And I'm happy to share some video from the day with you. (CLICK HERE TO WATCH) This is must-see - not because of the production value, but because Campus by the Sea really is what everyone said it was - a memorable point of encounter with God.
I love California - don't get me wrong - but other than when I'm at the beach, I don't feel the pull of nature like I did growing up in North Dakota. In fact, I have to try hard to block out civilization here in order to get the sense of what's natural here. There isn't enough green grass for me. From my office I can hear traffic on the 5 always. Palm trees used to enchant me; now I hardly notice.
But get me in a secluded spot and the contrasts between that and the ever-noisier and congested world I inhabit are stark. I become small, God becomes big; worries fade and appreciation grows.
Tuesday, I was there.
Your kid needs to be there, too.
When we dreamed up the idea of our own summer camp this spring, I took it on good authority that Campus by the Sea on Catalina Island was a cool place. I liked the idea of being near water; summertime heat makes kids cranky. I worried there might not be enough for kids to do, or that the camp - lacking as it does electricity in the cabins - would be too rustic or simple for our sophisticated kids.My worries have been put to rest.
Please, view the video and enjoy some scenes from Catalina. (A picture is worth a thousand words? Indeed. After we aired this footage Sunday morning we had a surge of interest in camp - after only talking about it for a couple of months.) Then, let's get your kid to summer camp.I have great memories of the summer camp I attended growing up, on Red Willow Lake. It was there that I first met college-aged Christians, my counselors - they were so cool, and I wanted to be like them! I spent the longest away from my mom and dad I ever had up to that point - and made it through ok. I actually read the Bible for the first time. I met kids I would continue to encounter at regional and statewide church events through high school. In that way, it was my first sense that the world was actually bigger than the town of 7,000 I grew up in.
I can tell you every cabin I was in and every bunk I slept in and who my counselors were each of the four years I went. I can tell you the best year and the worst year (when I got strepthroat and had to sit out two whole days) and how sad I was to leave in 5th grade (I cried). I can still sing almost all of the songs we learned at chapel and campfire - some of them I've brought into the 4th-6th grade room here, 20 years later.
I guess what I'm saying is that summer camp is a unique, almost once-in-a-lifetime experience. There's a window: after 9th grade I was too busy with sports camps and jobs to consider giving up a whole week of my summer. But in late elementary school, camp was it. I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
We have many, many open spots remaining for our camp and a great plan for the three days we'll be there. The camp theme will be "Flood of Grace" and ties into part of the camp's history: it was nearly destroyed and abandoned in 1979 after a huge amount of rainwater came down out of the mountains and washed entire buildings away. The camp rebuilt smarter, including a channel to divert mountain runoff away from the structures, into the sea. Facing a God whose will it is to flood us with his grace, what channels have we constructed to keep the "old us" intact and untouched, unable to be swept away? When God touches every part of a 10-year-old's life...what does that look like?We have a dedicated volunteer team that is eager to spend the weekend of August 10-12 building into your child. If finances are an issue, please call me. We don't have a ton of scholarship money, but we have an opportunity to fundraise at the church the weekend before camp.
I was filled with the assurance after my trip last Tuesday that no one who makes this trip will regret it. Hope to see you at camp.
