loving God that I know and not the God her Dad described to her. Thanks for reminding me of how fun Bible camp can be.
Elisabeth, I’ll be praying that she has an amazing time and that she comes back with a new understanding of how great God is. Thanks so much for your comment!
yes indeed very timely. My daughter is in Christian camp this week too. This is her second year she couldn’t wait to go back. The topic for the summer is being a servant for God.
I love the theme, Janet!
Hi Melissa,
My camp memories are from one of the older camps that I know of. It’s not just a youth camp, but a family camp, that started in 1880.
While not specifically a youth camp, they have a number of different youth camps throughout the summer for various age groups, with teen camp / family camp coming up next week.
I usually take a week off work to spend time at camp. It’s where I can get away from normal life for a while, and spend the kind of time with God that normal life somehow doesn’t seem to grant me.
Many, many lives have been changed by God there over the years! Quite often the Spirit moves on the youth in a mighty way and kids are called into ministry. I always look forward to and pray for mighty workings of the Holy Spirit there every year.
And of course there’s the “camp experience” of staying in cabins built in the 1950s, with lumpy mattresses and no air conditioning. (Some of the newer cabins have A/C, but they are missing out on the true camp experience!)
Friends and family, reliving old memories and making new ones, and the chance of being a part of something straight from the courts of Heaven is what keeps me coming back to camp year after year.
Wow, Mark! No A/C! That sounds like a really neat camping experience. I love that you take off work to go to camp.