Camp. It is not my favorite pastime, any of my friends can agree to that statement. I tend to enjoy shopping in air conditioned malls or sipping coffee with my laptop. Camp does not come with these modern day conveniences. I don't really enjoy taking a trek to the bathrooms to begin my day. Now, it seems strange that someone who doesn't love to camp always goes camping one week out of a very short summer in Michigan. I have done this for as long as I can remember! I have attended camp as a kid, teen and now, an adult with my own teens!
I always blame my kids for attending camp. I tell everyone that the reason we still come to sweat out a week in the hot July sun is because our kids love it so much, but my friend saw through my facade. She said, "you know you love it too". Yes, she is right. I do love it (don't let this get out to others at camp, since they all still believe that I really don't enjoy it and I am doing all of this for my kids. I need to keep my "Mom of the Year" status somehow!). Although, I am not quite sure why I love it, I do know I enjoy being there - on the campground. Just sitting by our little cabin, I feel a comfort...a reassurance that no matter what happens in my life, or how many changes take place, that God is always with me through every step - every change - every year of my life.
Camp has brought with it a lot of changes in my life. When I was a kid, it was learning new songs, laughing with friends, learning that boys had "cooties" and seeing that it is pretty cool to love God. When I was a teen, I learned that God had a plan for my life, that he was more important to my life than trying to impress the "cool kids" and I also learned that boys really didn't have cooties!
After I was married, camp included fun things such as potty training a two year old with porta potties! Not something I would recommend, but my two year old thought that those green boxes were the coolest place to learn this task and wanted to stop every time we passed by! Unfortunately, our little trailer we had borrowed that year was just down the lane from the porta potty and it was on the way to EVERYTHING in camp, and on the way back to our trailer!
My husband was pastoring a small church up north when our two girls were little. We didn't have much cash, so the camp offered us a deal - watch the toddlers during the morning service for two hours and we can have free camping for the week! We thought that was a great deal, until we found out that the "toddler room" was in the back of the cafeteria. We had to block the kids in a corner with about thirty folding chairs and try to keep 15 three year olds busy for two hours! Let me tell you, it was not a good deal.
As our girls grew, we were able to watch them run around on the campgrounds with their friends, coming back to our camping area only for food or sleep.
I would much rather sleep at a Holiday Inn Express than in a little cabin that is actually a shed with electricity and bunk beds. I would rather have air conditioning than sweating, or a kitchen rather than a table with a fridge and toaster on top. Why do we continue to go back each year to spend quality time with Michigan mosquitoes?
It seems to be the time that God chooses to speak to my husband and I about important decisions in our life. This maybe because we actually get away from our technology, television and busy life for a week. We are quiet and able to listen to God a little easier while away from our crazy life! We go away for a week to focus on life, family and listening to God in sermons, songs and a quiet spot by the lake.
One year, God spoke to me during the songs at the chapel service. I felt like God was telling me that we were moving. We had been at our small church for six years and loved the people there very much. I felt God was telling me that this part of our life was ending. I was very sad but excited for this adventure all at the same time. As I sat down, I noticed the tshirt on the man sitting in front of me. It said, "Embrace new beginnings". My husband was in a back room and was not in the service. He was praying for the speaker and that God would speak to those sitting in the service. After the time for chapel was over, I was outside waiting for my husband. As he walked up, I said, "We are done here, aren't we?". He just smiled and said, "yes". God had talked to him about the same thing, at the same time, in a different room! We had no idea what was next for us, but we knew we had to take the next step. My husband told me later that after we had our short talk, he walked into the bathroom and a man he didn't really know walked up to him. He said, "Do you know that Abraham left everything he had to go to a place God wanted him to go? And he didn't even know where God wanted him to go yet!". These are the experiences we have at camp.
We had things like this happen so often in our camp life, that my husband and I were terrified one year to go to camp. We did not want to move or do any other difficult things we thought God might ask us to do! We still went, and God still spoke, but we did not have to move again.
Sometimes, God has shown me during a week at camp that I just need to be still. I need to seek a quiet place, slow down my life for a few hours and focus on God and his love for me. To get away from my busy, crazy life and stop. Look up to God and take a breath. This is what we need sometimes. To take a break from life and have some time of quietness where we can really see that God created us and he loves us.
So, in a few weeks, we will once again pack up and head to camp. I will spray myself with mosquito spray and make dinner with a toaster. I will get dirty and have to take a hike to the bathrooms. I will also sit by the lake with a book, take time to talk with God, and wait for what I fear with excitement - his voice telling me what could be next in my life. I will be still. I will seek God and I will find peace. At Camp.
