Summer Camp Memories

Each summer, I spend a week leading the Junior High church camp at Bay Shore Camp in Sebewaing, MI. Every spring, as camp approaches, I find myself wondering, “Why am I doing this again? Why do I volunteer to spend a week with 120 twelve-year-olds? Why do I sacrifice sleep and health and sanity, when I could be stretched out on a beach somewhere?”

And each year, without fail, God reminds me why I do it. Here, in no particular order, are the top ten reasons I believe in the importance of camping ministries:

1. At camp, we eat at the table. Many of the youth we see at camp are used to eating in front of the TV or on the run; this one week at camp may be the only time all year they get to sit down and eat a meal at a table. By the end of each week, even twelve-year-olds will start to take the ball caps off their heads and their elbows off the table. I have long had a sneaking suspicion that the first step towards creating a more peaceful and respectful world may be teaching young people table manners.

2. There is no television at camp. And no radio. No internet, either. Camp is possibly the one place left that the electronic mafia hasn’t been able to muscle in on. By the end of the week, most campers have forgotten that there is such a thing as a DVD player, and they’re even starting to interact with - gasp! – the real world!

3. Kids get to be silly at camp. Kids are in such a rush to grow up these days! They wear adult clothes, they carry cell phones, they learn the facts of life before they know their ABCs… and if you look closely, you can see that they’re terrified. They know, deep down inside, that they should be playing and learning and laughing, and camp gives them a chance to be who God made them to be.

4. Kids meet Jesus at camp. It happened to me, and it still happens, every year.

5. Kids sing at camp. In our self-conscious, super-macho society, we’ve forgotten how to enjoy a good sing. Camp is where were claim that gift.

6. At camp, there are people who are paid to wash the dishes. It’s their job.

7. Mosquitoes build character.

8. Grown-ups make friends at camp, too.

9. Did I mention that somebody else washes the dishes?

10. Camp is FUN! (As long as you’re not into sleep…)

For these reasons and many more, I believe that every young person should have the chance to go to camp. As summer approaches, please pray for our camps, our campers, and our camp leaders.

Your servant in Christ,

Rev. Jeremy