Camp 2010

“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”  Psalm 46:10

I long ago realized that camp was far more about me than any child I ever took.  Camp just seems like a place that God is closer, or at least easier to hear from.  I come from a family history of camp.  I remember my aunts heading off to Burnumwood for weeks at a time.  I was part of the long drives to get them long before I was old enough to go myself.  I couldn’t wait for that first weekend as a camper.  What a place it was.  I heard songs never sung at my church and for the first time read from something other than a KJV Bible.  For years I thought they were the only place with Bibles in common English.  I loved reading those hard backed books!  This was the first place I ever had a quiet time, sang a praise chorus, or saw drama in worship.  We played capture the flag, looked at stars, and slept outside without a tent.

When my girls got old enough I started looking for the same experience.  Secular camps are not the same and too often, church “camps” have become more like conferences than an old fashioned checkout from technology, meet with nature events.  Sure there is a place for these, but I wanted to make sure they didn’t miss out on what was so great about my camp experience.  Thank you Cedarmore.  Cedarmore is set in the woods with gravel walks and log cabins filled with bunk beds.  The dining hall has a slamming screen door and hot water is a valuable commodity.  The schedule is full but leaves plenty of room for singing on the hill, doing hair, and playing outside.  I love that it is all girls because it can be girl empowering without being beat the boys.  My favorite part is always the missionaries.  MIllie Reule and Deborah Cortner planted a love of missions that has never gone away.  I am completely taken with God’s work through ordinary people sold out to His plan. 

This year the missionaries were from a middle east country that has every material item you could want but is almost entirely Muslim.  It is in fact, not legal for them to be there as missionaries.  She (won’t mention names for safety reasons) taught the daily adult Bible study.  It was awesome.  She began each day by having a few people share testimonies.  The room was filled with really broken people that God was redeeming and using for greatness.  Doesn’t it take you back to realize that those whom have much don’t really let God use them the way those in pieces seem to?  I once heard an example of how God’s power and light shines through broken vessels, but is simply hidden inside the seemingly perfect ones.  How precious each story was.  But, here also was an opportunity to be a student.  Many times those willing to come to camp are also those teaching at home.  How refreshing to be the student.  The Bible verse that most hit me was Pslam 46:10. I have heard and read this verse many times.  I pause for a moment, express my frustration to God and then push on.  I am surrounded by people who largely think this verse is a joke. Okay,maybe a pipe dream but certainly not a way of life. “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”  After all, aren’t we just supposed to go till exhaustion and then drink a red bull?  Umm… not quite what the verse says.  See most of us, myself included, seem to think that the gospel is about us.  God tells us to be still because rest is a good thing for ME.  But, if you read the whole verse we realize that it is a good thing for God.  See,if I be quiet, it is God whom gets the glory.  If I step back,it is God whom gets the praise.  Not me, God.

There were plenty more camp lessons I need to ponder like the sweetness of little girls singing away the miles sans ipods.  Or God’s protection while they are hanging from a wire soaring through the trees.  Or just the need to live with margins so that when hiking to the lake there is time to stop and breathe deeply of the delicious smells in the flowered bend in the path, and watch the amazing number of butterflies doing the same.  I hope the girls had a good week.  Their leader definitely did.