Life Abundantly: Church Camp

It has happened again--I have fallen behind in blogging all of our summer festivities. So before I can post any beach pictures from our fabulous vacation, I have to do something with our week at church camp and the 4 pictures I took there.

Now how do I explain church camp? I have been going to this family church camp literally since I was born. Every year our family would pack up sheets and towels and blankets and snacks and clothes and everything else you need to live in a college dorm with your family for a week. I have great memories stretching back as far as I can remember of swimming in the afternoon in the lake, walking to dinner, the snack bar after the evening service, and of lifelong friendships that were forged in the heat of July--waiting in line at the cafeteria, staying up late into the night, passing notes during the service, and making spiritual decisions that would shape us into adulthood.

As I have gotten older I have realized that this small family church camp was and is a bit of an anomaly. Not very many families actually think staying in a dorm as a family is fun. Most summer camps are just for kids. But when I was growing up, I figured everyone's year was marked by this summer ritual.

Now that I have kids of my own, and I am responsible for packing up sheets and towels and clothes and bathing suits and cramming our family into a dorm room and carrying trays for toddlers in the cafeteria and hauling kids to class and to the lake, you might think that I would end my pilgrimage to church camp. But I can't resist. I want my kids to experience what I did, to see people come together year after year to remind themselves of who they are as the Church, to make friendships that will last them into adulthood, to have memories of late nights and bad cafeteria food and afternoons at the lake, and of seeing God in a small family church camp every July.