why I love camp the most...

Bottom line of why I love camp: there are few other places in the whole wide world where you get a kids undivided attention. When they are at camp, camp is their world and their life. Computer games don't come along, cell phones shouldn't come (though you'd be surprised how many are still snuck in!), televisions are no where to be found, and almost everything we do is outside.

I believe God made us to love his creation, and feel closest to him when we enjoy his imagination while laying the foundations of the world. Kids start thinking bigger thoughts, they start dreaming bigger, they start wondering if maybe this is not by accident, but perhaps by some glorious design...like God intended his kids to stand in awe of his world, and intended us to care for one another while living in community, and intended for us to learn how to treat each person with kindness and sincerity.

Camp is where faith in Jesus is passed on. I believe this so strongly. Especially when Sunday school is just an hour a week...it's worth it, and it's completely valuable. But it's also hard getting to deep conversation points in just sixty minutes. I know this after teaching Sunday school myself for seven years. You can get there, but those moments are trickier to unveil. But at camp, it seems like every night when the lights go out, a campers heart stands wide open and they start wondering about their place in God's whole big picture.

I've got enough friends right now that have turned away from faith in Jesus Christ that I am beginning to worry about my peers and what this all means a few decades from now. And the truth is, "turned away" is even too strong of a phrase. They're really just indifferent, not particularly interested and in no way committed to a faith in Jesus Christ. That's what worries me. But what I see every day at summer camp gives me so much hope. I see our counselors alive and excited and I see campers joy filled and full of wonder. And it's all surrounding God having sent his son, Jesus. We talk about Jesus taking away the sins of the world, and we talk about Jesus calling us to preach his good news all over the world, and we talk about loving our neighbor as ourselves. And there is a freedom and happiness and life that permeates camp that lets everyone know in the deepest part of their hearts...this is all true.

So get your kiddos to camp! Sign up for a family camp. I don't care what denomination or camp you choose, do your homework and make sure other parents give it thumbs up. And then send them. Because God changes lives at camp.